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380

University of Minnesota pauses hiring of professor who called Israel's war against Hamas 'a textbook case of genocide' (jewishinsider.com)

submitted 3 months ago by IndustryStandard@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The University of Minnesota paused the hiring of a professor who wrote that Israel’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza after Oct. 7 was “a textbook case of genocide” to head the school’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS), Jewish Insider has learned.

The pause, which has not yet been publicly announced by the university, came on Monday evening after two members of the center’s advisory board resigned in protest on Friday.

“The assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes,” Raz Segal, an Israeli associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, wrote in the Jewish Currents on Oct. 13. “I say this as a scholar of genocide, who has spent many years writing about Israeli mass violence against Palestinians,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for the University of Minnesota told JI that the director selection process was put on hold “to allow an opportunity to determine next steps.”

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 135 points 3 months ago (3 children)

“The assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes,” Raz Segal, an Israeli associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, wrote in the Jewish Currents on Oct. 13. “I say this as a scholar of genocide, who has spent many years writing about Israeli mass violence against Palestinians,” he wrote.

Literally a fucking expert on genocides...

It doesn't matter if you're a member of a fascists core group. If you disagree with them in any way you become an enemy

Everyone should be incredibly concerned when their political representatives demand 100% loyalty and attack anyone that disagrees with their actions and labels them an enemy.

A government that refuses to accept criticism from its own members is either facist or walking down that path

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 67 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

It's the same with that one rabbi who's been labeled antisemitic because he's against the genocide of Palestinians.

Edit: this dude:

Eg. the Canary Mission has labeled him as an antisemite who trivializes the Holocaust because he thinks that in Canada the genocide of First Nations people would be important to teach more about instead of focusing on the Holocaust

[–] undergroundoverground@lemmy.world 39 points 3 months ago

That reminds me of two orthodox Jewish guys who were arrested on charges of antisemitic hate, by the metropolitan police, for burning an Israeli flag.

Equating Israel with wider Jewish-ness is actaully antisemitic, unlike burning a flag. So, the only antisemitism there was conducted by the police. The met keeping up its proud tradition of institutional racism there.
These boys are going to get hauled up in front of a judge on antisemitism charges, only to be asked swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

On the fucking Torah

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago

Never heard of Canary Mission before, but they're quite an interesting covert Israeli operation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/canary-mission-israel-covert-operations/

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Our country's government is an absolute sham that only benefits the wealthy, and needs to be torn down and rebuilt for the people..

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I just want to be clear we mean being a member of the core group fascists identify with, not that the group is all fascists.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Here's an example because changing context might help:

I'm a white guy

But I'm not a white supremacist.

That doesn't stop me from being in their "core group" which is white people.

That doesn't mean every white person is a white supremacist. But if a white person speaks out against white supremacy, they'll hate you even though you're white.

Often they take that really hard. The KKK killed a lot of white people, in some areas all they killed was white people who disagreed with them, because no Black people could live there in the first place.

Its why people always need to speak out against that shit, even if you're not in a targeted group, if they ever cross your personal moral line and you speak out, you're immediately one of "them" and not "us".

And fascists always need a "them" so they'll keep moving people out of "us".

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Yup. I'm just trying to provide context because accusing someone of associating all Jews with Israel has become a favorite argument of conservatives in their attempt to make us all look like anti-semites.

[–] MrNesser@lemmy.world 41 points 3 months ago (3 children)

If this goes to court does the university need to prove its not a genocide?

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago

Sadly, I don't think there's any way this goes to court. Opinion on genocide is not a protected class, and as long as it's not a protected class, a company in the US can decide not to hire you for essentially any reason.

[–] Kaboom@reddthat.com 7 points 3 months ago

They havent hired him yet, so theres nothing to sue over

[–] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It do.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Would it? If anything, this would be a freedom of speech case and truth does not have to be determined in those cases.

However, I also don't think that the reason he wasn't hired was a reason he could sue for.

This, obviously, doesn't excuse what happened. I just don't think there would be any good legal standing for a lawsuit. But I'm also not a lawyer.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 40 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Raz Segal, an Israeli associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies: speaks the truth based on exactly his area of expertise and cultural heritage

University of Minnesota: "hold on just a moment! Can't have our employees do that!"

What's next? A Nigerian-born sociology/history professor being un-hired for mentioning that the transatlantic slave trade happened??

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

To be fair they're trying to hire him. It's some donors and alumni warning they'll disassociate from the school. This is why we need publicly funded but independently staffed universities. It makes it a lot harder for bad people to target academics inconvenient to them.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 36 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Minnesotan here. This has obviously been in the local news a lot.

The story is that the university received some complaints saying the university shouldn't be hiring an anti-semite in this position; that coupled with the board resignations caused the university to pause the hire to give time for a review.

I don't know how this will play out. The university is between a rock and a hard place; if you think they won't be absolutely blasted if they proceed, I think you don't understand the amount of heat that can and will be brought to bear. On the other hand, Dr. Segal is extremely qualified for the job and had indeed already been extended - and had accepted - an offer for the position.

Defenders of Israel's actions still have far more firepower and political capital than the people who accept the UN's findings that what Israel is doing qualifies as war crimes and genocide. I do not envy the university; they lose no matter what they do. I think they'll take more damage if they continue and hire Dr. Segal, but I hope they take the ethically right path and being him in board.

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What's the hard place between genocide and not-genocide? Since when did a university give a shit about what a bunch of rich blowhards bloviate about?

[–] sxan@midwest.social 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You don't know much about how universities work. I don't mean that as a dis; I don't know how else to say it.

Universities very much depend on donors. They depend on alumni. They depend on people going to their football games. This is one of the most succinct charts I could find:

[^1]

39% of a public higher ed school's income comes from donors and alumns. Someone's doing the math right now and trying to figure out what percentage of their donors are going to stop their donations to the school; how many of the rich alumni will terminate their grant plans. I doubt if any are expecting aniki@lemm.ee to step in and make up for the lost millions. And, when they're shitting down programs because they can't afford to run them anymore, or they're giving out fewer grants to kids, those same people will be there to point the finger at the administrators and accuse them of causing the loss of revenue because of this decision.

You can be righteously furious all you want, but there will be a cost to the intuition. Personally, I'm getting sick of people who, like yourself, ignore the sheer power of Israeli lobby in the US. It's not even a conspiracy theory; Israel, and people who support Israel in the US, have invested a lot of time and effort into building effective lobbying organizations at all levels. And the Palestinians have not. Mainly because Palestine has never been able to afford to, but also since the US is clearly in Israel's pocket, there's also not much political will to follow suit.

I hope they make the right decision and hire him, but it's stupid to think it's an easy decision. Doing so will likely cost people their jobs. Or did you completely miss the recent furor over university presidents being called to resign because they didn't crack down hard enough on pro-Palestinian statements on campus? Fuck, even the new outlets labeled it "not taking a strong enough stance on anti-semitism." Supporting Palestine is being defined as anti semitism.

Christ, take a look around, man. Taking a stand against the genocide in Palestine will you get crucified.

[^1] https://www.case.org/resources/giving-us-colleges-and-universities-increased-125-fiscal-year-2022

Another good source is Statista, but it's harder to directly relate the categories to donations.

[–] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Another consequence of living in an oligarchy 😩

[–] sxan@midwest.social 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

A self-perpetuating oligarchy. It's always money.

It's a choice between offering higher-ed opportunities to all income levels, or to only rich people. If you're giving expensive educations to people who can't afford it and aren't paying for it, you have to get the money from somewhere. If you're a public school, the government helps some, with grants and such, but as the stats show, tax dollars are a small percent of funding. If you're private, you can give a big "fuck you" to poor people and only let the kids of rich people in.

I don't have a solution for this, aside from saying that someone besides me needs to pay more taxes (corporations, rich people, etc). I'm not rich, so saying "tax the rich!" is basically saying "tax someone other than me more." And, yeah, I think we need tax reform, and more income equality - the current discrepancy in wealth distribution is nauseating - but I don't know how.

Things are badly broken, and it's leading to the end of the American Empire era. I only hope whoever comes after us learns and does better.

[–] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 months ago

Thanks for the explanation, that's really shit, unfortunately

[–] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Since government funding has dried up and they rely more and more on alumni and other donations

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

I think their point is this should be an easy choice as a moral matter. The consequences shouldn't be a factor in the choice. If we stopped making moral choices for fear of consequences we'd live in a poor world.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago

It is a genocide though.

[–] ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The USA has been colonized by Zionists

[–] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 months ago

Not colonized - bought by AIPAC.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

Remember folks... Never, EVER, mention textbooks to a college administration.