Editor’s Note: ADL (Anti-Defamation League) rounds up developments in the anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across North America. Here is the report for Thursday, May 9.
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Pomona. Anti-Israel protesters set up an encampment of tents on the actual stage where the commencement ceremony is scheduled for this weekend at the college east of Los Angeles.
Penn. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt visited students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Tuesday night: “The Penn administration needs to act once and for all — an encampment in the middle of campus needs to be taken down…We need adults in the room to act their age — to do their job.”
Wisconsin. An incident was reported yesterday to the police department of University of Wisconsin, Madison concerning a student who was displaying a pro-Israel sign on May 1. An unknown man approached the student “with a knife visibly attached to his waistband” and said, “Jews shouldn’t be on campus.” The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
UCLA. The University of California, Los Angeles Police Department said yesterday that what it found among the anti-Israel protesters arrested on Monday night were metal pipes, bolt cutters, heavy-duty chains, and “documentation encouraging violence and vandalism.” Of the 44 arrested, 35 were UCLA students.
UMass. Tuesday night, University of Massachusetts called in police to dismantle an anti-Israel encampment, resulting in about 130 arrests. In a statement, Chancellor Javier Reyes shared, “While we have told demonstrators that failure to remove the tents and barriers may result in arrests, this is not the outcome we had hoped for.”
GW. Yesterday, anti-Israel protesters at George Washington University in DC who refused to disperse after days of warnings were finally held accountable and arrested. What did Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush do? Welcome them to Capitol Hill. We wish we could say we’re surprised. Read GW Students for Israel’s statement on the clearing of the encampment.
Harvard. Anti-Israel protesters at an encampment in Harvard Yard refused to comply with University requests to provide ID on Tuesday. They raised a Palestinian flag up a flagpole in the iconic college green, which was removed by officials. On Monday, protesters marched to Interim President Alan Garber’s private home and more than 300 faculty members signed a letter calling on Garber to negotiate with protesters. This came in response to an email he sent threatening the protesters with disciplinary action for violating University rules.
Columbia. In an open letter to the Columbia University community, Jewish students there lay out what they believe — and what they have been going through: “If the last six months on campus have taught us anything, it is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People. Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we’ve been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated.” As of last night, the letter garnered 400 student signatures.
Xavier. Xavier University of Louisiana has canceled plans for US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield to speak at the New Orleans school’s commencement on Saturday in order to placate students who disagree with the Biden Administration’s support of Israel against Hamas. Last week, the University of Vermont also canceled the UN Ambassador. Both should be ashamed for indulging in this “heckler’s veto” and insulting this dedicated public servant.
Believe What They Say. The Atlantic’s Judith Shulevitz takes a close look at the words being shouted at protests on campus: “Student protesters often say that all they want is for the killing to stop. That may well be true. But that is not what they’re chanting, or how they’re chanting it.”
Campus Champions
New Ad. Our good friend Robert Kraft and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism are running a new ad. “Scream until you’re red in the face. But don’t scream at the Jewish kid walking to class,” and “Draw a line in the sand, but don’t draw a swastika,” it says.
Trenton Takes. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Tuesday criticized Rutgers University’s recent response to anti-Israel protesters on their campus, specifically how the administration listened only to one side and gave in to their demands: “We cannot allow any institution in the state, certainly not an institution of higher education, to have even a perception that someone is not welcomed, or that they won’t be safe. To me, there’s a lot of wood still left to chop there.”
Still Fighting. John Ondrasik, the musician known as Five for Fighting, has been a powerful advocate for Jewish students and against Hamas these past months. In case you missed it, check out this impassioned plea he makes to UCLA, his alma mater: “You all have created a moral stain on this University that will never be washed clean.”
Righteous Running Back. The Athletic profiles Sam Salz, a running back on Texas A&M’s football team, who is believed to be the only Orthodox Jewish player in college football. Despite having never played the game, Sam’s hard work and determination earned him a spot on the team. He is still fully observant of Shabbat and Jewish holidays, even when they restrict him from game day.
Thanks. New York Times columnist Bret Stephens writes to thank anti-Israel protesters for clarifying why his Zionism is so important. “For every student who became ardently pro-Palestinian during the protests, another one, perhaps a Jewish student with previously indifferent feelings about Israel, finally saw the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”
Wednesdays with Mitch. Mitch Albom, the best-selling author and columnist, unpacks what the campus protests are about in a fiery piece in the Detroit Free Press: “This campus fever was about many things, some of them earnest, some of them pathetic, but only one of them vile and terribly dangerous: the elimination of the only country on earth that calls itself a home to Jews, and the hostile backdrop of antisemitism behind it which left Jewish students across the country studying online, hiding their yarmulkes and Jewish stars, or weeping on school staircases wondering how bad this will get.”
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Preceding provided by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League).