Jewish Yale faculty sign letter denouncing attacks on pro-Palestine dissenters: The statement, which rejected “cynical” claims of antisemitism, urged universities across the U.S. to resist federal actions like the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil and to protect university members’ right to free speech.

Tim Tai YALE

Yolanda Wang 11:33 pm, Mar 24, 2025

Staff Reporter

Dozens of Jewish Yale affiliates, including 30 faculty members, signed a statement calling for university leaders to resist President Donald Trump’s targeting of pro-Palestinian dissenters under the guise of combating antisemitism. 

The statement, titled “Not In Our Name,” was drafted by the Boston chapter of Concerned Jewish Faculty & Staff and first circulated on March 11. Nearly 3,000 faculty, staff and students at universities across the United States have signed the letter.

“We are united in denouncing, without equivocation, anyone who invokes our name — and cynical claims of antisemitism — to harass, expel, arrest, or deport members of our campus communities,” the letter reads.

The statement specifically called out the arrest of Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil as an attack on political dissent that uses “Jews as a shield.”

Khalil, a permanent legal U.S. resident, was arrested on March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for his role as a lead negotiator for the pro-Palestine encampment at Columbia last spring. While Khalil has not been charged with any crime, he is currently detained in Louisiana and faces deportation.

“I might not agree with much of what Mahmoud Khalil has said, but if we allow agents to come knock on the door at any time and take away anyone for non-violently expressing their opinions, we’ve descended into a reign of terror,” Marci Shore, a statement signatory and professor of Eastern European history, wrote to the News. “And we need to stand in solidarity to protect one another’s rights.”

Shore also drew parallels between the Trump administration’s actions and the history of the Soviet Union. She warned that the illegal deportation of a critic of Israel under the guise of protecting Jewish people from antisemitism could itself provoke antisemitic violence, “whereupon Jews can be scapegoated for the violence ... READ MORE https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/03/24/jewish-yale-faculty-sign-letter-denouncing-trumps-attacks-on-pro-palestine-dissenters/

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]