Campus Watch Feb. 9, 2023

UC Davis SJP Writes ‘Zionism Ideology of Death’ in Chalk on Campus

UC Davis’ Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter wrote “Zionism Ideology of Death” in chalk on campus.

The Israel War Room Twitter account shared a screenshot on February 1 showing that the SJP chapter had shared an image of the chalk on their Instagram story. “Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination,” Israel War Room tweeted. “If you believe that’s ‘ideology of death,’ you’re an antisemite.” In a follow-up tweet, Israel War Room shared a screenshot from SJP’s Instagram story of the words “Glory to our Martyrs” written in chalk. “By ‘glory to the martyrs,’ they mean glory to Palestinian terrorists who were killed for attacking Israelis — including the terrorist who murdered seven Jewish civilians outside a synagogue in Jerusalem this past Friday,” Israel War Room wrote.

Three Antisemitic Incidents in SB in Four Days

A total of three antisemitic incidents occurred in a span of four days in the Santa Barbara area.

The Daily Nexus reported that on January 30, graffiti stating “F— Israel” and “From the River to the Sea” was found in a UC Santa Barbara classroom where an Israeli politics class was being held. The next day, hundreds of antisemitic flyers were found scattered around the area nearby campus that, according to the Santa Barbara Independent, spread Holocaust denial and blamed Jews for “racism, homophobia, and pedophilia.” The UCSB Office of Diversity and Equity issued a statement via email condemning “the recent distribution of horrific antisemitic propaganda against our Jewish community in our campus classrooms and in Isla Vista.”

Additionally, graffiti of a swastika was found on a flag pole at the Dos Pueblos High School stadium in Santa Barbara, KEYT reported on February 1. “We stand with the Jewish community and condemn all forms of hate,” Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said in a statement. “What’s happened at Dos Pueblos and across Isla Vista/UCSB is troubling. We continue our commitment to identifying, responding, and providing remedies to racial incidents when they occur in our schools.”

UMich on Calls to Condemn ‘Intifada’ Chants: We Don’t Just Condemn … We Talk, Teach and Empower

The University of Michigan responded to the International Legal Forum’s (ILF) call to condemn recent chants of “intifada” on campus by saying that the university doesn’t “just condemn, yell and denounce” but also “talk, teach and empower.”

As the Journal previously reported, ILF CEO Arsen Ostrovsky wrote in a letter to the university that the intifada chants were “a direct and unadulterated call for violence.” A spokesperson for the university responded to Ostrovsky’s letter in a January 30 email obtained by the Journal, thanking Ostrovsky “and others for sharing those views” and that the university engages with “our community members in considering how language can cause harm and ways to exercise their own free speech rights in response to speech they find challenging or disturbing.” “At the University of Michigan, it is essential that we don’t just condemn, yell and denounce, but that we talk, teach and empower.”

Students Call On Princeton Department to Revoke Sponsorship of Mohammed El-Kurd Speaking Event

Students signed onto a letter calling on Princeton’s Department of English to rescind their sponsorship of a February 8 speaking event featuring Mohammed El-Kurd.

The letter noted that El-Kurd has called Zionist “sadistic neonazi pigs,” praised the Second Intifada and accused Israelis of harvesting “organs of the martyred [Palestinians].” The letter continued, “we could fill volumes with his false and hateful speech, but we won’t … All we will leave you with is a plea to carefully consider the evidence we have placed before you and ask yourself if the Department of English stands behind antisemitism and, more broadly, hatred and intolerance.

Professor Jeff Dolven, who heads the department, shared with the Journal his response to the letter, which said that a department sponsorship doesn’t mean they endorse a speaker’s views and as such the department doesn’t issue condemnations. He added that his colleagues invited El-Kurd “out of a sense that he has urgent experience and ideas to bring to the campus. The commitment of the English Department is to making sure that his voice can be heard, and that members of the University community are free to listen and respond within Princeton’s tradition of open and respectful dialogue.”