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Brandeis Pulls Palestinian University Partnership

Al-Quds University president blames it on ‘Jewish extremists,’ ‘opportunists’

by
Stephanie Butnick
November 19, 2013
Brandeis University.(Wikipedia)
Brandeis University.(Wikipedia)

Brandeis University has announced they’ve suspended their partnership with Al Quds University (they’ve been sister institutions since 1998, who knew?) after reports of a recent campus demonstration during which students gave Nazi salutes and glorified suicide bombers, JTA reports.

During the demonstration, protesters marched in black military gear with fake automatic weapons while waving flags and offering the traditional Nazi salute. Banners with images of Palestinian suicide bombers decorated the campus’ main square, according to a statement from Brandeis. Several students also portrayed dead Israeli soldiers.

And how did Al Quds President Sari Nusseibeh respond to Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence’s request that he condemn the demonstrations in English and Arabic? By issuing a statement to students blaming Jewish extremists.

“As occurred recently, these opportunists are quick to describe the Palestinians as a people undeserving of freedom and independence, and as a people who must be kept under coercive control and occupation. They cite these events as evidence justifying their efforts to muster broad Jewish and western opinion to support their position. This public opinion, in turn, sustains the occupation, the extension of settlements and the confiscation of land, and prevents Palestinians from achieving our freedom,” Nusseibeh wrote.

Brandeis called the statement “unacceptable and inflammatory.” Also, not very sisterly.

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Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.