NYU Students Under Threat by Pro-Israel Group BETAR
Certainly a sign of the fascist times in the USA – the threats against protected free speech of the pro-Palestine and anti-genocide voices come from many directions, politicians of both parties trying to define opposition to arms provisions to israel (what they mean by Israel’s right to “exist” or “self defeense”) as anti-Semitism with repressive measures to follow, from police ordered to disrupt pro-Palestine protests and to fascist pro-Israel vigilante groups. Hats off to this faculty advocacy group that is getting the pro-Palestinian students’ back and calling out the innuendo and threats by this apparently fascist “Betar” group. – FightBackBetter Editor
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRO-PALESTINIAN NYU STUDENTS THREATENED BY ZIONIST GROUP BETAR
FSJP Criticizes NYU Response for Not Addressing Anti-Palestinian Racism
NEW YORK, October 14, 2024 – The right-wing Zionist youth group “Betar” has arrived on New York University’s campus, vandalizing NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) and threatening pro-Palestinian student activists with violence. Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) calls on the NYU administration to treat these attacks the way it treats other forms of potential hate crimes. Instead, the vague and narrowly distributed statement issued by the University reveals its differential treatment of anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab attacks compared to other types of reported bias incidents on and off campus.
On the morning of September 13, graffiti reading “Betar was here” was spray painted on the ISAW building. Betar is a right-wing Zionist youth group whose instagram account regularly features dehumanizing anti-Palestinian posts such as this one from October 12: “Any punishment we place upon our enemy is not enough. Why are we providing them food or electricity? Cruelty is also a necessary component of a healthy jew as [Betar founder] Jabotinsky reminded us.” The graffiti incident came on the heels of several months of anti-Palestinian harassment of students and staff at ISAW, including one physical assault, by individuals whose affiliation is unknown (see below). On October 8, Betar, through its instagram account, responded to an announcement of a planned vigil by NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) by warning “We will be joining you” and then threatening the students, who were inside the Bobst library, with “We Waiting!” [sic]. To make the threat clear, this was followed by a photo with a pile of pagers and the message “Free Pagers for all NYU SJP Members,” a reference to Israel’s conversion of pagers into bombs that killed dozens and maimed thousands of people in Lebanon.
On October 10, under pressure from students, staff, and faculty to respond, the NYU administration issued a generic statement condemning Betar’s “threatening social media posts” and its “violence and vandalism” at ISAW. The statement, which did not mention that these attacks targeted pro-Palestinian activists or those perceived as such, and did not explain what Betar is, was emailed to SJP and FSJP and posted to the “News Release” section of the University website. Neither the administration nor the Office of Campus Safety has sent out a community-wide email about the attacks and threats, or employed any of the other means through which the University has promised to communicate threats to the community. For context, the University sends community-wide emails almost weekly to warn students, faculty, and staff of reported crimes and threats of crimes.
The administration’s failure to explicitly address anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and violence, even in the face of clear and documented cases such as the Betar incidents, contrasts sharply with its public concern over reportedly antisemitic incidents on and off campus. For example, in May 2023, the Department of Campus Safety sent out a community-wide “NYU Clery Campus Notice” of a “report of an intimidation/hate crime” in which an unknown individual in Union Square “used a slur” against an NYU student after hearing the student listening to music in Hebrew and then followed the student into University Hall.
In contrast, no similar notification went out about an incident reported in early July 2024, when an NYU staff member wearing a keffiyeh entered the ISAW building after being followed and filmed by an individual yelling anti-Palestinian slurs, nor when “NYU School of Terror” was painted on the building the next day. No campus notification went out about a reported incident on July 16, when this same staff member was physically assaulted by the same man, who attempted to pull off their keffiyeh; nor about an incident the following day, when a milky white substance was found on the ISAW building, with CCTV footage showing the perpetrator hurling liquid at the door. These attacks were reported to NYU’s Office of Campus Safety. They were also reported to the NYPD, who are investigating the incidents as possible hate crimes.
In addition to treating incidents of anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Arab racism, and Islamophobia differently from other types of discrimination, NYU has actively fueled these forms of hate through its equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism and its depiction of pro-Palestine demonstrations as threats. No other university has yet gone as far as NYU in equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism in its discrimination and conduct policies. This equation is further solidified through the University’s own racist depiction of pro-Palestinian activities as threats to safety and security. For example, on October 12, 2023, the Office of Campus Safety sent out a community-wide email noting that it was on “heightened alert” in light of a planned pro-Palestine protest the following day and that “if members of the community do not feel safe coming to work tomorrow, they should plan on working or attending classes remotely.” NYU treats pro-Palestinian demonstrations as threats, while explicit and repeated threats made by a Zionist organization are not seen as deserving of community-wide notification.
Furthermore, NYU’s community-wide notifications of reported antisemitic incidents have not followed basic protocols of reliability. In April 2024, NYU President Linda Mills sent an email to the entire NYU community justifying her decision to call in the police to arrest NYU faculty and students at the Palestine solidarity encampment by referring to “reports of antisemitic incidents,” without mentioning that this defamatory claim had not been investigated and was not substantiated. Mills’ email did not provide any description of the provenance or content of the reports, making it impossible to know whether they were based on a spurious conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism. Many faculty and student eyewitnesses said they saw no evidence of antisemitism at the encampment.
David Hogg, professor of Physics and Data Science at NYU and a member of FSJP, said: “I get these security notices from NYU saying ‘stay safe, there’s going to be a protest!’ And of course the protests are peaceful, as always. And then this Zionist group literally threatens Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students directly and it’s crickets from NYU. It’s upsetting. Whose safety matters?”
Even before its response to these latest attacks and threats, NYU was widely criticized for the climate it has created for pro-Palestinian activists on campus. Just last week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, singled out NYU and Northwestern University for their “creation of a hostile campus environment for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish and other students, staff, and faculty opposing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.” The discriminatory actions of the University administration are diminishing NYU’s reputation as an equitable institution of higher learning and its claims to be a global network university.
