Dear President Theobald:

We, the Temple University students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and members of the greater Philadelphia community, are writing to express our great concern about two anti-Semitic incidents that recently took place at the university. The first is the Holocaust minimization by Temple University adjunct professor Alessio Lerro, who said that “Jews are exaggerating the extent of the Holocaust to obtain political advantages” while advocating for an academic boycott of Israel(1), the only Jewish state in the world, and the only democracy in the Middle East. The second is a physical and verbal assault against a Jewish student, Daniel Vessal, by a student affiliated with the Temple chapter of the controversial Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group.

While we believe that a diversity of opinions is vital for a healthy and vibrant university community, we firmly reject the notion that Holocaust minimization, physical violence, or any forms of anti-Semitism are acceptable at any institution of higher learning. Instead, these incidents have shown that the Temple University campus may not be safe for everyone for those who identify as Jewish, Israeli, or pro-Israel.

We believe that this needs to end right away. The university must clearly state that it has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of discrimination, including anti-Semitism. Even more importantly, it must act on these policies.

We call on Temple University officials to take the following actions in light of these recent events:

1.To dismiss Professor Alessio Lerro over his hate-filled statements.

Stating that the Jews would use anything, including the deaths of 6,000,000 people, for political gain is a classic example of political anti-Semitism (2), and a faculty member who espouses and promotes such anti-Semitic views cannot be kept as an educator at this university.

2.To take immediate disciplinary action against the assailant affiliated with SJP.

Physical violence as a response to an argument, no matter how heated, can never be justified, and absolutely cannot be tolerated at an institution of higher learning. Allowing the perpetrator of this attack to remain at Temple University without any consequences would only further confirm the notion that the university condones such attacks and is no longer a safe place for the thousands of students, faculty and staff who identify as Jewish, Israeli or pro-Israel.

3.To suspend SJP from operating on Temple’s campus.

The violent incident against the Jewish student took place at the table operated by SJP, where the assailant was standing, and with which the assailant was clearly affiliated. Furthermore, despite claiming that it is an organization dedicated to human rights and social justice, the many incidents involving SJP on campuses across the nation have shown it to be anything but that. For instance, according to the Anti-Defamation League (3), several SJP chapters have participated in Viva Palestina, a campaign that is supportive of Hamas, a designated terrorist organization whose charter quotes the infamous hadith: “There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! (4)”. At Berkeley, the SJP head, Hussam Zakharia, rammed a shopping cart into a Jewish student during an SJP event (5). Furthermore, the Northeastern University chapter of the SJP has been suspended for distributing fake eviction notices to mostly Jewish students (6). This list goes on and on, and given the latest incident on Temple’s campus, we believe that the organization needs serious reform before being allowed to operate here.

That said, once the Temple chapter of SJP publicly apologizes for the physical violence against Daniel Vessal and for the anti-Semitic slurs used against him, denounces all forms of anti-Semitism and verbal and physical violence against the Jewish people, condemns Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas, promotes a peaceful two-state solution, and is ready to engage in healthy dialogue, rather than physical altercations, they should be welcomed back on this campus.

We thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and are anxiously awaiting your response.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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References

1. http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/26/temple-university-the-latest-hotbed-of-anti-semitism-on-college-campuses/

2. Brustein, William (2003). Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust. Cambridge University Press.

3. http://www.adl.org/israel-international/anti-israel-activity/c/students-justice-palestine.html

4.http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/documents/charter.html?chocaid=397

5. http://www.dailycal.org/2012/07/12/lawsuit-against-uc-settled/

6. http://www.northeastern.edu/sjp/