Israel University Head denounces UMass anti-Semitic panel

After University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted an event this past weekend, “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech and the Battle for Palestinian Human Rights,” Prof. Ron Robin — President of the University of Haifa and Chairman of the Committee of University Heads of Israel (VERA) — condemned the event as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.

"The upcoming event at UMass Amherst on 'free speech' and 'human rights' advances neither of those objectives and values," he stated. "Rather, by providing a platform to prominent supporters of the global BDS movement such as Roger Waters and Linda Sarsour, the one-sided panel only serves to promote exclusion, discrimination, and hate, while refusing to give supporters of Israel the equal space they deserve to convey their own perspectives to their campus community. Of all involved parties, the university's Department of Communication should understand the importance of fairness and balance, yet the department is blatantly ignoring those principles in co-sponsoring this event."

The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Communication and the Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and the panel featured Roger Waters, the ex-Pink Floyd founder and bassist and advocate for Palestinian human rights, and Palestinian political activist Linda Sarsour.

"Equally disturbing is the event's co-sponsorship by the university's Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, underscoring the threat to today's Jewish and pro-Israel students posed by intersectionality, the desire to link all forms of oppression — a tactic which today is most commonly used to recruit minority and marginalized student groups for the campaign to delegitimise Israel," Robin continued. "How can this academic department lend its name and support to a panel that willfully ignores the fact that Israel is a beacon of tolerance in a region plagued by intolerance, as the Middle East's only country which fully protects the rights of women and the LGBTQ community?"

Robin was appointed new Chairman of the Committee of University Heads of Israel (VERA) earlier this year, a role in which he will serve as the leading voice for Israel’s academic community on the issue of countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

"University of Haifa, VERA, and Israel's entire higher education community stand firmly against the UMass Amherst panel's promotion of hate and twisting of the facts about Israel. We will continue to speak out against such bigotry, delegitimization of Israel, and anti-Semitism each time it arises on the college campuses of our brothers and sisters in America."