NEW YORK (Press Release) — Graduation ceremonies this weekend were disrupted by anti-Israel demonstrators.
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Penn. While University of Pennsylvania alumni crowded the West Philly campus for reunions this weekend, 19 anti-Israel protesters tried to occupy Fisher-Bennett Hall on Friday evening. They are reported to have used wooden pallets, barbed wire, bike racks, and overturned furniture to blockade at least three entrances to the historic building. Penn and Philadelphia Police responded immediately, clearing the building, arresting 19 individuals including seven Penn students, and were exploring charging some of them with felonies, including assaulting a police officer. After the building was cleared, protesters marched to an alumni weekend event at the Penn Museum, prompting its evacuation. Several protesters chanted, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.” DEEPER: Read ADL’s backgrounder on protesters’ calls for “intifada.” Drexel. The day after the Penn building takeover, a similar group of anti-Israel protesters set its sights a mere three blocks away, erecting an encampment at the heart of Drexel University’s campus. Drexel President John Fry: “We will not tolerate the destruction of property; the harassment or intimidation of our students, faculty or professional staff; or threatening behavior of any kind.” The protesters’ list of demands include terminating the University’s relationship with Hillel and Chabad. UChicago. On Friday, anti-Israel protesters occupied the Institute of Politics building at the University of Chicago. According to the New York Times, IOP Director former Senator Heidi Heitkamp was in the building at the time when three masked protesters burst into her office and ordered her to leave. She did not, even as she heard others “smashing furniture in other rooms.” The protesters left via a window about 20 minutes later once police arrived. The IOP office is two doors down from the university’s Hillel and across the street from the Chabad house, which was hosting a Shabbat dinner at the time. After being cleared from IOP, protesters moved to the University president’s house, where they hung him in effigy from a tree outside his home. Among the demands of the protesters, according to a banner they hung from the IOP building, were “free Palestine,” “abolish the University,” and “F**ck Gentrification.”
Harvard. Two Harvard University students face criminal charges for allegedly accosting an Israeli student during an anti-Israel “die-in” protest last October. Elom Tettey-Tamaklo — a student at the Harvard Divinity School — and Ibrahim Bharmal — a student jointly enrolled at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School — were each charged with two misdemeanors last week for assault and battery, and violating the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. The students face up to 100 days in jail for each misdemeanor charge. Over the weekend, the Harvard College Administrative Board suspended five students and placed more than 20 students on probation for their involvement in the University’s anti-Israel encampment. At least 12 seniors — including one who is slated to go to Oxford University in the fall on a Rhodes Scholarship — will not be graduating from Harvard this week. Sonoma. Sonoma State University president Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee announced his retirement Friday morning. Lee was previously placed on administrative leave after he declared that the university would adopt a robust BDS strategy, which included an academic boycott of “Israeli state institutions.” The announcement prompted widespread condemnation from many Jewish communal organizations throughout the Golden State — including ADL — and political and communal leaders. UC Berkeley. Thursday, at the University of California, Berkeley, police arrested at least 12 anti-Israel protesters after they occupied a fire-damaged building on campus. According to the University: “The suspects blocked the north entrance to Anna Head [Hall] with plywood and shields; they violently resisted arrest, using crowbars to hit officers and using their hands to resist arrest.” The protesters also vandalized the building — not with doves and rainbows — but with messages such as “A good soldier is a dead one” and “Zionism is Nazism.” |
| Campus Champions
Got to Have Heart. New York University’s Law School graduation on Thursday was punctuated with anti-Israel chants and Palestinian flag-waving protesters. But six-year-old Eden Rose Neiger stole the show and got the biggest applause. Eden Rose walked across the commencement stage with her graduate mother, and showed the crowd a big purple heart which she then handed to the law school dean. Judy Kane, who was in attendance, told the New York Post: “It was beautiful — children don’t know about hatred. That picture is sort of the answer to all of this hate.”
Strength of Apollo. In a podcast interview, Marc Rowan, an outspoken advocate for Jewish students and CEO of Apollo Global Management, spoke about the need for greater action by alumni and donors in holding universities accountable for anti-Israel protests. “There’s been no price to pay for being an antisemite…These kids who are marching [at anti-Israel demonstrations], they don’t think about it because there’s been no price to pay. But if you come to Apollo, I would not hire you if you were anti-Black. I wouldn’t hire if you were anti-gay. I wouldn’t hire you if you were anti-anything. Why would I hire an antisemite?” Read about the interview here. |
| Am Yisrael Chai 💪✡️
Adir Who. The Adir Challenge, a global innovation and technology competition to combat antisemitism and hate, has announced its three winners. Each winner receives $10,000 and a chance to compete for the $1 million grand prize. The winners include a high schooler focused on Jewish community security, MIT students using AI to counter online hate, and Israeli entrepreneurs employing machine learning to detect and combat antisemitism. One of the competition’s judges was ADL’s very own Oren Segal, who runs the Center on Extremism (ADL, USC Shoah Foundation, and UJA-Federation of New York are partners of the Adir Challenge). The award is a memorial to Addir Mesika, who was murdered in the October 7 attacks. Survey Says. Comedian and social media influencer Zach Sage Fox offered students $100 if they could correctly answer basic questions like “which river and which sea are they referring to?” and “how long did Israel control Gaza?” The answers? Watch “Gaza Graduation: The Game Show” to see what anti-Israel protesters are learning from their tens of thousands in tuition dollars. A Trophy for Hersh. On Thursday night, Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv for the Israeli basketball championship. This, their second consecutive state cup, was different as the win was dedicated to Hapoel Jerusalem superfan Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is being held hostage in Gaza as well as all the hostages. Hersh’s sisters, Leebie and Orly, and freed hostage Ofir Engel dressed the cup in a “Bring Hersh Home” t-shirt — a shirt worn by many Hapoel fans. We join all Israel hoops fans in hoping that all the hostages can watch next year’s cup final from the safety of their homes. * |