Anti-Semitism on Campus: Now Come the Lawyers

After ten years of observing and complaining about anti-semitism on American college campuses, I am excited that Jewish students and community members have finally done what should have been done a long time ago; they have filed a lawsuit against San Francisco State University for allowing a climate of fear and intimidation against Jewish students in the name of the Palestinian cause.

I salute the Lawfare Project and the  plaintiffs who have said that enough is enough. After years of having students from the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) openly express their support of violence and murder against Israelis, after years of SFSU professor and GUPS mentor, Rabab Abdulhadi, enabling her young thugs and using university funding and resources to travel to the Middle East to meet those who want to destroy the Jewish state, after years of watching university president Les Wong openly express his support of GUPS and establish academic links with the West Bank’s Al Najah University, described as a hotbed of breeding terrorists, Jewish students and the university community have done what should have been done long ago. They have called in the lawyers. This is exactly what needs to be done.

I and my colleagues engaged in the struggle of fighting campus anti-semitism have written our share of letters to university presidents. I wrote one just days ago to UC Irvine’s chancellor as UCI investigates the latest disruption of a pro-Israel event on May 10 by Students for Justice in Palestine. However, it is evident that the universities are paralyzed by fear of the organized Muslim lobby. Thus, groups like GUPS, SJP, and Muslim Student Association chapters have been engaging in disruption, bullying tactics, and expressions of Jew hatred and violence for years literally without consequence.

With this action, universities across the nation should be put on notice that if they allow this type of campus climate to exist to the detriment of Jewish students, they will be faced with similar lawsuits. It’s the pocket book. It’s the loss of Jewish students. It’s the public shaming of the university. This is what it takes to get the attention of university administrators.

SFSU has for decades prided itself as a radical bastion. They now have allowed it to cross the line into Jew hatred. Now, hopefully, they will pay the consequences. The California State University system needs to wake up to what has been going on at SFSU under President Wong. For starters, he needs to go. Secondly, hate-mongering groups like GUPS and SJP need to be banned from college campuses nation-wide. In addition, universities need to learn the hard way that hate against Jews is no more acceptable than hate directed at any other minority group.

The lawsuit against SFSU should be closely watched. Hopefully, it will be successful and be followed by many more across the nation.