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U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) blasted Rutgers University on Friday for “rampant antisemitism” on campus after a lecturer participated in a webinar with a Hamas-affiliated organization and voiced support for the terror organization.
The move comes amid a burst of antisemitism at U.S. campuses nationwide in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, the deadliest one-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Read my statement on the Rutgers Student Assembly’s BDS referendums: pic.twitter.com/xTuBH6Eiiw
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) April 2, 2024
“It’s outrageous that yet another Rutgers faculty member, Hamid Abdeljaber, spoke on an antisemitic webinar tied to Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization,” said Gottheimer. “Not only did Hamid defend Hamas as part of a so-called ‘resistance,’ but he also celebrated its actions while promoting harmful antisemitic tropes and false narratives,” he added.
Abdeljaber, who teaches at Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies, had earlier written an article in Arabic media glorifying Hamas’s “resistance,” which, he asserted, yields positive results for the Palestinians.
The lawmaker said that this was just the most recent example of “rampant antisemitism” on the campus of the state university. He went on to note that it follows a Faculty Union vote to approve an antisemitic BDS resolution last year and a university-funded center that openly promoted both antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda.
“Rutgers University must not tolerate faculty members spewing vile antisemitism or conspiracy theories about the Jewish community. I have repeatedly called on Rutgers to take action against faculty who express antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric, and I will continue to do so until real action is finally taken,” said Gottheimer.
