Department Of Education Probing Anti-Semitism At Anti-Israel College Conference
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a Middle East conference on Gaza co-sponsored by two North Carolina universities over allegations that it had an anti-Israel bias.
Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., called on the department to check into the late March conference co-sponsored by Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill held at the latter campus.
Holding said he had seen “reports of severe anti-Israeli bias and anti-Semitic rhetoric at the taxpayer-funded conference,” The Raleigh News & Observer reported.
The universities budgeted $5,000 in Education Department funding from a four-year grant paying $235,000 annually for international and foreign language education programming. UNC told the newspaper on Tuesday that it spent less than $200 of the grant money.
Education Secretary Betsy Devos responded in a letter to Holding on Tuesday.
“I am troubled by the concerns outlined in your letter,” she wrote. “In order for the Department to learn more about this matter, I have directed the Office of Postsecondary Education to examine the use of funds under this program.”
The conference, titled The “Conflict Over Gaza: People, Politics, and Possibilities,” featured a performance by the Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar of the hip-hop group DAM. Edited clips of Nafar singing his song “Mama, I Fell in Love with a Jew” at the conference were posted on social media.
“A performance during a recent conference held on our campus contained disturbing and hateful language,” read a statement by Kevin Guskiewicz, UNC’s interim chancellor, on April 12. “I am heartbroken and deeply offended that this performance happened. I stand steadfast against anti-Semitism and hate in all its forms.”
The Louis D. Brandeis Center said in a statement that “the conference failed to provide its participants with what it originally promised — a nuanced and ‘deeper understanding of the context of these realities’ and realistic ‘options that can better the lives of Gazans.’ Other than perpetuating myths about Israel, the conference minimized Hamas’ role in perpetuating the crisis.
The statement added: “Furthermore, panels and programs denied Israel’s right to exist, brandishing it a “settler-colonialist” entity while negating the enduring legacy of Jewish life in the region.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
