Stockholm Syndrome: Outgoing Cornell President Expresses “Gratitude” To Anti-Israel Encampment Protesters

Stockholm Syndrome: Outgoing Cornell President Expresses “Gratitude” To Anti-Israel Encampment Protesters

As previously posted, on May 9, 2024, Cornell University President Martha Pollack unexpectedly announced she is “retiring” on June 30. I immediately issued this Statement:

“Martha Pollack was the architect of Cornell’s disastrous race-focused DEI initiative that balkanized the campus, and inevitably led to targeting of Jewish and pro-Israel students. While I wish her well in her personal life, it is time for the Cornell Trustees to turn the ship around, to eliminate DEI programming as is taking place elsewhere, and to refocus the campus on the inherent dignity of each individual without regard to group-identity.”

I followed up with an Op-Ed in The NY Post about the damage Pollack’s DEI agenda had done to the campus. The op-ed read in part:

So she’ll be gone, but the destructive race-focused agenda she imposed on the campus that contributed to the problems will continue, unless the trustees take this opportunity to save the school from group-identity politics.

Pollack’s sudden departure almost certainly resulted from the post-Oct. 7 crisis on Cornell’s campus, which earned the school terrible press, the loss of donations and congressional scrutiny.

Immediately after the Hamas massacre, the campus exploded with support for terrorism under the banner of “decolonization.”

A student threatened to shoot and slit the throats of Jewish students; he’s now awaiting sentencing.

A professor declared that he felt “exhilarated” upon hearing of the Hamas attack. That prompted the crowd to break into genocidal chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

This embrace of violence has been repeated throughout the months since, with students at the Cornell tent encampment chanting, “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!”

Multiple students testified before House committees as to the toxic atmosphere.

Things got so bad that Pollack eventually issued a statement saying calls for genocide violated the campus code.

But no one at Cornell wants to address what it was that radicalized the campus against Jews.

To understand Cornell post-Oct. 7, you need to understand the intense and all-encompassing race-focused initiative imposed on the campus by Pollack after George Floyd’s death….

The July 2020 DEI initiative was a colossal mistake that cannot be tweaked around the edges.

It must be removed wholesale, weeded out root and branch.

Those of you who subscribe to our daily Morning Insurrection Newsletter — if you don’t, you should sign up here — would have noticed this Quick Hit from me two days ago:

“HORRIBLE statement issued by the President of Cornell. One of the worst I’ve seen at any school. Glad she’s leaving at the end of June, maybe she can speed up her exit. More to follow.“

It related to an absolutely stunning (in a bad way) statement issued by Pollack on May 14, 2024, gaslighting the community about the anti-Israel encampment and the nature of the campus protests and hooliganism that have gone on since October 7. The entire statement was demeaning and insulting, except to the anti-Israel protesters. They were praised and “gratitude” was expressed that the encampment didn’t get violent. The statement read in part (emphasis added):

Last evening, the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML) voluntarily took down their encampment on the Arts Quad. While I do not condone the encampment, which was in clear violation of university policies, I want to acknowledge and express gratitude that in contrast to what has taken place at some other universities, the participants here remained peaceful and nonviolent throughout, and for the most part they tried to minimize the disruption caused. With this in mind, and provided no further violations of university policy occur, we are able to pause on issuing additional suspensions and disciplinary referrals. We will also promptly and carefully review all existing cases in accordance with our procedures for resolution and adjudication. Should there be repeat or new violations, additional sanctions will be issued, though I am very hopeful this will not be necessary….

The participants in the encampment shared that members of our Jewish community who have criticized Israel have been targeted with the slur “kapo,” which not only is deeply offensive, but also trivializes the memory of the Holocaust. Other students involved in the encampment shared experiences of being called “terrorists” over the past few months in an expression of anti-Arab discrimination and hatred. No matter one’s political beliefs, using such rhetoric, which questions the basis of someone’s religious, cultural, ancestral, or any form of identity is unacceptable, and I implore everyone in our community to think carefully about their words.

This was an inversion of reality and in many respects just flat out not true. The anti-Israel perpetrators were portrayed as the victims, and the campus victims who had to put up with seven months of abuse were portrayed at the problem.

The statement really upset a lot of people who knew the reality.

Fox News covered the statement and the reaction, and what I have to say about it is in the portion below attributed to me, Cornell University president called out over message of ‘gratitude’ for anti-Israel agitators (archive)

Jewish students, parents and professors from Ithaca, New York-based Cornell University voiced their disgust after President Martha E. Pollack shared her “gratitude” for anti-Israel agitators, thanking them for “remaining peaceful and nonviolent.”

The students, parents and professors’ outrage came after Pollack, who recently announced her upcoming retirement, expressed her gratitude to protesters after the encampment was voluntarily taken down.

“While I do not condone the encampment, which was in clear violation of university policies, I want to acknowledge and express gratitude that in contrast to what has taken place at some other universities, the participants here remained peaceful and nonviolent throughout, and for the most part they tried to minimize the disruption caused,” Pollack wrote in a letter Tuesday to the student body.

Students speak out

Cornell University student Amanda Silberstein told Fox News Digital that Pollack’s letter was “an embarrassment and symptomatic of Cornell’s broader epidemic of antisemitism.”

“Her letter is an embarrassment and symptomatic of Cornell’s broader epidemic of antisemitism, which the school’s silence and false moral equivalency have allowed to fester and grow. She is cultivating an atmosphere where not only is hate speech against Jews being tolerated, but even explicit calls for violence against Jews are being condoned,” Silberstein said. “Her letter doesn’t mention me being called a ‘c— Zionist pig b—-,’ or the innumerable times we’ve been labeled ‘Baby killers,’ ‘Colonialists,’ ‘Nazis,’ and many more. Nor does it mention the incessant calls for fierce violence against Israelis and Jews, chanted by both professors and students, echoing Hamas’ unambiguous and unequivocal objective.”

“The administration consistently fails to enforce its own policies designed to protect Jewish students in favor of those who disregard the rules,” Silberstein said. “Under the banner of free speech, Cornell has become a hostile and dangerous environment for Jews. The illegal protests and violent rhetoric are ultimately the product of the university’s inaction.”

Talia Dror, a Jewish student at Cornell and the vice president of finance for the Cornellians for Israel group, shared her response with Fox News Digital following Pollack’s letter.

“The students you thank and defend are terrorizing students and stifling any dissenting opinion,” Dror wrote in part. “They are cosplaying as peace-loving and shouting phrases that call for the slaughter of Jews. They are endorsing terrorism. But I don’t even need to tell you that. You claim to uphold the principles of free speech, but when such an environment of intimidation exists, only people willing to sacrifice their careers and reputations are the ones afforded that right.”

Dror concluded her letter by saying that she would not be attending her college graduation due to Cornell’s “indoctrination” of students.

“Thanking these detractors for remaining not-violent is testament to the double standard created and upheld,” Dror said. “I will not be attending my ILR school graduation because I refuse to celebrate investing my life’s savings to attend an institution indoctrinating students with anti-Western rhetoric and hatred of the free world.”

Parents react

Sarah Cohen, a parent of a freshman Cornell student, shared her response to Pollack’s letter with Fox News Digital.

“Why did the President feel the need to grovel in this way to the encampment crowd? And where is the LONG list of horrific things her Jewish students have been subjected to by the tentifada crowd-the calls for Israel’s destruction, intifada attacks, disruption of exams and study, graffiti, etc?” Cohen said.

“This encampment has been a disgrace to Cornell since day one, a shameful magnet for townie antisemites, for misinformed graduate students and a stage for Cornell’s anti-Israel hate-mongering faculty,” she said. “Am I to learn from this debacle that the only way to be heard and protected by Cornell’s administration is to set up an illegal encampment? Disgraceful.”

‘Stockholm Syndrome’

William A. Jacobson, Cornell law professor and founder of EqualProtect.org, told Fox News Digital that Pollack’s statement was “an insult to the entire rule-abiding Cornell community.”

“Outgoing President Martha Pollack’s campus-wide statement expressing “gratitude” to anti-Israel students who created an encampment in violation of Cornell policies was an insult to the entire rule-abiding Cornell community, but particularly the Jewish and pro-Israel students who have endured seven months of non-stop harassment, insults, defamation, and intimidation,” Jacobson said. “That Pollack praised encampment students for not becoming violent is an embarrassment. Have we sunk the bar so low on campus that not beating people up is worthy of presidential acclaim?”

Jacobson said Pollack’s statement of praise and appreciation of anti-Israel protesters was “some variation on Stockholm Syndrome.”

“The presidential statement reflects some variation on Stockholm Syndrome, lauding students assisted by faculty who took the campus hostage with bullhorns in study areas, marches including genocidal chants directed at Israeli Jews, vandalism of university property, and even putting Pollack on mock trial for complicity in genocide,” he said. “The encampment was only the final act in a months-long campus siege.

“Pollack’s claim that the encampment was not disruptive is belied by university demands the encampment close because of disruption, the temporary suspension of six students, a Provost statement on the disruption, and a university statement decrying encampment chants of ‘there is only one solution, Intifada revolution.”

Jacobson called for Pollack to “leave immediately.”

“Cornell is currently a rudderless ship, with this latest statement adding to the problem,” he said. “President Pollack announced she is retiring June 30. Pollack should leave immediately to avoid any more damage to the Cornell community.”

Another Cornell University professor, who wished to remain anonymous, shared their response to Pollack’s letter with Fox News Digital, saying that her statement of support to anti-Israel agitators “hurt me to the bottom of my heart.”

“I just read your last email, and I am shocked. I cannot believe that you sent such an email. It hurt me to the bottom of my heart,” the professor said. “There are so many things that I would like to mention about your email. Yet, I wanted to write something now so I keep it short and only mention one point.””There is so much hate against the Israelis on campus. You are very much aware of them but decided not to mention them. We are called ‘Nazis,’ “Zionist pigs,’ ‘Baby killers,’ ‘Colonialists,’ ‘Death cult,’ and the list goes on,” the professor said. “These words were not used once, but repeatedly. Called for Intifada were done all the time. And yet, you implicitly blamed the Israelis for creating a non-inclusive environment at Cornell.”

We are not going to let the past seven months be rewritten.

[Featured Image: Anti-Israel Cornell Protester Poster For Mock Trial of Martha Pollack]

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