RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/tonight-we-fight-back-harvard-graduate-slams-campus-antisemitism-in-blistering-rnc-speech/

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School who is currently suing the university over its failure to respond to antisemitic harassment and discrimination on campus, took aim at left-wing antisemitism in a Republican National Convention speech that drew raucous cheers from the Milwaukee audience.

“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of Western civilization,” Kestenbaum said. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism but its illiberalism. Too often, students at Harvard are taught not how to think but what to think. I found myself immersed in a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is antisemitic.”

Kestenbaum stressed to the convention crowd that antisemitism does not exist in a vacuum. Those who hate the Jewish people and the state of Israel, he argued, abhor the United States and the West as well.

“Students and professors have openly called for new Hamas-style attacks against the United States, and perhaps most damning, when Hamas terrorists butchered 45 American citizens on October 7 — when they took twelve Americans hostage — Harvard refused to immediately and unequivocally condemn this atrocity,” he said.

Formerly a member of the progressive Left, Kestenbaum explained to the audience how he went from being a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in the 2020 Democratic presidential-primary race to understanding what he deemed the deep rot at the core of left-wing radicalism.

“Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far Left has not only abandoned the Jewish people but the American people,” he told the crowd. “The Democratic Party — the party I registered to vote for the day I turned 18 — has become ideologically poisoned. And it is this poison, it is this corruption, that is infecting far too many young American students. Let’s be clear: The far Left’s antisemitic extremism has no virtue, and the radicalism on our campuses and on our streets has no moral legitimacy.”

After describing the threats antisemitism and support for terrorism pose to American society, Kestenbaum turned his attention to the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.

“Tonight, we fight back,” he vowed. “I am proud to support President Trump’s policies to expel foreign students who violate our laws, harass our Jewish classmates, and desecrate our freedoms. Let’s elect a president who will instill patriotism in our schools. Once again, let’s elect a president who will confront terrorism and its supporters.”

Kestenbaum ended his speech by affirming the tight-knit bond between the Jewish tradition and the principles upon which the United States was founded and a reminder not to forget the American citizens still held in Hamas captivity.

“Let’s elect a president who recognizes that although Harvard and the Ivy Leagues have long abandoned the United States of America, the Jewish people never will, because Jewish values are American values, and American values are Jewish values,” he said. “God bless the United States, God bless the land of Israel, God bless, protect, and return the American hostages in Gaza.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/columbia-university-suspends-top-administrators-for-mocking-antisemitism-concerns-in-texts/

Columbia University on Monday placed three administrators on leave over leaked text exchanges in which they played down concerns about campus antisemitism and mocked the university’s rabbi during a panel on Jewish life at Columbia.

As panelists shared their experiences of antisemitism on campus, the administrators exchanged mocking texts — captured in photos by a person in attendance and shared with the Washington Free Beacon — in which they suggested that critics were using the issue of antisemitism for its “fundraising potential.”

The administrators — Columbia College vice dean and chief administrative officer Susan Chang-Kim, dean of undergraduate student life Cristen Kromm, and associate dean for student and family support Matthew Patashnick — have been placed on indefinite leave and will not return to their positions, though they are technically still employed by the university. Columbia College dean Josef Sorett, the highest-ranking administrator involved in the text exchanges, “will be writing to the Columbia College community separately” and will keep his job as dean.

Columbia president Minouche Shafik — the much-derided leader whose April testimony in front of the House Education and Workforce Committee coincided with the establishment of the first anti-Israel encampment in the country — announced the decision in a Monday morning statement.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/at-columbia-the-jew-hating-plot-thickens/

“Three Columbia Deans Placed on Leave Pending Investigation,” by Eliana Johnson, Washington Free Beacon, June 20, 2024:

Three of the Columbia University deans caught exchanging dismissive text messages during a May 31 panel on anti-Semitism have been placed on leave as the university investigates the incident, a spokesman for the school said Thursday.

As part of the college’s alumni reunion week, Columbia College administrators, knowing of the alarm expressed by many alumni at the stories of antisemitic harassment of Jewish students by anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrators on the campus, and the claims by Jews that they received no support from the administration, decided to put on a show. Jewish students would be allowed to publicly air their complaints, as participants in a panel discussion on May 31, in the presence of several Columbia College deans, faculty members, and members of the alumni reunion classes, who would be able to observe this airing of grievances, as a way to allay fears that the college administrators were not doing enough to address the Jewish students’ claims of harassment and violence.

“The Dean of Columbia College informed his team today that three administrators have been placed on leave pending a university investigation of the incident that occurred at the College alumni reunion several weeks ago,” the spokesman said.

That dean, Josef Sorett, who also took part in the text exchanges, “reiterated his commitment to learning from this situation and other incidents over the last year to build a community of respect and healthy dialogue.”

The three deans placed on leave, Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick, and Cristen Kromm, were captured—along with Sorett—exchanging derisive and anti-Semitic text messages.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/major-teachers-union-to-vote-on-resolution-accusing-israel-of-genocide/

National Education Association members will vote on several anti-Israel resolutions at the union’s annual “Representative Assembly” in Philadelphia this week, including the adoption of an official position holding that Israel is conducting a “genocide” in Gaza and that opposing the Jewish state’s existence is not antisemitic, documents obtained by National Review show.

Two items of business would have the NEA “use existing digital communication tools to educate members about the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.”

The resolutions claim that the two are often erroneously conflated, characterizing antisemitism as “bias or action against Jewish people” in one document and “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews” in another. Union members describe anti-Zionism as “a political stance” in the first resolution and “the opposition to any Jewish state in the Middle East” which entails opposing “the existence of the modern state of Israel.”

In order for an item of business to reach the floor, it must be sponsored by at least 50 of the 6,000 delegates present at the convention. If passed, the resolutions direct the NEA to abide by their provisions for a year, provided that the resolution does not violate existing NEA policy.

Multiple resolutions set to be discussed this week would have the NEA use its resources to promote efforts to end ties between the United States and Israel. One such campaign is the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, explaining to members the connection between BDS and “the broader labor movement” as well as addressing “legislative efforts to restrict speech in relation to BDS” and “NEA members’ participation in the movement.”