Campus Watch Mar. 23, 2023

Michigan High School Apologizes for Palestinian Activist’s “Antisemitic” Remarks

Bloomfield Hill High School Principal Lawrence Sloughter and the district’s Superintendent Pat Watson sent separate letters apologizing for a Palestinian activist’s “antisemitic” comments during a school assembly.

Sloughter’s letter, per Fox News, stated that the school had a “diversity assembly” that featured a speaker that “deviated from the prompts” and “discussed the conflict in Gaza from their own personal political perspective and experience.” It was not immediately clear what exactly Arraf said at the assembly, but her past statements include co-writing an op-ed arguing that “Palestinian resistance” needs to be both “nonviolent and violent” and has referred to Israel as an apartheid state.

Sloughter apologized “for the harm that was caused to our community as a result of this speaker’s message.” Watson’s March 16 letter acknowledged that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was too complex for a diversity assembly and that Arraf’s comments were “antisemitic,” according to The Oakland Press. He issued a series of “corrective measures,” including tighter adult supervision over assemblies and better staff training on antisemitism and Islamophobia. Arraf told Fox News she was simply addressing “the harms caused by racism and discrimination.”

Former Cabrini University Prof to Sue School for Firing Him Over Israel Tweets

A former assistant business professor at Cabrini University, a private Catholic school in Pennsylvania, plans to sue the school for firing him over tweets he had written about Israel.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Kareem Tannous was fired in August after the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia sent a letter to the university highlighting some of his tweets, including “#zionism is the disease #Free Palestine is the cure dismantle #ApartheidIsrael by any means necessary” and “today in Zionazi Ukraine, one upping zionazi Israel.” “By making false Holocaust analogies, Professor Tannous trivializes the memory of the Holocaust and grossly distorts the reality of what happened in Nazi Germany and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Federation wrote.

Tannous stands by his tweets, telling the Inquirer, “If you look at what they did to Jews in Nazi Germany, it’s the same thing they are doing to Palestinians now in the Zionist state of Israel,” he said. Tannous said he plans to file the lawsuit later in the month.

CUNY College Offers Credit for Attending Screening of Anti-Israel Film

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), a college under the City University of New York (CUNY) umbrella, is offering students a credit to add to their degrees if they attend a screening of an anti-Israel film.

The Daily Caller reported that the college’s Social Justice and Equity Center (SJEC) is hosting a screening of Farha, a Jordanian film on Netflix depicting Israeli soldiers murdering innocent Palestinians during Israel’s War for Independence, which Palestinians call the nakba (catastrophe). Two ministers in the previous Israeli coalition government denounced the film in November as spreading “libels” against Israel. The SJEC is hosting a screening of the film on March 31 as part of its “Palestinian Solidarity” series throughout March.

“I’m tired of Jewish and Israeli students at CUNY being bombarded with antisemitic and anti-Zionist propaganda,” Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jenna Hirsch said. “I have never seen anything like this at BMCC, and it breaks my heart that our students have to see this.”

Oregon Bill Requiring Teaching Jewish History Unanimously Passes State House

An Oregon bill requiring Jewish history to be taught in public schools unanimously passed the state House on March 13.

Under current state law, public schools are mandated to “teach the histories and contributions of marginalized or underserved people,” according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle; the bill would amend the 2019 state law to include Jews under that category. 

“If we know more about each other, we will be more accepting and appreciative of each other,” Democratic State Representative David Gomberg, who co-sponsored the bill, said during a February committee hearing on the bill. He advocated for the bill to combat rising antisemitism, per Jewish News Syndicate.

Holocaust Novel Removed from FL School

The Holocaust novel “The Storyteller,” written by Jodi Picoult, has been removed from a high school in St. Martin County in Florida. 

“The Storyteller” tells the story of the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor connecting with a former Nazi officer. According to Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) and The Washington Post, the book was removed due to a complaint from a parent who heads a local conservative group; the parent did not explain why she wanted the book removed, but has previously said that she seeks to remove books containing “sexually explicit content” from schools. “The Storyteller” has “several sexually graphic scenes, including depictions of sexual assault by Nazi guards,” per JTA. Nearly 20 other books of Picoult’s were removed as well, according to the Post.

Picoult said the removal “The Storyteller” was “shocking, and has never been banned before” in an email to the Post.