New School Draws Criticism for “Anti-semitism Panel” Featuring Anti-Israel Linda Sarsour and BDS JVP Head
Pro-Sharia anti-Semite Linda Sarsour and Israel-boycotting terrorist-supporting JVP will be featured. Hitler and Arafat would have also been chosen for the “anti-Semitism panel” if they had been available.
After coming under fire for its choice of speakers to appear on a panel discussion about antisemitism, the New School is offering to sponsor an alternative group that will include voices from the Jewish American mainstream. The New York institution, however, did not back down from its invitation of Linda Sarsour to speak at the new event, titled “Antisemitism and the Struggle for Justice,” scheduled for the end of this month.
The New School, a Manhattan-based university, is sponsoring the event in cooperation with the Jewish Voice for Peace and Jacobin Magazine, both of which promote causes of the ‘radical’ Left [and support terrorists in Israel].
Sarsour is a [so-called] “Palestinian”-American activist and unrelenting critic of Israel who supports a boycott against the Jewish state. In one of her more controversial statements, tweeted in 2012, she said “Nothing is creepier than Zionism.”
Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of JVP, is also scheduled to speak at the event, which will be moderated by Amy Goodman, host of the radio program Democracy Now.
Earlier this week, in response to a biting report about the panel in Tablet Magazine, Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, slammed the New School. “Having Linda Sarsour & head of JVP leading a panel on #antisemitism is like Oscar Meyer leading a panel on vegetarianism,” he wrote on Twitter. “These panelists know the issue, but unfortunately, from the perspective of fomenting it rather than fighting it.”
The New School responded in writing to The Jerusalem Post, saying the institution “is founded on principles of tolerance, social justice, and free intellectual exchange. These values remain central to our mission today, and we believe that engaging in debate on a range of issues and ideas is critical to our role as an academic institution”.
A representative who spoke on behalf of the school added: “We understand that there are different views on this issue. For that reason, the Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism Program has invited representatives of the magazine Tablet to organize an event to present some of these different views on this important topic; the program has also invited to participate Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League”.
The ADL declined the invitation. “We were dismayed to learn of the New School’s decision to host a panel discussion on antisemitism featuring individuals who have no expertise on antisemitism and whom we find deeply problematic,” a spokesman for the group said.
“JVP is an organization that is anti-Israel at their core and does not have the credibility to participate in any discussion about hatred against Jews. JVP is one of the primary drivers of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in the US, and in recent years, has made ever more radical and unfounded accusations against Israel and its supporters. By embracing BDS and engaging in rhetoric that delegitimizes Israel and denies Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, JVP goes beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and has positioned itself far outside the mainstream of the American Jewish community. Linda Sarsour has previously spoken at the rally of an unabashed antisemite Louis Farrakhan, has said one can’t be a Zionist and a feminist, and more recently downplayed the seriousness of antisemitism by saying it is not a systemic problem compared to racism and Islamophobia”.
