Demand Yale Address the Hostile Antisemitic Environment on Campus

Antisemitism continues to surge at Yale University following the latest effort by radicals to ban any views supportive of the world's sole Jewish state on campus. This can be witnessed in the most recent intimidation campaign launched by Israel's detractors at the Ivy League to prevent Michal Cotler-Wunsh, a centrist Israeli politician, from speaking at an event organized by the Jewish Law Students Association.

Unfortunately, amid rising Jew-hatred threatening the security of the Jewish community on campus, the Jewish Law Students Association decided not to sponsor the event due to increasing threats of pushback. Students should never be ostracized for supporting a crucial speech on antisemitism and human rights, especially at a school infested with ongoing efforts to discriminate against the Jewish community that could benefit from it most. 

Unsurprisingly, this drama follows a long string of controversies at Yale where Jewish students and faculty members have been demanded to abandon aspects of their very identity, including support for their indigenous homeland and America's closest ally in the region. Just last month, the university hosted Houria Bouteldja, a rampant anti-Israel activist and supporter of the terrorist group and Iranian proxy, Hamas, on the second night of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

This disturbing event's convenient timing sparked immense blowback because observant Jewish students were unable to attend the speech or host a counter-event due to their religious obligations. As a result, antisemitism and another vile effort to smear Israel went unchecked at an institution meant to promote open debate and civil discussion. The anti-Israel hate group Yalies4Palestine has further ignited the school's antisemitic climate by demanding that the administration divest from G4S security due to its relationship with Israel, further labeling the company as contributing to crimes against the Palestinians. 

As Michal Cotler-Wunsh rightly stated following JLSA’s sponsorship withdrawal, if she is "controversial, who isn't?' During her career in Israel's Knesset, Michal Cotler-Wunsh served in the Blue and White Alliance which promoted same-sex unions and signaled an openness to peace talks with the Palestinians. 

Enough is enough. If a college education is meant to provide anything, it is the right to listen to and hear different ideas and opinions in search of the truth while ensuring every community feels safe in expressing the critical parts of their identity. Urge Yale's administration to address the hostile, antisemitic environment on campus without delay.