A Stanford University instructor has been suspended from teaching duties after allegedly downplaying the Holocaust and singling out Jewish students and making them stand in a corner.
The suspension comes as the school investigates the incident following reports that the issue occurred during a discussion of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. In a statement released on Wednesday, the university said that the reports are a cause for concern, adding that academic freedom does not permit the identity-based targeting of students.
Stanford University Instructor Suspended
It also said that the instructor involved in the incident is not currently teaching while the investigation seeks to determine the facts of the situation. The school did not reveal the name of the instructor, who is not a faculty member.
The decision of the university comes as fierce fighting continues this week between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which have increased tensions in the Middle East. In the United States, some Jewish people have expressed fear of being targeted as the nation contends with widespread reports of anti-semitism, as per CNN.
The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitic incidents, recorded nearly 3,700 incidents in the U.S. last year, which is the highest number since the tracking started in 1979. The executive director of Stanford's Jewish community center, Rohr Chabad House, Rabbi Dov Greenberg, said that the students were "shaken up."
He added that he has spoken with the students who were involved in the incident with the instructor, saying that they were "not doing well" and are afraid to face backlash or bullying on campus.
Greenberg said that when speaking to the students, they said that the instructor tried to justify the actions of the Hamas militant group and asked them how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust. When one answered by saying "6 million," the instructor then said that more people have been killed by colonizers and noted that "Israel is a colonizer."
Israeli student leaders on the campus, Nourya Cohen and Andrei Mandelshtam, said that they also spoke with the 18 students of the instructor this week. The teacher allegedly blamed the outbreak of violence in Israel on Zionists and said that Hamas' actions were part of a resistance, according to Business Insider.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Cohen said that the instructor then supposedly asked Jewish students to raise their hands and then separated them from their belongings. He explained that he was simulating what Jews were doing to Palestinians.
The lecturer also allegedly separated people in two classes into different groups based on their identities and backgrounds, calling them "colonizers" and "colonized." Greenberg also recounted his discussion with some students who explained the same incident.
Greenberg also said that the students were too afraid to speak at the time against the lecturer and came out of the incident feeling traumatized. They said that the instructor did not make any mention of Hamas' atrocities against Israelis and offered a full-throated defense of the terrorists' actions.
In a statement, the executive director said that the teacher allegedly said that Hamas is a legitimate representation of the Palestinian people. He also claimed that the militant group is not a terrorist organization and called them freedom fighters, said the New York Post.
Related Article : Joe Biden Urged to Act Against Pro-Hamas Protests in Colleges
