A Columbia University-sponsored project promotes extreme anti-Israel rhetoric and provides a platform for propagators of the BDS movement, according to a new report released by the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu.
The report focuses on “The Nakba & The Law” project, a joint initiative of Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies and the Israeli NGO Adalah launched in 2016 that features blog-style posts on the topic of the Nakba, the Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is used by Palestinian Arabs to refer to the establishment of the State of Israel.
According to Im Tirtzu’s report, of the 32 authors listed on the project’s website, 17 openly support the BDS movement, 3 are affiliated with BDS organizations and 6 work for the “radical anti-Israel” NGO Adalah, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes, defends terrorists in court and works in international institutions to isolate Israel.
Of the 6 authors who have no public affiliation with the BDS movement or Adalah, continues the report, there is no shortage of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric, including accusations of apartheid, massacres and the equation of the Nakba to the Holocaust.
Among the authors listed in the report are Columbia Professor Katherine Franke, also one of the project’s editors, who co-authored a report defending the Black Lives Matter platform that accuses Israel of committing a genocide against the Palestinians; Professor Amahl Bishara, who has openly defended several terrorists, including Rasmea Odeh who masterminded the murder of two Israeli students; and Randa Wahbe, who has publicly advocated on behalf of two senior officials of the terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
According to “The Nakba & The Law” website, one of the project’s sponsors is The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, an organization that answers to the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and is heavily funded by the Dutch government.
Matan Peleg, CEO of the Im Tirtzu movement that has been a vocal critic of the Nakba, said: “The Nakba is a hypocritical attempt to rewrite history and to undermine the very existence of the State of Israel. This project is not only an insidious attempt to blacken the Jewish State, but is an example of the unholy alliance between anti-Zionist Israeli NGOs, European governments and the BDS movement.”
“It is important to unapologetically call the Nakba what it is: nonsense,” said Peleg alluding to his organization’s “Nakba Nonsense” booklet and audiobook.
Ilan Sinelnikov, President of Students Supporting Israel that has been active in combatting the anti-Israel bias on American universities, responded to the report and said: “This shameful anti-Israel project only emphasizes the dire situation at Columbia University and campuses throughout the US. It is shameful that such a university is sponsoring a project that provides a platform to the BDS movement, whose goal is to destroy the Jewish state.”
Sinelnikov concluded: “We are calling on the Columbia University administration to act immediately to remove this project and I am sure that our pro-Israel voices on the ground will be heard.