Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in New York City. (Pixabay)

Members of Columbia University’s faculty are blatantly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. The university must take a stand on this!

Columbia University’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS), has for years been criticized for its anti-Israel sentiment and academic intimidation of Jewish and pro-Israel students.

MESAAS’ professors have openly supported the anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) campaign, endorsed anti-Israel petitions and resolutions, denied Israel’s right to exist and called for the destruction of the Jewish state. They have even expressed blunt anti-Semitic views.

The faculty members include Hamid Dabashi, who was investigated following accusations of anti-Semitism and who equated Israeli policies with those of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group and Nazi Germany. He also expressed support for violent anti-Israel protests and demonized Israel on social media.

Dabashi blamed Israel for “every dirty treacherous ugly and pernicious act happening in the world” and called Israel and the US “hyenas.”

Another faculty member, Rashid Khalidi, acted as the spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) when it was listed as a designated foreign terrorist organization. He also claimed that the Hezbollah and Hamas terror groups are not a “direct threat to the United States.”

He also warned in a radio interview in January 2017 that supporters of Israel would “infest” the US government after President Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

Timothy Mitchell, for his part, signed the “Columbia University Apartheid Divest: Faculty Petition,” authored by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).

The disturbing list goes on.

Activists have protested this unacceptable phenomenon. Not only do Columbia University officials stand by their anti-Israel faculty members, they continue to hire professors with well-documented histories of demonizing Israel and the Jewish people.

These professors freely spread their hateful propaganda without leaving any room for balanced opinions or proper debate.

By doing so, Columbia has essentially conveyed a clear and disheartening message that any student who takes a class on the Middle East at MESAAS is guaranteed to be bombarded with one-sided anti-Semitic, anti-Israel propaganda.

Stopantisemitism.org, active against Jew hatred on campus, has launched a petition calling on Columbia University to “condemn anti-Semitism, to remove professors who bluntly promote anti-Israel propaganda, and to hire professors who will provide their students with balanced and objective views of the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and will teach them to respect other cultures and religions, such as Judaism.”

They also demanded that Columbia publicly disclose the annual amounts that the university in general, and MESAAS in particular, receive from foreign foundations or from American foundations funded by foreign foundations.

We must join Stopantisemitism.org and demand that Columbia University condemn anti-Semitism and remove professors who promote anti-Israel propaganda.

We must demand that Columbia University ensure its campus is welcoming and safe for everyone, including Jews!

Israelis Under Attack - Donate

Urge Columbia U to Fight its Faculty’s Anti-Semitism!

1. Clich Here to sign the petition.

2. Click Here to send Columbia U a message via twitter.

3. Write University President Lee Bollinger:  [email protected] and [email protected]