Stanford,
CA – Stereotypes asserting Jews “control the banks and the media”
do not constitute anti-Semitism, a member of the Associated Students of
Stanford University (ASSU) Senate claimed this week.
During
a hearing on renewing a resolution banning antisemitism, Stanford senior
Gabriel Knight insisted that a clause defining negative Jewish stereotypes is
“irresponsibly foraying into another politically contentious conversation.”
“Questioning these potential power
dynamics, I think, is not antisemitism,” he said. “I think it’s a
very valid discussion.”
He
also maintained that the bill should include “some language to acknowledge
Palestinians’ rights to self-determination.”
Knight
backtracked twenty minutes later, the Stanford Review reported Tuesday,
apologizing as “the Jewish community could be offended by that.” Two
fellow Senators, however – named as Elliot Kaufman and Matthew Wigler – have
called for Knight to step down after making the remarks.
Tensions
remained high during the ASSU meeting, which sought to renew the bill to
condemn “mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations
about Jews […] or the power of Jews as a collective.” The bill was
instituted after a heated debate over the support for Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) against Israel last year, which was ultimately rejected.
Despite
the bill’s language – which is similar to standards set by the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL) and other major organizations – student groups associated with the
failed BDS bill, including the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC), immediately
began to remove clauses from the definition of ‘anti-Semitism,’ including
clauses against ‘double standards’ and ‘demonization.’
Several
Jewish groups behind the bill threatened to remove their support following the
proposed revision; tensions escalated further after students suggested the ADL
was not equipped to educate the board for a yearly review over anti-Semitism. A
discussion then ensued over “the intersection of ‘white power’ and ‘Jewish
power,” the Review reports.
Seven
revisions were made to the bill, including erasing a clause that “Zionism is defined as the belief in Israel’s
right to exist and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in
their ancestral homeland” and clauses barring the delegitimization of Israel.
