As Jews prepare for the High Holidays, the most sacred season in the Jewish calendar, the University of Pennsylvania is gearing up to hold an anti-Israel festival.
Next week, UPenn will host some of the world’s worst Israel-haters and antisemites to support the ‘free exchange of ideas,’ Israel-based journalist Emily Schrader reported Wednesday on the Ynet news website. The event, involving activists and outfits linked to Palestinian terrorist groups, is taking place under the cover of the ‘Palestinian literature festival.’
Organized by the Islamic Relief USA, a ‘charity’ accused of funding Gaza-based jihadist group Hamas, the festival will feature an array of notorious speakers ranging from rabid Western antisemites to supporters of Palestinian terrorist groups, news reports suggest. Speakers include rock star-turn-Israel hater Roger Waters and fired CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill.
Emily Schrader wrote (Ynet, September 13) :
On September 22-24, in the midst of the Jewish High Holidays, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) is hosting the Palestine Writes Literature Festival with known anti-Israel, pro-terror, and antisemitic speakers such as Roger Waters, Marc Lamont Hill, Noura Erekat and representatives from U.S.-designated Palestinian terror groups such as the PFLP, as well as representatives from their affiliates.Among the featured speakers are PFLP militant Wisam Rafeedie, Salman Abusitta from the UK Hamas-affiliated organization Palestine Return Center (PRC), Marc Lamont Hill, American journalist who was fired from CNN for his antisemitic comments and has praised the likes of Louis Farrakhan and convicted PFLP terrorists, Roger Waters, known for his anti-Israel and antisemitic stunts, and Noura Erekat.This same festival in 2020 awarded notorious pro-terror Palestinian activist Mohammed el Kurd with its Emerging Writer Award. El Kurd has spread antisemitic blood libels on social media accusing Israel of “trafficking Palestinian organs.”The primary festival organizer, Susan Abulhawa, also has a colorful track record of support for PFLP terrorists such as Ghassan Kanafani and Dalal Mughrabi, as well as comparing Israel to Nazis. Abulhawa’s events in Australia have previously been canceled due to her pro-terror stances and extremist associations.Also concerning are the sponsors of the event, such as Islamic Relief USA which has been accused of funneling money to U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas. Additional sponsors include governmental bodies in Pennsylvania, a state that has passed anti-BDS legislation, and in Australia, which previously canceled an event due to the speakers’ ties to extremists.The festival occurring on a U.S. campus is even more concerning given the fact that UPenn, which is a private institution, has received public funds to the tune of $582.3 million in research funding from the U.S. Department of Health’s National Institutes of Health.
The list of openly Jew-hating speakers at the ‘literary festival’ has forced UPenn — one of America’s oldest and most prestigious universities — to go into damage control. “University administrators attempted to distance themselves from the event, saying they have ‘deep concerns about several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism,'” the Jewish Insider reported Thursday.
As woke agitators will be locking arms with terror supporters at the hate in Pennsylvania, Jews in Israel will face the wrath of Palestinian terror.
This year’s Jewish High Holidays are occurring “amid numerous threats and terror warnings during this sensitive time in Jerusalem,” the Ynet reported Wednesday, citing police sources.
Every synagogue in the Holy City has been given armed protection in the face of threats issued by Palestinian and Islamic terrorist groups. “The armed individual in each synagogue — a police officer, a volunteer police officer, or a citizen with a gun license — will be specified ahead of the holidays,” The Times of Israel reported.
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