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“Acknowledging that it was almost entirely Brandeis students and that it was led by a Jewish group would lead to a PR disaster for Zionist administrators ahead of admitted students weekend,” protest organizers said.
Jewish students at Brandeis University held their own “Hands Off” protest last week, which the administration at the historically Jewish university in Waltham said included “antisemitic” speech.
Brandeis’s Interim President Arthur Levine said in an email to students Monday that he was “saddened” by the “All Out for Palestine” protest outside the Shapiro Campus Center last Friday.
The protest was organized by Brandeis Jewish Bund, named for a Jewish socialist movement that opposes Zionism.
Dozens of students, mostly with Palestinian keffiyehs wrapped around their heads and sunglasses, marched with Palestinian flags, a “Free Palestine” banner, and a “Bibi sux” poster.
“While we encourage debate over difficult topics at Brandeis, we can never permit threatening, harassing, hateful or antisemitic speech on our campus,” Levine wrote in the email, which was obtained by Boston.com.
Brandeis did not respond to a request for comment to elaborate on the student’s alleged antisemitic speech or any discipline against them.
Brandeis Jewish Bund said in a statement that the allegations of antisemitism come from their use of two phrases: “Intifada” and “All Zionists are racist.”
“We stand by our speech and will continue to use both phrases. Intifada literally means “shaking off”/an uprising, and is in no way an antisemitic term,” the group said. “Israel is a settler-colonial apartheid state founded on the basis of colonial, racist values … Therefore, all Zionists are racist.”
Levine said the demonstration was made up of masked protesters, “most” of whom weren’t Brandeis students, faculty, or staff. In response, he said Brandeis will enforce the school’s no-trespassing policy “to its fullest extent.” The students who invited non-Brandeis individuals to campus will be disciplined, he said in the email.
Brandeis Jewish Bund denied that the majority of protesters were from off-campus, calling it a “complete fabrication that the university has provided no evidence to support.” The group said none of their members had been disciplined as of Wednesday.
“Their goal is to reframe the protest into an antisemitic incident in which outsiders targeted Jews within Brandeis,” a spokesperson for the group said. “Acknowledging that it was almost entirely Brandeis students and that it was led by a Jewish group would lead to a PR disaster for Zionist administrators ahead of admitted students weekend.”
In the email to students, Levine said the university is also banning face masks.
“Face coverings may not be used to avoid responsibility for one’s actions,” Levine wrote, noting they could still be used for “medical and religious purposes.”
The students called the ban “entirely unenforceable.”
Brandeis, named for the first Jewish Supreme Court justice, was founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community to educate Jews and other groups facing discrimination.
“Our university was created to be a shining city on a hill in which the actions of our community are intended to be a beacon to the world of our values,” the administration said. “No institution is perfect in achieving this, but Brandeis, because of its mission, has a special duty to condemn antisemitism, hate and discrimination of all types, and to strive to repair the world.”
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