The pro-Palestine organization behind the recent protests on the University of New Hampshire campus is demanding an apology from President James Dean, whom it describes as “a disgrace to academia” and someone who should “actually read a book.”
In a statement to NHJournal, the Palestine Solidarity Coalition at UNH (PSC) says the administration and the police were the problem at last week’s protest, not the anti-Israel protesters setting up an encampment on university property.
And it rejects the argument made by Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) — as well as many Jewish organizations — that calling for Palestine to be free “from the river to the sea” is antisemitic. It also defends its calls for “intifada.”
“We maintain our position from our [previous] statement and demand an apology from James Dean,” the PSC said. It additionally demands that “all charges are dropped, that UNH fully divests [from Israel], and the resignation of Senior Vice Provost Kenneth Holmes and UNH Police Chief Paul Dean.”
During an interview with WFEA radio’s Drew Cline, James Dean said that rather than spontaneous action by UNH students, “outside groups” were involved.
“We know that this was coordinated by outside groups because the exact same thing happened at Dartmouth and UNH at exactly the same time,” Dean said.
The PSC took umbrage at that claim.
“James Dean is a disgrace to academia. Multiple encampments taking place simultaneously in the state does not mean they were coordinated by outside groups, and implying they were is disrespectful to student organizers and the 10 students arrested,” it said. It also pointed out that last week’s protest took place on “a symbolic day: May 1st, International Labor Day.”
“Maybe James Dean should learn the history of May Day and student movements if he one day chooses to actually read a book. The only threat to campus safety were the cops in riot gear that James Dean invited to campus.”
As for reports that police found “rocks and sticks,” the PSC says there were only “small rocks holding down flyers and pamphlets. There were no sticks, only flags with poles and poles for banners. This is slander and defamation,” it added.
The PSC cause didn’t make any friends Monday when a “walkout” on behalf of the arrested protesters broke out in anti-police chants of “Oink, oink, piggy, piggy, we’re going to make your lives sh*tty.”
(Listen to “Oink, Oink chant here.)
On Tuesday, Sununu appeared on Cline’s radio show, praising President Dean and the police for how they handled the encampment protest.
“They didn’t try to placate [the protesters] and they made it very clear that actions have consequences,” Sununu said. “Not when you voice an opinion, but when you cross the line of breaking rules, policies and laws.”
Asked about how his alma mater, MIT, is handling protesters and the encampment they’ve established on the campus, Sununu said “MIT could learn a lot from UNH.”
The encampments in Cambridge “are promoting a lot of hate and antisemitism. And if you want to have that voice, that’s fine. But to allow students to continually break rules and laws in the name of social justice, that is not what this country is about.
“Just because you think you’re right doesn’t mean the law doesn’t apply to you,” Sununu said.
Republicans have been calling out the campus chaos and urging action, either by university administrators or the federal government. But some more libertarian voices on the right say that’s a mistake.
“The urge to ‘do something’ when one sees suffering or injustice is very human, and very understandable. But that does not mean that doing something is the best way for Washington to deal with college campus unrest,” Cato Institute Director of the Center for Educational Freedom Neal McCluskey said in a statement. “Instead, what Congress should do is respect subsidiarity: If lower levels of society can possibly handle situations themselves, they should be allowed to.”
But for some members of both political parties, the hate speech from protesters like the PSC must be confronted, in particular the antisemitic messages it is broadcasting.
“I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world,” President Joe Biden said in a high-profile speech on Tuesday. “In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard.”
“But there is no place on any campus in America [or] any place in America for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind whether against Jews or anyone else,” Biden said.
The PSC insists there is nothing antisemitic or hateful about chanting “From the river to the sea” or “Long live the Intifada.”
Asked about those concerns, the PSC told NHJournal “they are incorrect.”
“The [from the river to the sea] chant is for a free Palestine between the river and the sea where everyone (including Palestinian Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Israelis) is free; in contrast, to the current apartheid and occupation of Palestinians.”
Supporters of Israel say the purpose of a Jewish state is to give Jews a safe haven from the violence targeting them, violence largely committed by Arabs since the United Nations created Israel in 1948.
“Intifada means ‘uprising’ or ‘rebellion’ in Arabic. The first Intifada was a non-violent uprising in the West Bank in the 1980s,” it said. “Just like a protest can be peaceful, violent, or anything in between, so can the intifada. It does not target any specific religion, group, or ethnicity, just like the word protest does not.”
The Anti-Defamation League doesn’t agree.
“The chant [Long Live the Intifada] is a reference to two periods of Palestinian violence against Israel – in the late 1980s and from 2000-2005 – which saw Palestinian terrorists commit indiscriminate acts of violence against Israelis, including suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings, targeting people on city buses, eating in restaurants or out at nightclubs – resulting in over 1,000 people killed. This slogan is generally understood as a call for indiscriminate violence against Israel, and potentially against Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide.”
