House Education and Labor Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, RN.C., sent a letter to Columbia University on Monday, calling Congress on the rise in anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses, culminating in the influence of Hamas. requested documents and information related to the investigation. October 7th: Attack on southern Israel.
Columbia University President Dr. Minoush Shafik, Columbia University Board of Trustees Co-Chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, Barnard College President Dr. Laura Rosenberry, and Barnard College Board of Trustees Chair Cheryl Glicker Milstein. The 16-page letter to him provides the following examples: As classified by Fox, “Colombia has been documenting an environment of rampant anti-Semitism for more than two decades prior to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks.”
The requested documents and information are said to relate to “Columbia University’s response to anti-Semitism on campus and its failure to protect Jewish students, faculty and staff.”
“Columbia has consistently allowed anti-Israel groups to violate university policies and has shown its commitment to anti-Semitism to be hollow,” Fox wrote.
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Demonstrators near Columbia University in New York on February 2, 2024. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The committee will review all reports and related documents and communications regarding anti-Semitic acts and incidents submitted to the Colombian government since January 1, 2021, and how New York City’s prestigious university should respond. seeking information about the university’s own policies and procedures. due to discrimination and harassment.
The list of 25 specific items sought by the committee included “Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia Bernard Jewish Voice for Peace, Deapartheid Columbia University, and Columbia Law Student Funding Sources.” All documents and communications relating to or reflecting the source of funding were included. Palestine, Columbia Social Workers 4 Palestine, and faculty for Palestine Justice, including but not limited to university, department, faculty, student body funds, and foreign donations. ”
Mr. Fox also asked for documentation showing the annual total amount of foreign donations and funds (including but not limited to government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and individuals) to Colombia since January 1, 2021, by country. There is. Sufficient documentation to show all foreign donations and funds of $50,000 or more to Colombia since January 1, 2021. and from Qatari financial sources (including but not limited to Qatar Foundations, government agencies, non-governmental organizations whether incorporated in Qatar or elsewhere, and individuals) from 1 January 2021 onwards. Sufficient documentation to show all donations and funds to Columbia.
In addition to information about foreign funding of anti-Israel protests, Professor Fox also provided information about efforts by Columbia University students, faculty and staff to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel starting January 1, 2021. I’m also looking for Columbia’s state budget mandates a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program.
In his letter, Foxx cited incidents at Columbia University over the past few months, including incidents in which Jewish students were beaten and targeted by protesters who tore down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas militants. “numerous incidents of anti-Semitic assault, harassment, and vandalism.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the Columbia suburb of New York on February 2, 2024. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress)
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The letter asks the university to provide communications related to a list of specific incidents involving Columbia University students, faculty, staff, and other interested parties starting Oct. 7. This includes, but is not limited to, an incident directed at an Israeli student outside a Columbia University library on October 7th. 11, a Jewish Columbia University law student on October 19, an Israeli Columbia University law student on October 24, and a Jewish student in the campus cafeteria on November 9.
The chant calls for death for Jews, and a student email thread similarly wishes death for Israeli Defense Forces veterans on campus. The letter also noted that “a number of Columbia University faculty members have made anti-Semitic statements and expressed support for Palestinian terrorism before and after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks.”
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx holds a press conference with students about anti-Semitism on college campuses at the Capitol on December 5, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
The most egregious examples include Joseph Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics, who wrote an article after the Oct. 7 attacks comparing “Palestinian resistance” to “Europeans resisting Nazi occupation,” according to the letter. It also included referring to Israel as “cruel.” The Palestinian Authority as a “colonizer” and the Palestinian Authority as a “collaborator PA”.
Massad also called the Israeli military “Zionist Jewish volunteers who kill babies for the sake of Israeli Jewish supremacy” and labeled Israelis as “cruel, bloodthirsty colonizers” and said that Zionism is ” He has been accused of espousing anti-Semitic tropes, including calling it a “genocidal cult.” The letter also notes that another university official, Hamid Dabashi, the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, made comments years ago that included labeling Israel a “racist apartheid state.” He also mentioned that he had made a number of virulent anti-Semitic statements dating back to the
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Columbia University suspended campus chapters of the anti-Israel groups Students for Justice Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) on November 10, 2023, but the letter states, “The university has repeatedly enforced this decision.” “We have not allowed these groups and others to hold unauthorized anti-Semitic and anti-Israel events,” the letter said.
Fox said this is based on President Shafiq’s October 9, 2023 promise that “our top priority has been to make sure everyone associated with Colombia is safe” and “President Shafiq’s This contradicts the Colombian government’s statement that the country has repeatedly stated that it does not tolerate anti-Semitic acts and actions. There have been reports of anti-Semitic threats, images, and other violations that we are vigorously combating. ”
