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Columbia University Professors Calls on President to Denounce Pro-Terror Activism
Shai Davidai speaking at rally in support of Israel, held gather in Washington Square Park, New York, NY, on September 8, 2024. Photo: Lily Ride via Reuters Connect
Columbia University is being called on to respond to accusations that it has enabled the proliferation of antisemitic and pro-terror ideologies on campus.
“Dear Katrina Armstrong, the interim president of Columbia University,” Professor Shai Davidai, a faculty member who is one of the most renown pro-Israel activists in higher education, wrote in an open letter published on the X social media platform. “At some point your bulls—t needs to be called out. At some point, your silence must be addressed. Why haven’t you said anything about CU Apartheid Divest, the faculty supported organization that operates like an ideological terrorist cell? (They would never strap-on a suicide belt, but they praise and support those who do).”
Shai then enumerated a slew of grievances regarding the university’s handling of pro-Hamas and anti-Zionist extremists, including its declining to ever disavow Middle East Studies professor Joseph Massad, who praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and described the men who paraglided into the Nova Music Festival to murder the young people there as “the air force of the Palestinian resistance.” He also cited the university’s allowing pro-Hamas students to crash a memorial service for the men, women, and children who Hamas murdered on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack.
“You know perfectly well that they aren’t criticizing Israel’s policies. You know perfectly well that they’re criticizing its existence,” he continued. “It doesn’t take much to say that praising the death of Israelis is unacceptable. Silence isn’t violence, but it surely enables it. And true leaders never remain silent. Shame on you for not saying anything. Shame on you for your silence.”
The Algemeiner has asked Columbia University to respond to Davidai’s allegations and will update this story if the school responds.
Davidai’s missive follows 15 months of explosions of antisemitic hatred and extremism on Columbia University’s campus, a trend which began immediately after the Oct. 7 massacre. As The Algemeiner has previously reported, the treatment to which pro-Israel Jewish students, faculty, and staff have been subjected since that day is unprecedented in the school’s history. Jewish students have been beaten up, battered with hate speech, and even prevented from publicly promoting their own self defense.
The professor, a native of Israel, has himself been allegedly persecuted for criticizing the university’s alleged indifference to the proliferation of pro-Hamas sentiment.
Columbia launched an investigation of Davidai in February, several months after he described former university president Minouche Shafik as a “coward” for coddling pro-Hamas activists who, after the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, waged a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and violence to demoralize Jewish students and pressure the university into boycotting Israel. The immediate cause cited for the inquiry, as told to The Algemeiner by the professor, was a series of spurious accusations that his denunciations of mass casualty events inspired by jihadist extremism equated to racism against Muslims and minorities of color.
Undeterred by what appeared to Davidai and his lawyers as a cynical attempt to use the disciplinary system to silence a political dissident and shroud him in suspicion, the professor continued advocating for Israel’s existence and Jewish civil rights all the way up to the first anniversary of Oct. 7, a day which saw dueling demonstrations held by pro-Hamas and pro-Israel students across the campus. It also saw a fateful exchange of words between Davidai and a Columbia administrator, Cas Holloway, whom the professor reproached for permitting pro-Hamas students to use the Oct. 7 anniversary for celebrating the terrorist organization’s atrocities, which included wantonly murdering Israelis, sexually assaulting Jewish women, and kidnapping over 200 hostages.
Columbia and Davidai’s legal team interpreted what transpired between the professor and Holloway differently. Davidai defended his approach as a genuine expression of grief and concern for the welfare of Jewish students, while Columbia felt that an unmoored professor had engaged in “threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior.” Following the incident, Columbia “temporarily” banned him from campus, a severe disciplinary sanction which to this day prevents him from attending university functions and accessing his office.
The professor is not the first to accuse the university of inadequately responding to the misconduct of pro-Hamas activists.
In August, the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce denounced school officials for punishing only a few of the anti-Zionist activists who last spring occupied an administrative building and staged a riot which prompted the university to advise Jews to refrain from coming to campus. According to documents shared by the committee, 18 of the 22 students who were given disciplinary charges for their role in the incident were later upgraded to “good standing” despite the university’s earlier pledge to expel them. Another 31 of 35 who were suspended for illegally occupying the campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” were restored to good standing as well.
Amnestying those students was “disgraceful and unacceptable,” former education committee chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said at the time.
“The vast majority of the student perpetrators remain in good standing,” she added. “By allowing its own disciplinary process to be thwarted by radical students and faculty, Columbia has waved the white flag in surrender while offering up a get-out-of-jail-free card to those who participated in these unlawful actions.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Columbia University Professors Calls on President to Denounce Pro-Terror Activism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Nearly Half of World’s Adults Hold Antisemitic Views, ADL Survey Finds
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
Nearly half of the world’s adults hold antisemitic beliefs, according to a new “Global 100 Index” survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Some 58,000 people from over 100 countries participated in the survey, the ADL said, and their responses underscored the extent to which antisemitic conspiracies and tropes are enjoying a revival in the digital age, having received new means of exportation across the world.
A striking 46 percent of the world’s adult population — an estimated 2.2 billion people — harbor “deeply entrenched antisemitic attitudes,” the survey found, the highest level on record since the ADL began tracking such trends globally.
Meanwhile, 56 percent of respondents reported to believe that “Jews loyalty is only to Israel,” and 46 percent said “Jews have too much control over global affairs.” Young adults are by far more likely than their older peers to have formed negative perceptions of Jews, believing, for example, that they “have a lot of irritating faults” and “don’t care what happens to anyone” who isn’t Jewish, the ADL results showed.
“Antisemitism is nothing short of a global emergency, especially in a post-Oct. 7 world. We are seeing these trends play out from the Middle East to Asia, from Europe to North and South America,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement regarding the survey’s findings. “Negative attitudes towards Jews are an important pillar that ADL uses to asses overall levels of antisemitism within a country, and our findings are deeply alarming. It’s clear that we need new government interventions, more education, additional safeguards on social media, and new security protocols to prevent antisemitic hate crimes. This fight requires. a whole-of-society-approach including government, civil society, and individuals and now is the time to act.”
An Algemeiner review of the study shows that antisemitic attitudes are heavily concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where inhabitants are more likely to support boycotting Israel to the point that even diplomatic relations are nonexistent. For example, 97 percent of respondents in Gaza and the West Bank subscribe to antisemitic tropes. More broadly, 76 percent of MENA respondents accept as true 11 antisemitic stereotypes and tropes presented by the survey questionnaire, compared to 51 percent of Asian respondents and 49 percent of Eastern Europeans. The Americas, Western Europe, and Oceania measured considerably lower in this regard, but still averaged approximately one in five adults who believe in antisemitic stereotypes.
Other statistics reveal the poor state of Holocaust education, as a striking 20 percent of respondents worldwide said they have not heard of the Nazi genocide perpetrated against European Jewry during Word War II. Less than half (48 percent) recognize the Holocaust’s “historical accuracy.” Among young adults ages 18-34, that figure falls to 39 percent.
In addition to Holocaust skepticism, some 40 percent of adults under 35 blame Jews for starting “most of the world’s wars,” while only 29 percent of adults over 50 share that belief.
“Antisemitic tropes and beliefs are becoming alarmingly normalized across societies worldwide. This dangerous trend is not just a threat to Jewish communities — it’s a warning to us all. Even in countries with the lowest levels of antisemitic attitudes globally, we’ve sen many antisemitic incidents perpetrated by an emboldened, small vocal, and violent minority. This is a wake-up call for collective action, and we are committed to continuing our work with out partners around the world and mitigate this deeply ingrained antisemitism,” said Marina Rosenberg, ADL senior vice president for international affairs.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Nearly Half of World’s Adults Hold Antisemitic Views, ADL Survey Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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This convicted 1980 synagogue bomber is not currently teaching at Carleton University in Ottawa
A former part-time instructor at Carleton University, whose conviction in absentia for a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing has drawn widespread attention, is not teaching at the institution this semester according to a university spokesperson.
“Hassan Diab is a former part-time contract instructor who taught a course at the university last fall,” Steven Reid, the media relations officer at the school in Ottawa, wrote in a statement to The Canadian Jewish News. “He is not in the employment of Carleton.”
Reid did not disclose any further details, stating privacy considerations.
Diab’s employment at Carleton—last semester he headed a course called Social Justice in Action—sparked controversy both domestically and internationally. Convicted in absentia in 2023 by a French court for his alleged role in a bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue in Paris, which killed four people and injured dozens, he has maintained his innocence throught—claiming he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack.
The Canadian government’s refusal to extradite Diab back to France remains a focal point of the ongoing legal and diplomatic discussions.
B’nai Brith Canada, which has been vocal about Diab’s employment, applauded Carleton for what it described as a “necessary step” in ending his role at the university, although there is no confirmation that Diab won’t return.
“Diab’s employment as a lecturer was a betrayal of the Canadian values of justice, safety, and accountability,” B’nai Brith stated on Jan. 10. “This decision is an important acknowledgment of the need to ensure our educational institutions prioritize the well-being and academic success of their students.”
Following B’nai Brith’s well-publicized advocacy, @Carleton_U has confirmed that Hassan Diab—a man convicted of terrorism-related charges in France for his role in the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing that killed four and injured dozens—is no longer employed at the institution.
For… pic.twitter.com/J0Sj880FVO
— B’nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) January 10, 2025
B’nai Brith also reiterated its support for Diab’s extradition to France: “We remain steadfast in our mission to combat hate and antisemitism and ensure that justice is upheld.”
Speaking anonymously, one Jewish student at Carleton told The Canadian Jewish News there is speculation about whether the university’s decision was related to low enrolment numbers for Diab’s course, or broader pressure stemming from advocacy efforts.
“Many of us, like myself, are planning on taking a wait-and-see approach to see if he’s back in the hall,” the student said.
“I would like to know what happened,” he added, citing uncertainty as to whether Diab’s contract was terminated or never issued for the winter semester. I think a lot of other students would like to know as well.”
Iddo Moed, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, has also been lobbying for Carleton to take action.
More than 4 decades ago, 4 innocent lives were taken and 46 more wounded by a blast outside of a French synagogue.
Today, the culprit and convicted terrorist Hassan Diab haunts the halls of @Carleton_U as a supposed expert in “Social Justice in Action”, as the title of his… pic.twitter.com/MrhenYuL1b
— Iddo Moed 🎗️ (@MoedIddo) November 14, 2024
“We came to the conclusion that a respectable academic institution that allows a terrorist to be a teacher and give a course on their premises is principally wrong that we have to make the public aware,” Moed said in an interview with The Canadian Jewish News.
Moed further elaborated on his personal connection to the case in a Nov. 13 opinion piece for the National Post. Aliza Shagrir, the mother of his colleague Hagai Shagrir—head of the Asia-Pacific Division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs—was one of the victims of the 1980 Copernic synagogue bombing.
In his commentary, Moed wrote that Shagrir was “the mother of my friend and colleague, Hagai, a teenager at the time who survived only because he had returned early to his hotel room. To this day, Hagai remains traumatized and laments having gone through life without his mother.”
In November, nine public research universities in Israel—coordinated by the Association of University Heads of Israel—collectively urged Carleton to terminate Diab’s employment. The letter, obtained by The Canadian Jewish News, described the hiring “betrayal of academic values” and a failure to uphold justice.
“How can an institution dedicated to instilling moral principles in its students justify appointing someone convicted of such serious crimes to a teaching position?” the letter asked. “This hiring decision crosses a clear ethical line.”
The Canadian Jewish News reached out to Hassan Diab’s lawyer for comment on the situation but did not receive a response.
Moed has also been vocal about the broader implications of Diab’s case, particularly its impact on universities and Jewish communities.
“We see not only Hassan Diab, but we see other figures who have very clear anti-semitic agendas appearing in universities and speaking freely, as if what they are presenting is the reality, and it is entirely flawed and wrong,” he said.
“Presenting their reality, a distorted reality, as a fact, and starting the discussion from there is, of course, wrong. And so when we are talking to university leaders around the country, I’m speaking not just about the encampments and all this intimidating behaviour that has been experienced by Jewish students there.”
The Copernic Affair, a Canadaland podcast miniseries about the circumstances surrounding the case of Hassan Diab, is set for release on Jan. 22.
The post This convicted 1980 synagogue bomber is not currently teaching at Carleton University in Ottawa appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Jewish Groups Condemn ’60 Minutes’ Segment Criticizing US Support for Israel During Gaza War
Troops from the IDF’s 98th Division operating in Jabalia, the northern Gaza Strip, May 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.
The investigative news television program “60 Minutes” has been widely criticized for airing a “one-sided” and “biased” segment on Sunday night that featured former US State Department officials who condemned American support for Israel’s defensive war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The CBS News show aired a segment titled “Dissent Within the State Department Over US Role in Israel-Hamas War.” It highlighted interviews with three former US State Department officials who resigned from their positions in protest of US support for Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, which target Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023. One of the former State Department officials told “60 Minutes”: “There is a linkage between every single bomb that is dropped in Gaza and the US because every single bomb is dropped from an American-made plane.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) called the “60 Minutes” segment “biased and misguided” in a statement released on Monday. The organization detailed a slew of issues with the segment, including its mention of unverified civilian casualty figures and the fact that it barely mentioned the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 that started the ongoing war in Gaza. The segment even described Hamas fighters as “militants” rather than terrorists. AJC also denounced the CBS show for promoting the “outlandish notion” that, after Hamas’s atrocities in southern Israel, the Jewish state should have made efforts to make peace with the Palestinian terrorist group rather than engage in self-defense to rescue the hostages taken to Gaza and target the Hamas terrorists who threatened to perpetrate similar deadly massacres in the future.
“This segment, the latest example of major news outlets recklessly reporting on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, was shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information,” AJC added.
“In this segment, ‘60 Minutes’ plays directly into the hands of the enemies of the West who aim to show that support for Israel is not in the United States’ best interest. Nothing could be further from the truth,” AJC noted. “Israel’s actions against Iranian-backed terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as its recent direct responses to Iranian attacks, help deter attacks on the US. Each of these terror organizations has American blood on its hands. We share common enemies — the enemies of democracy and freedom.”
AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a separate statement on X that the “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday night “relies on the same biased accusations and information that attempt to demonize and delegitimize Israel.”
“The one-sided segment plays into the hands of enemies of democracy and freedom who aim to divide the US and Israel,” he added. “It is shocking to see this kind of irresponsible journalism from a long-running, respected news program like ’60 Minutes.’”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said in a post on X he is “outraged” that “60 Minutes” would “air such a biased and one-sided piece, villainizing Israel and berating US support for its ally.”
“Where are the counter perspectives to those interviewed? Where is the mention of the nearly 100 hostages — including Americans — STILL in captivity!? What kind of journalism is that?” he wrote. “According to last night’s piece, Israel should have responded to the mass slaughter, mutilation, rape, and kidnapping of its citizens by asking the perpetrators of these vicious crimes for peace. Newsflash: Rewarding terrorism won’t bring peace. And this sort of biased coverage only serves to fuel hate. It’s like a blood libel in a moment of expanding, intensifying antisemitism.”
“Responsible coverage of the war should not only honor the lives lost, but also accurately describe those responsible for this conflict for what they are — antisemitic terrorists,” he concluded.
Honest Reporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog that focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, released a detailed report on Monday of all the “skewed” and “imbalanced” reporting included in the “60 Minutes” segment. It revealed that the investigative news program amplified anti-Israel voices in the segment on Sunday night while failing to mention that two of its interviewees have “a history of anti-Israel activism and associations with anti-Israel organizations,” including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). Honest Reporting claimed “60 Minutes” tried to disguise these two former State Department officials — Josh Paul, a former director in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs; and Hala Rharrit, a former American diplomat who specialized in the Middle East — as “impartial observers,” when in reality they are anti-Israel activists.
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote on X that “60 Minutes” aired “a disgraceful hit job against Israel,” and “forgot that Hamas started the war, Hamas still holds American hostages, and any damage in Gaza is the sole fault of Hamas.”
Others who have condemned the “60 Minutes” segment include Jewish actor Michael Rapaport, who described the segment as a “smear campaign” against Israel and the show as a “propaganda machine.” Dozens on social media have called the segment “despicable,” labeled it as “a hit piece vilifying Israel,” and accused “60 Minutes” of defending Hamas.
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