Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Haverford Professor Charged with Antisemitic Threats
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today, we
- 0:10Speaker 1: begin with troubling developments on college campuses and sharp rhetoric
- 0:13Speaker 1: in politics. We're also launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic, providing focused
- 0:19Speaker 1: coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region.
- 0:23Speaker 1: Find more at clockworkmedia.org slash MA. At Haverford College in Pennsylvania,
- 0:29Speaker 1: a professor has been charged with felony cyber-stalking for allegedly
- 0:32Speaker 1: sending dozens of antisemitic threats to a colleague, via social media.
- 0:37Speaker 1: According to CBS Philadelphia, Guangxin Ha, an associate professor of religion,
- 0:43Speaker 1: is accused of using at least four different ex-accounts to
- 0:46Speaker 1: send hateful messages over nearly an eight-month period, from October
- 0:50Speaker 1: 2025 to May 2026. Court documents claim Ha also released
- 0:55Speaker 1: his colleague's home address and child's name online, reportedly beginning
- 0:59Speaker 1: in October 2025 with a post of the colleague's mailbox.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Haverford College President Wendy Raymond, stated that Ha has been
- 1:07Speaker 1: banned from campus and placed on administrative leave. In a
- 1:11Speaker 1: joint statement, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the Anti-Defamation
- 1:16Speaker 1: League of Philadelphia, and the American Jewish Committee of Philadelphia
- 1:20Speaker 1: slash Southern New Jersey called the allegations, a stark reminder
- 1:24Speaker 1: that the resurgent antisemitism remains a persistent threat that must
- 1:28Speaker 1: be confronted wherever it appears. In politics, rhetoric around the
- 1:32Speaker 1: anniversary of the October 7th attacks has sparked sharp exchanges.
- 1:37Speaker 1: New York Republican Representative Mike Lawler angrily slammed New York
- 1:42Speaker 1: City Mayor Zoran Mamdani as a rabid antisemite in a tweet.
- 1:46Speaker 1: According to the New York Daily News, Lawler's remark followed
- 1:49Speaker 1: a statement from Mayor Mamdani that mourned the deaths of
- 1:52Speaker 1: both Israelis and Palestinians. Lawler's tweet, as reported by the
- 1:56Speaker 1: Daily News, stated, At NYC Mayor, It's the Jews' fault
- 2:01Speaker 1: they got butchered on October 7th, Lawler tweeted. Hey Zoran,
- 2:05Speaker 1: your Mr. Nice Guy Bull's tea isn't fooling anyone anymore.
- 2:08Speaker 1: We all know you are a rabid antisemite. His Republican colleague,
- 2:12Speaker 1: Representative Tom Keene Jr. of New Jersey, similarly criticized his
- 2:17Speaker 1: Democratic rival for not mentioning Israel in her anniversary statement,
- 2:21Speaker 1: calling her silence, cowardly and a betrayal of America's values. Meanwhile,
- 2:26Speaker 1: prominent media figure Tucker Carlson is reportedly pushing the conspiracy
- 2:30Speaker 1: theory that the October 7th attacks were an Israeli false flag,
- 2:35Speaker 1: and accusing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, according to UnetNews.com. Separately,
- 2:40Speaker 1: speakers at the NatCon conference were reported to have berated
- 2:44Speaker 1: Jews for speaking out against anti-Semitism and accused Israel of
- 2:48Speaker 1: drawing the US into wars, as noted by Jewish Insider.
- 2:52Speaker 1: These instances come as the Jewish Civic Affairs Council has
- 2:55Speaker 1: called on public officials across the political spectrum to to
- 2:59Speaker 1: affirm that antisemitism and hate will not be tolerated, referencing
- 3:03Speaker 1: harassment of Jews in certain left-wing spaces over the past decade.
- 3:08Speaker 1: In Britain, a new report from Labour Friends of Israel
- 3:11Speaker 1: warns that anti-Zionist antisemitism has become institutionally embedded across the
- 3:16Speaker 1: public sector. The briefing, detailed by the JC, calls for
- 3:21Speaker 1: an independent reviewer to tackle the exclusion and intimidation of Jews.
- 3:25Speaker 1: It describes anti-Zionism as an ideology that denies the Jewish
- 3:29Speaker 1: right to national self-determination and is a significant feature of
- 3:34Speaker 1: far-left and Islamist extremism. The report urges public bodies to
- 3:39Speaker 1: adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism in full and without amendment,
- 3:44Speaker 1: alongside mandatory data collection on antisemitic incidents. Internationally, weeks of
- 3:50Speaker 1: widespread violence in France have been accompanied by antisemitic chants
- 3:53Speaker 1: heard in the streets. according to jfeed.com. The reporting details
- 3:58Speaker 1: severe incidents amidst high school protests, including a baby hospitalized
- 4:03Speaker 1: with ear injuries from a firework, a woman burned by
- 4:06Speaker 1: an aerosol spray, and a student losing a hand to
- 4:09Speaker 1: a stun grenade. Authorities are investigating these and other violent incidents,
- 4:14Speaker 1: some involving police conduct. In Germany, Reuters reports that the
- 4:19Speaker 1: left party will only commence Berlin coalition talks after finalizing
- 4:23Speaker 1: an agreement on antisemitism. specifically referencing the IHRA definition. The
- 4:28Speaker 1: Green Party in Britain has also highlighted a distressing return
- 4:32Speaker 1: of anti-Semitism in Britain, as noted by Bloomberg. CTV News
- 4:37Speaker 1: also reports that the October 7th anniversary marks three years
- 4:41Speaker 1: of threats on Jews living in Canada. On policy and
- 4:44Speaker 1: institutional responses, a professor is suing to overturn a 2025
- 4:49Speaker 1: Arkansas law that mandates educational institutions adopt the International Holocaust
- 4:54Speaker 1: Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, as reported by UnitNews.com.
- 5:01Speaker 1: In New Jersey, U.S. Representative Josh Gotthamer unveiled a bipartisan
- 5:06Speaker 1: legislative package aimed at honoring victims of the October 7
- 5:10Speaker 1: attacks and combating antisemitism, noting that New Jersey ranked third
- 5:15Speaker 1: nationally in reported antisemitic incidents last year. The Pennsylvania Human
- 5:19Speaker 1: Relations Commission condemned antisemitic and racist graffiti spray-painted at a
- 5:24Speaker 1: Glenside park, calling the messages, designed to intimidate and divide. Separately,
- 5:30Speaker 1: the German chancellor has pledged to combat antisemitism within Germany,
- 5:34Speaker 1: according to bsnews.net. Looking at Watchdog reporting, new figures from
- 5:39Speaker 1: New Jersey indicate that 432 bias incidents targeting the Jewish
- 5:44Speaker 1: community were reported last year, making up approximately 22% of
- 5:48Speaker 1: the state's total 2,007 bias incidents, according to the Jewish standard. Finally,
- 5:55Speaker 1: the Secure Community Network, or SCN, has launched a new
- 5:59Speaker 1: oral history initiative called Standing with Strength, Stories of Survival.
- 6:04Speaker 1: The project, developed with producer Craig Turk, aims to preserve
- 6:07Speaker 1: first-hand accounts from survivors of targeted anti-Semitic terror attacks across
- 6:12Speaker 1: North America, integrating these crucial testimonies into SCN's security training programs.
- 6:18Speaker 1: I'm Rachel Adler. Thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch.
- 6:22Speaker 1: For focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and
- 6:25Speaker 1: the Philadelphia region, listen to Antisemitism Watch. MidAtlantic at ClockworkMedia.org.ma.
- 6:32Speaker 1: Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so you don't
- 6:36Speaker 1: miss the next update. This report was generated with AI
- 6:39Speaker 1: assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with
- 6:45Speaker 1: primary sources. Thank you.