University presidents have refused to unequivocally say that calling for the genocide of Jews is harassment or bullying, saying the issue is a “context-dependent decision.”
This occurred during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on Dec. 5 with University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, Harvard President Claudine Gay, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth regarding anti-Semitism on college and university campuses amid the war between the Jewish state of Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked those presidents whether calling for the genocide of Jews is harassment or bullying.
“If targeted at individuals not making public statements,” said Ms. Kornbluth.
Ms. Kornbluth claimed she has not heard of genocidal calls against Jews.
She did, however, say, “I’ve heard chants which can be anti-Semitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people.”
Ms. Kornbluth added that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people “would be investigated as harassment if pervasive and severe.”
Ms. Magill echoed Ms. Kornbluth when asked the same question by Ms. Stefanik, a Harvard alumna.
“If it is directed, and severe, pervasive, it is harassment,” she said.
“It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman,” added Ms. Magill.
Ms. Stefanik appeared speechless in response. Ms. Magill repeated her answer when asked again by Ms. Stefanik about whether calling for the extermination of Jews is harassment or bullying.
“If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment, yes,” said Ms. Magill, who eventually said that it is harassment if there is calls for genocide against the Jews.
Ms. Stefanik also asked Ms. Gay if calling for genocide against Jews constitutes bullying or harassment.
“It can be, depending on the context,” she said.
“Anti-Semitic rhetoric when it crosses into conduct, that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation, that is actionable conduct, and we do take action,” added Ms. Gay.
Students Speak Out
Ahead of the hearing, Jewish college students sounded the alarm about anti-Semitism on their campuses.During the weekly House GOP press conference, MIT graduate student Talia Kahn lamented that her campus, where she also attended as an undergraduate, has “an extremely toxic anti-Semitic atmosphere.”
One instance of anti-Semitism at the world-renowned school was a recent protest where anti-Israel activists called for “intifada,” or the massacre of Jews in Israel, and echoed the rallying cry “from the river to the sea”—a call for the Jewish state’s annihilation.
New York University student Bella Ingber said that anti-Semitism at her school has consisted of vandalized and torn posters of hostages held by Hamas and protests where students and faculty members were calling for intifada. She said she was physically attacked by a student in the school library for wearing an American-Israeli flag.
University of Pennsylvania student Eyal Yakoby stated that, while he appreciated the opportunity to address the media in Congress about anti-Semitism on his campus, he “should not be here today.”
“I should be studying for my upcoming finals.”
