In the beleaguered state of New York, a panel discussion titled “The Intifada is going global!” was scheduled to be held. — before higher-ups wised up and canceled the event as protests spread Monday.
Lehman College, City University of New York, had reserved space for the upcoming February 16th session. This session was titled “Globalization of the Intifada!” Part of a one-day “Engagement, Equity, and Anti-Racism” conference described by the university as “Mapping the struggle for Palestine between the streets and the classroom.”
“Intifada” is an Arabic word that has been used to describe a period of violent protests against Israel, including the infamous series of terrorist attacks from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
When details of the panel emerged on Monday and critics slammed the event as a “method of mentoring young terrorists,” the university canceled it.
“The Engagement, Equity, and Anti-Racism Conference aims to center pedagogy and support professors who teach struggling students,” said Jane Kehoe, director of the Lehman Institute for Literacy. Higgins said in a statement to the Post, adding: The panel was pulled out when school officials clashed with organizers, including teachers and students from City College.
“The goal is to bring people together, not to harm students or make them feel unsafe,” Higgins said. “This is not a platform for protest. After discussing it with the panelists, I do not believe we share the same goals.
“While there are appropriate forums for them to share their views, this meeting is not one of them and the panel discussion has been cancelled.”
Opponents of the planned panel said the topic was blatantly anti-Semitic.
“This event was like a ‘how-to’ guide for junior terrorists,” Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a longtime City University of New York trustee, told the Post.
“Something crazy and incredible happens every day at CUNY,” he said. “Supporting the Intifada is not only anti-Semitic, it is anti-civilization.”
U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-New York) was furious, calling it a “second intifada.” [in the early 2000s] It sparked a wave of terrorist attacks and suicide bombings, killing 1,000 Israelis.
“Any event that seeks to ‘globalize the intifada’ is an open invitation to violence against Jews around the world. This is unacceptable,” the lawmaker added.
Like other universities in New York and across the country, CUNY has come under fire for anti-Semitic incidents on campus since the brutal attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7th. Continued conflict between the two countries threatens to lead to World War III.
The City University of New York has already been investigated by Gov. Cathy Hochul’s administration for anti-Semitic incidents, and the governor has launched a program to combat anti-Semitism across New York’s universities.
On Monday, a once-public Google document about the “Intifada” event was updated to remove mention of the panel before it was set to private.
The panel’s posting schedule, viewed before the post was removed, listed Brittany Munroe, a member of the New York University Graduate Center, as the moderator.Mr. Munro is a doctoral student and a lecturer at Lehman University. Who was advertised in the center Named one of the 2023 Teachers of the Year.
The speaker panel also included Professor Conor Tomas Reed from the Shape of Cities to Come Institute;
According to Reed’s websiteHe is “at the City University of New York and New York City on behalf of education and public space transformation, anti-imperialism, police and prison abolition, solidarity with Palestine and Puerto Rico, reproductive rights, housing justice, and beyond.”
The panel also included Lucien Baskin of the New York University Graduate Center and Reem Oke of Lehman University.
Baskin, whose Twitter profile includes the phrase “from the river to the sea,” is a doctoral student in urban education, and Okke is majoring in English literature.
Mr. Munroe, Mr. Baskin and Mr. Reed were among more than 1,000 people who signed a New York City community petition calling for a boycott of Israel as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians over the war in Gaza.
Neither Munroe, Baskin, Reed nor Oke immediately responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
“It is time for New York State to appoint an independent monitor responsible for monitoring anti-Semitism on City University of New York campuses,” Torres told the Post. “CUNY’s self-regulation is no longer sufficient.”
A representative for the governor said: Hochul has taken significant steps to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, launching the first anti-Semitism review of its kind at New York University earlier this year.
“Governor. Mr. Hochul has repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism in all its forms and supports City University’s decision to cancel this panel.”
Lehman College spokesperson Richard Relkin further emphasized the school’s position in a separate statement, saying, “The polarizing title does not reflect the conference theme and is not consistent with campus policy. “We support the conference organizers’ decision to cancel the panel discussion.”
“Lehman College is committed to creating safe spaces for our community to have civil and productive conversations, promoting diversity, and addressing all forms of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.” I will continue to fight against this hatred.”
