Official SFS University FB page posts 'Zionism = racism," 80 org's protest
In response, eighty organizations wrote to the California State University (CSU) Chancellor Timothy White to alert him and the university of the "hateful" posting.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF‘INSTEAD OF fighting the Israeli army on the battlefield or killing civilians through acts of terrorism, the BDS movement seeks to destroy Israel’s image in the eyes of the world.’(photo credit: REUTERS)
On an official university Facebook page, an admin posted a picture of a poster that states "Zionism = racism; silence = death; Palestine is a Queer issue; Boycott! Divest! Sanction!"The picture was posted on the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies at San Francisco State University page in early July. The same picture was posted by a senior scholar of the initiative’s, Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, personal page.In response, eighty organizations wrote to the California State University (CSU) Chancellor Timothy White to alert him and the university of the "hateful" posting."While Prof. Abdulhadi has the right to express religious, ethnic or political hatred on her personal platform, it is a flagrant breach of academic conduct for her to use her administrative position and the Facebook page bearing her academic unit’s logo -- which includes the name “San Francisco State University” — to do so," the letter said. "Prof. Abdulhadi’s flagrant and unlawful conduct requires your immediate attention."The letter was organized by the AMCHA Initiative, an organization with the focus of investigating and condemning antisemitic incidents. Some of the organizations that signed the letter include Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alumns for Campus Fairness, California Association of Scholars, Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors, ACTA, B’nai B’rith International, Iranian American Jewish Federation, NCSY, Rabbinical Alliance of America, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.Many of these organizations have written letters before about Abdulhadi. Last year, she wrote a Facebook post on a university page saying, “welcoming Zionists to campus, equating Jewishness with Zionism, and giving Hillel ownership of campus Jewishness to be a declaration of war against Arabs, Muslims, [and] Palestinians.”While the group received a response that the post was unacceptable, the post remains on the Facebook page.
Abdulhadi has also come to a head with the Lawfare Project, an NGO focused on protecting civil rights, with a emphasis on antisemitism. In 2017, the organization brought a lawsuit against Abdulhadi for contributing "to a pervasively hostile environment at the school that violated the civil rights of Jewish students."Supporters of Abdulhadi came to her aid and raised USD $51,259 for her legal funds. In the end, the lawsuit was settled out of court.