The ongoing anti-Israel protests at elite American colleges and universities are exactly what happened in Germany According to the head of the Holocaust Museum, in the 1920s, a few years before the Nazis took over the country.
Dani Dayan, president of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, wrote a letter to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik on Friday, April 26, warning him about the potential consequences should anti-Israel sentiment continue to grow and escalate. should remain.
Dayan wrote, “Heidelberg University in Germany was no less prestigious than Columbia.” “In the 1920s it was a center of liberal thinking. A decade later a mob of Heidelberg students burned Jewish and other ‘corrupt’ books in the Universitätsplaats (‘University Square’). Its faculty developed pseudo-academic areas As race theory, Eugenics and forced euthanasia. Heidelberg had administrators. Unfortunately, it lacked moral leadership.”
He added: “The Jewish people endured two millennia of dispersion, persecution, forced conversion, discrimination, pogroms and finally six million Jews were destroyed in genocide. We returned to our ancestral homeland. The destruction and extermination of the Jews The state is no less despicable than the racial laws. Whether Columbia will be remembered as Heidelberg is largely up to you, madam.”
Pelosi’s university speech disrupted by anti-Israel protesters: ‘warmongering’
Yad Vashem President Dani Dayan wrote a letter to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik on Friday, April 26, 2024. (Photo Combine via Kay Nietfeld/Getty Images)
“A huge moral conflict has arrived at your doorstep. Seize the opportunity. Lead not just with administrative rules, but with moral principles. Speak up,” he said in the letter.
The chairman’s warning comes as thousands of students at schools like Columbia University University of Southern California, MIT, UT-Austin and others are protesting Israel and its war with Hamas in Gaza. Hundreds of students from these schools have been arrested.
“I write to you in several roles: as President of Yad Vashem, the principal institution of Holocaust remembrance; as Israel’s former Consul General in New York (a post in which I frequently collaborated with your predecessor); and last but not least. Not least as the proud father of a Columbia alumnus (GS ’21 and SIPA ’22), Dayan’s letter began.
Yad Vashem President Dani Dayan warned Columbia University about the possible consequences should anti-Israel sentiment continue to promote and grow. (Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Madam President, the Presidency of Columbia University is one of the most important leadership positions in the academic world. The President of Columbia – as he is sometimes mistakenly referred to – is not an administrator. He is elected as a leader ,” it continued. ,
Hezbollah terrorist flag found in Princeton’s anti-Israel camp, Cruz burns protesters
“All the decisions you have taken recently were administrative in nature: calling the NYPD to vacate the illegal occupation, allowing its re-establishment, activating or deactivating credentials, moving to online learning. Even That your decision to hold talks is also of administrative nature.
It read, “Madam, the times require leadership decisions. Your illustrious career has brought you to the presidency of Colombia not to be a CEO or a crisis manager but to lead. To lead academically and thereby Even more important, to lead ethically.”
The traveler who met Adams accused him of leaving the state, while in recent days anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University were being arrested by police. (Peter Gerber)
Dayan then urged President Shafik to “take a stand” as “thousands of Columbia faculty, staff and students call for the abolition of the State of Israel and the abolition of Zionism.”
He said, “Not a political stance. A moral stance. When it becomes clear that eliminating the existence of the Jewish state is a prevalent ideology in Colombia – the president of the institution cannot remain silent.”
Anti-Israel protesters form a encampment on the campus of Columbia University in New York City, Monday, April 22, 2024. The university announced that all classes will be held virtually today in response to the ongoing demonstrations on campus. (Peter Gerber)
Dayan then cited the Talmud, or Jewish religious law, and said it teaches: “Silence is entry.”
He reiterated, “Silence will inevitably be construed as tolerance or, worse, acquiescence.”
Dayan then cited the Talmud, or Jewish religious law, and said it teaches: “Silence is entry.” (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)
Adding further: “Your decision to deal only with the behavior – or manners – of protesters is not sustainable. A polite KKK member is just as despicable – and perhaps more dangerous – than an idiot. A moral leader treats both equally well. Will fight with determination.”
He then called on the President of Columbia University to take action.
“Madam President, the time has come for you to take a stand: Can promoting the elimination of Israel – with or without the genocide of its Jewish population – be a legitimate cause, through academic courses, lectures, events, demonstrations and Camps may be advanced at Columbia University or – like apartheid, misogyny, homophobia, white supremacy – so abhorrent that it will not be tolerated, every day, every hour you avoid making a public decision of this nature and its consequences. Act accordingly – You make really positive decisions.
Click here to get the Fox News app
The Yad Vashem president concluded his letter with a quote from Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who defined indifference as “the most dangerous threat of all.”
He also referenced the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who he quoted as saying that “the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
