Rutgers University is being slammed for “antisemitic” lectures that critics say spread “vitriolic hate” — including one from a professor who once appeared on a panel alongside a senior Hamas official.
Noura Erakat, an attorney and associate professor of international studies, gave a virtual lecture, “Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine,” on Tuesday that was organized by the embattled Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School.
In 2020, she participated in an online workshop along with senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad that was hosted by Palestinian nonprofit the Masarat Center, according to a post advertising the event.
And Omar Shakir, a director at the Human Rights Watch, a group publicly hostile to Israel, is set to speak Feb. 29 on “Gaza, Genocide and International Law.”
“These types of programs represent a pattern by Rutgers of allowing unabashed antisemitic expression by both professors and students,” the group End Jew Hatred wrote in a letter to Rutgers administrators.
“Despite increasing campus antisemitism and significant prior protests, Rutgers, in the name of free speech, diversity and academic freedom, still fails to take action to stop the vitriolic hate,” the group said.
In November, Erakat participated in anti-Israel rallies in Washington, DC and Philadelphia, where she claimed Israel is on a “depraved pursuit of wealth and privilege.”
And a month later, a controversial talk about “Race, Liberation, and Palestine” that Erakat participated in was blasted by critics as “providing a platform” for “well-known antisemites.”
“Rutgers’ continued promotion of notorious antisemites increases the spread of hate speech and the possibility of violence and harassment on campus,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told The Post.
“While differing views are a crucial part of building cultural understanding, universities cannot provide a bully pulpit for those who seek to divide and spew hate,” he added.
Rutgers, which has the one of the largest Jewish populations of any US college, is being probed by the US Department of Education for antisemitism.
In November, Rutgers’ Student Bar Association almost impeached an Orthodox Jewish member after he complained that the organization shared Hamas propaganda. The student is now suing in a case that details other instances of alleged antisemitism.
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans are investigating the CSRR — which sponsored Erakat’s lecture and is sponsoring next week’s discussion — alleging it promotes “terrorist sympathizers” and antisemitism.
Erakat shrugged off accusations of antisemitism and instead said it was “unfortunate” that her advocacy is “somehow threatening to [other] people.”
The school and center have been under “tremendous scrutiny,” including over the brief suspension of its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, she said. The SJP allegedly committed vandalism and disrupted classes in December, according to reports.
“It’s par for the course across campuses of a repressive apparatus that has tried to shrink space, rather than engage in these discussions,” Erakat said.
The advocacy group Alums for Campus Fairness commended the university when it suspended the SJP but now says it doesn’t seem to have learned any “meaningful lessons,” its executive director Avi Gordon told The Post.
“SJP is back, and now antisemitic speakers are being feted at official university events,” Gordon said.
Many argue the school has an obligation to protect Jewish students from antisemitism, harassment and intimidation and say the First Amendment is not a pass.
“Public universities have a totally different standard,” noted Jeffrey Lax, a law professor who runs SAFE Campus, which advocates for Zionist Jews on campuses. “The standard is, are you interfering with students’ rights to go to their classes, get educated properly, not be harassed and not be prevented from having a safe environment on campus?”
Public institutions can lawfully shut down speech that interferes with a student’s access to their education, he noted.
Rutgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
