Academic Hypocrisy in the Israeli-Palestinian Confliuct

This article first appeared in the Times of Israel Blogs.

Like many US universities, New York University is having to deal with anti-Semitism on its campus, thanks as always, to the actions of the pro-Palestinian forces and their academic enablers. It has just been announced that there will be a federal investigation into allegations of campus anti-Semitism at NYU. Recently, a university department sponsored a speech at NYU by Noura Erakat, a well-known anti-Israel activist. In response, some Jewish students asked the department of Asian American Studies when they would host a speaker with pro-Israel views in order to balance the discussion. The answer was “Never”. I am cross-posting an article on the issue by United with Israel.

This, of course, reminds me of similar experiences I have had in attending such events, which are all the rage on American university campuses. Not only groups like the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine routinely sponsor speakers like Erakat, they are often invited by university departments lending their imprimatur to the Palestinian narrative. As a part-time teacher at the UC Irvine Extension from 1998-2016, I became involved in following such events on that campus as well as others.