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We the undersigned write in anger and disappointment to express our disgust with the rash of pro-Hamas demonstrations on campuses across the United States. Purporting to stand for the well-being of Palestinians, these demonstrators denounce Israel and embrace Hamas, and in many cases Hezbollah as well, both among the most evil organizations on the planet. In deference to the first amendment we are not calling for the authorities to silence the protests, but demand instead that they draw the line at preventing and punishing violence and harassment. The protesters have, on various occasions, directed offensive racial epithets at Jewish students, even as they claim to be “anti-Israeli but not anti-Semitic”. Shame on them! In some cases the protesters have also physically attacked Jews, and this is not only to the disgrace of the protesters, but also to the university administrators that have hesitated vigorously to pursue the perpetrators.
Among the protesters one finds a hard core of people dedicated to hatred as well as a significantly larger group of deeply confused fellow travelers seeking to be part of a campus protest as a means to make themselves popular. Many of them are not cognizant of the facts and need to think through the consequences of their actions. If their call to eliminate the state of Israel was heeded, the result would be the death and displacement of millions of people for whom Israel, the country of their birth, is home. The demonstrators’ embrace of Hamas makes them complicit in the ongoing atrocities committed by that organization. On October 7 Hamas murdered over 1200 people on Israeli soil, people of many nationalities and of various religions: they raped, they tortured, they killed, and they kidnapped.
The kidnappings are in fact a continuing part of the October 7 atrocities. Though a few have been liberated, as part of the psychological war pursued by Hamas, the remaining hostages are at the heart of the post October 7 drama. Any solution to the ongoing tragedy in Gaza starts with the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.
Hamas’s wicked actions of October 7 were designed to force the Israelis to choose among difficult, unpalatable, alternatives. Reasonable people disagree about which among these courses of action is the lesser evil, but it is plainly obvious that responsibility for the subsequent tragedy in Gaza lies with Hamas and its apologists. Not only did Hamas take 250 hostages on October 7, they also hold over a million Palestinians in thrall to their repressive government, one which uses them as human shields and treats any expressions of sympathy or conciliation toward Israel as criminal, and potentially capital, offenses. We call on the demonstrators to desist in their ugly display of hatred and on the administrators of our universities to take seriously their own regulations against harassment and violence.
All e-mails endorsing this statement should be sent to John Londregan
jbl@Princeton.EDU with the name, affiliation and academic position.
John Londregan is Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
Sergiu Klainerman is Higgins Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University.
Thank you for this letter. I am heartbroken over the lack of clear and nuanced thinking among Princeton protesters, and, even more so, over all the suffering in Israel and Gaza, which they are doing nothing to mitigate or resolve.
By Marisa Hirschfield ‘27
Last year, for a comedy show on campus, I wrote a sketch about the fictional Society to Lessen Unamerican Teaching (note the acronym), a group that wants to rewrite history textbooks in Florida. In the skit, the characters pitch ridiculous falsehoods about American history (e.g., Hillary Clinton wrote the Communist Manifesto and also brought smallpox to the New World). My intention was to satirize classroom censorship of historical injustice and expose the absurdity of legislation like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which shapes curricula in a politically-pointed way.
Olivia Sanchez and Annie Rupertus
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: In interviews with the ‘Prince,’ six students subject to University disciplinary proceedings described a tangled process that appeared fixated on searching for protest leaders to blame and employed tactics they described as invasive. The students were all investigated for supposed participation in pro-Palestine disruptions last spring.
Their accounts, corroborated by dozens of documents reviewed by the ‘Prince,’ including emails and investigation records, provide a rare glance behind the scenes of the University’s investigative apparatus.
James (Jimmy) Lane ’92
Princetonians for Free Speech Original Content
I am a HUGE fan of the “I” in DEI. I will leave the “D” and “E” for others to opine. This essay is mostly a story of how multiple-perspectives critical thinking training by a compassionate classmate at Princeton University helped a first-generation college student become included in middle class America and why a university culture of free speech and open inquiry is so vital to upward mobility.
David Schechter 80
April 30, 2024
Bravo to these Professors for speaking up.
In any era of sensitivity and “micro” aggressions, these pro Hamas demonstrations are “macro” aggressions to Jewish students, the Jewish people, to civilization itself. Hamas is barbarism, savagery, as demonstrated in their atrocities of October 7th.
The fellow travelers are perhaps the most disturbing element. In a world where there is plenty to protest about, why choose Israel, a liberal democracy that is 20% Arab, and has contributed so much to the world? Ignorance, brainwashing by social media, and Marxist professors may explain some of this. Perhaps others can explain the rest.