Defend Palestinian professor Rabab Abdulhadi from vicious smear attacks

The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) urges you to show your support for Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, who is facing a brutal smear campaign from the AMCHA initiative, a right-wing, racist and Zionist organization led by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin.  Dr. Abdulhadi’s First Amendment Rights have been attacked and her legitimate research endeavors manipulated by Rossman-Benjamin, who has made baseless, but very serious, public charges of anti-semitism, the misuse of public funds, and support for terrorism.  The AMCHA initiative has gone to great lengths to discredit Dr. Abdulhadi in order to silence and censor her political criticism of Israel.

Rossman-Benjamin has a history of intimidating students, faculty and staff on US campuses who are critical of Israel and its policies. Though the University carried out a thorough investigation into the baseless and false allegations levied against Dr. Abdulhadi, it refused to make public President Wong’s press release clearing her of the charges until June 24th. Of greater concern is that the SFSU PR website is rife with the slanderous propaganda against her. There is a risk that the University might appear to be giving the very organization that is attempting to discredit Dr. Abdulhadi’s and the University’s academic integrity a platform.

Professor Abdulhadi has received broad based support from other communities across the nation.  Since she is one of the USPCN’s strongest supporters and has been a featured participant at our national conferences over the years, as well as being one of our community’s leading academics and political analysts, it is imperative that we make our voices heard immediately, and boldly express our ​disappointment with the University’s handling of this issue!Because it will have the most impact, we ask that individual community members and organizations write letters to SFSU President Leslie Wong ([email protected]), thanking him for publishing his press release but also inquiring as to why it took such a long time to clear Dr. Abdulhadi’s name. Please implore President Wong to:
1. Affirm that Dr. Abdulhadi’s activities advance and are consistent with the values and mission of AMED, the College of Ethnic Studies and San Francisco State University.
2. Affirm his commitment to create safe spaces for Arab and Muslim students for whom incidents such as these have become more commonplace and tolerated across institutions of higher learning across the country; and
3. Affirm the University’s commitment to Academic Freedom and free speech.

We also ask individuals and organizations to forward the following link to your contacts and listservs:

SIGN THE PETITION demanding that President Wong publicly reject the false accusations being made against Professor Abdulhadi and to affirm that her activities advance the mission of the university

For Professor Abdulhadi’s statement, click here.  For the much delayed and finally released ambiguous statement made by President Wong clearing Professor Abdulhadi of any allegations, please click here.

Below is a letter of support.  More will follow.

July 1, 2014

Dear President Wong,

We, the undersigned members of Jewish communities, are writing to express our outrage at Tammi Rossman-Benjamin’s vicious and baseless attacks on Professor Rabab Abdulhadi and the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED).

Rossman-Benjamin, who has a history of attacking faculty and students who are critical of Israel, claims that actions by Abdulhadi, such as leading a delegation to Palestine that highlighted the plain reality of Israeli occupation and settler-colonialism, have been “compromising the campus climate for Jewish and Israeli students at SFSU.”

Abdulhadi supports and teaches about movements for justice and histories of oppressed peoples, including work that challenges anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism as well as the occupation of Palestine. As such, Abdulhadi’s teaching, scholarship and public advocacy directly contribute to combatting racism and prejudice against all peoples, including Jews. Suggesting that such work creates an unsafe atmosphere for Jewish students is simply propaganda. As a matter of fact, this notion has been expressly rejected by the U.S. Department of Education at three University of California campuses in the past year, including in response to a complaint filed by AMCHA, Rossman-Benjamin’s organization. The DOE concluded: “In the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience. In this context, the events that the complainants described do not constitute actionable harassment.”

Not only are these accusations of misconduct completely unfounded, but these attacks are a reflection of politically motivated, false charges of antisemitism targeting Palestinian and Arab faculty and students around the country. On campuses from UC Berkeley to Rutgers, organizations such as the AMCHA Initiative, the Zionist Organization of America, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have attempted to manipulate the Title VI Civil Rights Act to serve their own political ends. By characterizing protected political speech as antisemitism they cheapen and weaken crucial civil rights protections. This is but one example of the outrageous law-fare being used to target Palestinian students and professors and their supporters.

Furthermore, these attacks contribute to a domestic climate that is extremely hostile to Arabs and Muslims. From acts of vigilante violence to racist ads displayed on buses in San Francisco, New York, and DC to government use of immigration law to target well-respected Chicago community activist Rasmea Odeh, Arabs and Muslims face a climate of intimidation and repression that extends far beyond campuses.

As Jewish people well-versed in the history of antisemitism that is backed with state power, we reject Ms. Benjamin’s manipulation of our history. As people committed to ending racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism and all other forms of oppression, we reject AMCHA’s attempt to undermine the true meaning of racism. Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA and similar organizations do not speak for Jews when they irresponsibly slander Palestinian students and faculty. In fact, their political intervention to support Israel and Zionism feeds into anti-Jewish racism by claiming that all Jews share similar views and sentiments regarding Israel.

The ignorance and anti-Arab anti-Muslim racism that Ms. Rossman-Benjamin fuels, leverages and supports is all the more reason that Professor Abdulhadi’s scholarly pursuits, including research on diverse Palestinian political perspectives, offers a valuable contribution to San Francisco State University and indeed to the wider public.

We, the undersigned, urge you to do everything in your power to publicly defend Professor Abdulhadi against these false allegations and publicly acknowledge the contributions her work and the work of AMED make to SFSU.

Original signers:
Alan Wald, Faculty Emeritus, University of Michigan*
Alex Lubin, University of New Mexico*
Alisa Solomon, Journalism, Columbia University*
Alyosha Goldstein, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico*
Amy Kaplan, Edward W. Kane Professor of English, Department Chair, Univ of Pennsylvania*
Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance
Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University*
Caren Kaplan, Professor of American Studies, UC Davis*
Carol Krauthamer Smith, Los Angeles Civil Rights Attorney
City University of New York*
Constance R. Sutton Professor of Anthropology New York University*
David Finkel, Managing Editor Against the Current, Detroit
David Klein, Professor of Mathematics, California State University, Northridge*
David Letwin, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
David L. Mandel, attorney and member, Jewish Voice for Peace, Sacramento
Deborah Cohler, Associate Professor and Chair of Women and Gender Studies, SFSU*
Deeg Gold, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
Dennis Kortheuer, Ph. D., Department of History, California State University, Long Beach*
Ella Shohat, , Professor, Art and Public Policy, New York University*
Eric Smoodin, Professor of American Studies, UC Davis*
Estee Chandler, Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles, Organizer*
Gabi Kirk, Jewish Voice for Peace
Gabriel Ash, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Gabriel Piterberg, Professor of History & Director of the Gustav von Grunebaum Center for Near East Studies, UCLA
Haim Bresheeth, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, School of Oriental and African Studies* and Director of Camera Obscura Films
Hagit Borer, Professor & Chair, Dept of Linguistics, SLLF, Queen Mary, University of London*
Hester Eisenstein, Professor of Sociology, Queens College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York*
Hilton Obenzinger, Ph.D., American Studies, Associate Director, Stanford Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project, Stanford University
Howard Winant, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara*
Ilan Pappe, Writer and Professor of History, Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, University of Exeter*
Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Professor of Middle East History Department of History, Stanford University*
Joshua Gamson, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of San Francisco*
Judith Butler, Maxie Elliot professor, university of California at Berkeley *
Karin Pally, MPH, Santa Monica, CA
Kate Raphael, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
Kathryn K. Johnson, The Praxis Project, San Francisco State University*
Kathy Wazana, Documentary Filmmaker, They Were Promised the Sea, Founder, the Just Peace Seder and Community Mimouna
Keith P. Feldman, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley*
Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Connecticut*
Kinneret Israel, City College of San Francisco* Instructor
Kobi Snitz Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot Israel*
Laura Wexler, Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Yale University*
Leslie Cagan, United for Peace and Justice*
Linda Basch, President Emerita, National Council for Research on Women Fellow, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative*
Linda Gordon, University Professor of the Humanities, New York University*
Lisa Rofel, Professor Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz*
Marcy Newman, Writer and Activist, Bangalore, India
Marilyn B. Young, Dept of History, NYU*
Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark, Baruch College-CUNY, emerita*
Marty Rosenbluth, Esq. Attorney
Max Ajl, Jadaliyya*, Editor
Max Blumenthal, journalist
Max Geller, Students for Justice in Palestine, Northeastern University
Meir Gal, The School of Visual Arts, Department of Visual & Critical Studies*
Merle Ratner, Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign*
Michael Letwin, Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights
Naomi Allen, Jewish Voice for Peace, NY Chapter
Neve Gordon, Professor, Israeli political scientist and author of Israel’s Occupation
Orly Lubin, Tel Aviv University*
Penny Rosenwasser, Ph.D., author  of Hope into Practice, Jewish women  choosing justice despite our fears
Priscilla Wald, Ph.D., Duke University*
Ramon Grosfoguel, Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC-Berkeley*
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University*
Ronit Lentin, Associate Professor, Sociology, Trinity College, Dublin. Ireland*
Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Hunter College & the Graduate Center,
Sam Weinstein, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – Labor and Utility Workers Union of America (former Assistant to the National President)*
Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Organizer
Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University*
Sarah Schulman, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, City University of New York, College of Staten Island*
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – UK
Sherna Berger Gluck, Emerita Faculty, California State University, Long Beach*
Sherry Gorelick, Professor Emerita, Rutgers University*
Simona Sharoni, Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies, SUNY Plattsburgh*
Stevan Kirschbaum, Chair, Grievance Committee, USW 8751, Boston School Bus Union*
Steve Goldfield, Ph.D., writer and activist*
Steve Goldfield, PhD, writer and activist, San Francisco, CA
Susan Greene, PhD, Art Force
Sydney Levy, Jewish Voice for Peace
Terri Ginsberg, PhD, International Council for Middle East Studies, USA*
Tikva Honig-Parnass, PhD, writer, Jerusalem, Israel
Toby Kramer, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, US Organizer
Tom Pessah, PhD candidate, UC Berkeley*
Walda Katz-Fishman, Scholar Activist
Yifat Susskind, MADRE, Executive Director
Zachary Lockman, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and of History, NYU*

Plus an additional 350 signatories from across the United States, Israel, Europe, East Asia and South America