Lea Speyer
Algemeiner
November 10, 2016

A national anti-Israel student organization is spending “much of its energy trying to deny its obvious bigotry,” the head of a Jewish rights-focused legal group told The Algemeiner, adding that it is “significant” the organization is now “increasingly on the defensive.”

Kenneth Marcus — president and general counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and an international antisemitism expert — was responding to the sixth annual National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Conference, which aimed to mobilize and increase support for activity related to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on college campuses.

“SJP is increasingly stung by accusations of prejudice, especially in its support for the antisemitic BDS movement,” he said, referring to a pamphlet distributed at the conference — and obtained by The Algemeiner — claiming that the organization does not tolerate “any form of discrimination based on…national origin…citizenship.”

According to Marcus, the inclusion of such a statement — which is an example of a “weak” denial by SJP of its actions — is “not surprising,” considering that the group is “continually in the position of having to deny that it is engaged in hate activity.”

SJP, he told The Algemeiner, “often hides its antisemitism behind the guise of being merely critical of Israel. It has dropped that ruse often enough to have long since lost any pretense of legitimacy. Students must understand that the group’s title is a misnomer, as the organization isn’t really concerned with justice. SJP is an antisemitic hate organization and must be addressed as such.”

Pointing to a workshop at the conference aimed at exploring “current and future collaborations” between SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and how to use JVP to “block false charges of antisemitism” — Marcus said that through this alliance, SJP is able to “use and manipulate this smaller group of Jewish students who are publicly critical of Israel and give the impression of legitimacy to their movement.”

He continued: “Anti-Israel groups insist that they couldn’t possibly be antisemitic because some of their best friends are Jews who have joined anti-Israel groups like JVP. This ‘some of my best friends’ argument is similar to what we see in other bigots. It only makes their prejudice more transparent.”

SJP has been at the root of numerous controversies on US campuses. As was reported by The Algemeiner, a recent Brandeis study found that “one of the strongest predictors of perceiving a hostile climate towards Israel and Jews is the presence of an active SJP group on campus.”

Original Article

Brianne Garrett
USA Today
November 3, 2016

Kat Kolin, a Boston University freshman, wants to set the record straight: “I am Jewish. I am not a Zionist.”

Some think “Jewish” and “Zionist” are synonyms, but there’s a difference. People who identify as Jewish practice or adhere to the Jewish religion — some primarily or only culturally as opposed to practicing the faith. According to the World Zionist Organization, “Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a legally assured home” in the land of Israel. In other words, the basic difference is that Judaism is a religion and a culture, and Zionism is a nationalist movement.

According to Kolin, people often assume that being Jewish means being a Zionist, which she says is definitely not the case. Why does it matter? Because of this assumption, Kolin recalls various instances of being harassed by pro-Palestinian students on BU’s campus, who automatically assume she is the enemy.

But Kolin says she actually agrees with some of the opinions of the Students for Justice in Palestine.

“I was even interested in joining their organization, but it really seemed like they didn’t want me,” she added.

Kolin is among the high number of students experiencing hostile behavior and backlash on their campuses for being Jewish. A 2014 study by Trinity College found that over half of Jewish college students have experienced anti-Semitism on their campus.

The Jewish community ushered in the new year in October, and many Jewish students across the country have a common resolution: Fighting swelling anti-Semitism.

ANTI-SEMITISM ON CAMPUS IS ON THE RISE

Anti-Semitic activity on U.S. campuses continues to be on the rise. A 2016 study conducted by the AMCHA Initiative, an organization that seeks to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, found the number of incidents involving “the suppression of Jewish students’ freedom of speech and assembly” doubled from last year.

“We’re really concerned for this new year,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA’s cofounder and director. “(Anti-Semitic behavior) really tends to completely shut down and obliterate the presence, the opinion and the safe space for one particular group. It’s not a matter of incivility, it’s a matter of intolerance.”

As reported by Newsweek, more than a dozen Jewish student events were violently disrupted this year at schools coast to coast, including Boston University, University of Maryland and University of Florida. And on the University of California campuses, anti-Semitic graffiti reading, “Zionists should be sent to the gas chamber” has appeared on the walls of buildings, and a UCLA student’s impartiality on a judicial board was questioned due to her involvement in the Jewish community.

Original Article

Jennie Gross
Brandeis Blog
October 25, 2016

Last week, I visited the University of Minnesota Law School to deliver a lunch lecture on anti-Semitism in higher education. It was one of a few campus visits I made this fall, and until now, the law students have been gracious hosts.

This was different. The flyers announcing my lecture were torn down, apparently by one or more people opposed to any discussion of campus anti-Semitism. Twenty flyers were posted in the student locker room and on the law school’s information boards, all in compliance with school rules. All twenty flyers were torn down, while flyers announcing other events remained in place, undamaged.

The flyers announcing my talk could not have been more innocuous. They simply announced, “JLSA Presents: Jennie Gross and the Rise of Anti-Semitism on College Campuses,” the date, place and time of the talk, and the logos for The Brandeis Center and Minnesota Hillel (and a local sandwich shop). There was no mention of international issues, and no condemnation of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement in the flyers. Whoever tore them down responded only to the topic of anti-Semitism on college campuses in the United States.

The irony was not lost on me. Invitations to talk about anti-Semitism on campus, sponsored by campus Jewish groups, were torn down. A fitting example of the topic of the lecture.

It is also an example of a rising trend on campus: the attempt by opponents to silence speech they disagree with. We saw this happen at San Francisco State University last spring, when visiting speaker Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem, was shouted down by anti-Israel protesters for over half an hour, until he finally gave up and left the venue while protesters cheered. We again saw it happen at the University of California, Irvine, when approximately fifty protesters surrounded a room of approximately ten Jewish students who had gathered to watch a documentary. The loud, aggressive protest disrupted the small event, and did not end until the police directed the protesters away from the building, watching them while other officers escorted the students inside away and to their cars.

It is likely that this vandalism was the act of just one or maybe a small handful of people. I know it is not a reflection of the broad and diverse student body at the University of Minnesota Law School. The lecture went forward as planned and was very well-attended by bright law students that asked thoughtful, intelligent questions. They did not attack me or each other. That is not to say that they are all in agreement on the issues of the day. But those students who actually attended the lecture were not afraid of hearing (and responding) to divergent points of view, and they treated everyone with respect. That is more than I can say about whoever who tore down the flyers.

Today, Dean Garry W. Jenkins issued a statement to the law school community, condemning the act of vandalism. His statement says, in part:

People may disagree and they can even disagree strongly, but ours is an environment where lawyers, lawyers-in-training, and those interested in law and legal institutions engage in dialogue. Diverse opinions are not only welcomed, but encouraged. Any efforts to shut down communication, including removing notices, undermine the values of our school and our profession.

. . . .

Our uniquely collaborative and supportive culture is one of our great strengths. I hope all of you will join me in deploring this act of vandalism and rejecting attempts to silence or marginalize. This purposeful community must remain welcoming and inclusive, and only together can we build, support, and sustain it.

I thank Dean Jenkins for his statement, and I thank the students that welcomed me to the University of Minnesota Law School.

Original Article