Princeton Has Become a Hostile Place for Jews

The murderous mass terrorist attack on Israel last weekend is the direct result of years of antisemitic incitement. Sadly, Princeton condones and supports such incitement under the guise of “free speech” and “academic freedom.”

In February 2023, Princeton invited a speaker, Mohammed El-Kurd, who the University was aware would deliver antisemitic incitement on campus. I have repeatedly contacted the chairman of the English department to ask what they paid El-Kurd for his hateful speech. The University has refused to disclose the amount.

This followed a 2019 Princeton panel including author Norman Finkelstein *87, who called a student (a grandson of Holocaust survivors who served in the IDF) a “concentration camp guard,” according to The Princeton Tory. Finkelstein also said that Israelis “are biped bloodhounds drinking the blood of one million [Palestinian] children,” according to The Daily Princetonian.

This fall, a Princeton class included on its syllabus a book featuring a similar blood libel, claiming Israel deliberately maims Palestinians. 

U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., spoke out, saying,  “Princeton University recently announced it will include antisemitic and anti-Israel literature, The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, by Jasbir Puar, among reading materials for a humanities course called ‘The Healing Humanities: Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South.’”

“The book veers into offensive, antisemitic blood libel and argues that the Israel Defense Forces, in efforts to oppress and control Palestinians, deliberately creates injury, keeping Palestinian populations debilitated,” Gottheimer added. “This claim of Israeli control over Palestinians to maintain dominance is egregiously false.”

Ex-Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth was hired to teach at Princeton this year. Roth repeatedly refers to Israel as an “apartheid state.” He continues to attack Israel for its response to the horrific Hamas massacre of more than 1,300 Israelis.

Also this fall, Princeton hired special envoy for Iran and former nuclear negotiator Robert Malley to teach at the School of Public and International Affairs, despite his suspension from the State Department and loss of security clearance due to possible unauthorized links to the Iranian regime, which constantly threatens to kill millions of Jews. Iran celebrated the Hamas attack on Israel but has so far denied responsibility. 

“Pitiful. Look who my alma mater just made a prof,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Princeton ’92, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Rob Malley was such a pro-Iran radical that he was FIRED from Biden admin & had his security clearance stripped for ‘mishandling classified docs’ (the details are still hidden).”

Rep. Michael McCaul, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that if Malley “transferred intelligence and secrets to our foreign nation adversary … that would be treason in my view.” McCaul told the Algemeiner, “I would urge Princeton to reconsider allowing Mr. Malley to teach US college students until the underlying reason for the suspension is made clear and the issue is resolved.”

Malley is now also being investigated by the House Oversight & Accountability Committee regarding “communications surround potential intelligence compromise of Iran Envoy Robert Malley and members of his negotiating team.”

In March 2023, a Jewish graduate student, Elizabeth Tsurkov, went to Iraq for her Princeton graduate work. Islamist militants kidnapped her. After 7 months, it is unknown whether she is dead or alive. Princeton has said little about her situation or why someone with an Israeli passport was permitted to do her research in a place so dangerous.

I believe Princeton has become a hostile place for Jews, due to the University’s own actions and inactions. As an alumnus, I cannot support this.