Professors call for retaliation over display complaints in Palestine

JACLYN DIAZAugust 12, 2023

Two pro-Israel professors at the Borough of Manhattan Community College are being investigated by the school for daring to publicly criticize their pro-Palestinian program.

Assistant mathematics professor Avraham Goldstein and a colleague, who asked not to be identified, were commenting on events organized by the school’s Social Justice and Equity Centers, which included a lecture on “the structure of apartheid” in Israel and an exhibition in March with a torn display, it was held because of “settler colonialism, military occupation, land grabbing and ethnic cleansing”.

BMCC, part of the City University of New York system, apologized for the exposure, but last month the Office of Compliance and Diversity told the professors they were under investigation for speaking to the press about the school’s events in the had spoken in March.

“I understand that this investigation against us represents retaliation by the CUNY administration for our activities – for our public complaint about the anti-Semitic events on the BMCC campus and for our complaints against those responsible for those events,” Goldstein said

Pro-Palestine exhibition on the BMCC campus — An exhibition at the BMCC criticized Israel for “settler colonialism, military occupation, land grabbing and ethnic cleansing.”

The school said its investigation stemmed from complaints from Nadia Saleh, then program coordinator at the Social Justice and Equity Center’s multicultural center, according to letters sent to the professors, copies of which The Post had obtained.

In her complaints, Saleh accused the professors of harassing her by contributing to coverage of the March controversy, in which media published false information about her ethnicity and religion.

Saleh said she was additionally harassed by Goldstein for sharing those articles on social media.

Abraham Goldstein — BMCC professor Avraham Goldstein said the school’s investigation into him and another colleague was in retaliation.

Both professors denied speaking to the press about Saleh, and Goldstein said he shared a link to a United With Israel article to thank them for their coverage.

“I was interviewed about what I saw, the journalists quoted me and then wrote what they wanted,” Goldstein said.

News of the BMCC investigation came just months after another CUNY school, Kingsborough Community College, launched investigations into two of its professors after they filed complaints about anti-Semitism on their campus. accordingly news reports.

“I think CUNY is doing something very methodically premeditated: They’re sending a very strong message that a Zionist Jew isn’t allowed to file a complaint,” said Jeffrey Lax, a KCC professor researched by CUNY.

CUNY has been affected by numerous controversies surrounding Israel and anti-Semitism in recent years.

In May, CUNY Law School came under criticism after opening speaker Fatima Mousa denounced Mohammed Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians, in what CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and his board of trustees later denounced as hate speech.

Last year, Matos Rodriguez was conspicuously absent when staff and students testified before the city council about rampant anti-Semitism in CUNY.