Lawmaker Demands Punishment for ‘Zionists Off Campus’ Demonstrators

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By JTA February 18, 2016

A Brooklyn assemblyman has called on Brooklyn College to discipline the 10 or so students who participated in a protest that interrupted a faculty meeting with anti-Israel statements.

“The university needs to act on this and enforce disciplinary action on the students that participated,” state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat, said in a statement Thursday. “It’s nice to issue a statement apologizing for what occurred, but actions speak much louder than words.”

A faculty member who wished to remain anonymous told JTA that the students interrupted a meeting of the school’s faculty council with demands and statements like “Zionists off campus.”

When a professor told the students they were out of order, they called him a “Zionist pig,” according to the faculty member.

Brooklyn College President Karen Gould condemned the protest but did specify disciplinary action, Hikind’s press release said.

“Without enforcing any sort of disciplinary action, what kind of message does a simple apology send to everyone at Brooklyn College?” Hikind said.

The Anti-Defamation League praised Gould’s condemnation of the incident in a statement but also urged the Brooklyn College leadership to “take appropriate disciplinary action.”

“We are concerned about the manifestation of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred at Brooklyn College,” ADL New York Regional Director Evan Bernstein said in a press release Thursday. “We urge Brooklyn College leadership and all academic institutions across New York State to make clear that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that denigrates Jews has no place on campus.”

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