Illustrative: An “apartheid wall” erected by Students for Justice in Palestine at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Photo: SJP at UIUC
On March 16th, the College Dean’s Office at American University (AU) announced that the university would drop its co-sponsorship of a March 17th event featuring virulent antisemite Mohammed El-Kurd.
AU’s rescission of sponsorship came after more than 30 concerned students brought a series of libelous and inflammatory comments made by El-Kurd to the administration’s attention. The letter requested that AU drop its co-sponsorship of the event.
A few included El-Kurd’s expressed support for the internationally recognized terrorist organizations Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, his idolized descriptions of “intifadas” and waves of terror against Israelis, casual comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, and numerous antisemitic tropes.
This behavior was apparently enough to convince American University officials to distance the school from the event. Still, it wasn’t enough to deter Reverend Graylan S. Hagler of Plymouth United Church of Christ, located a few miles from American University, from hosting El-Kurd at his church.