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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/listen-michigan-professor-punished-supporting-boycott">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/listen-michigan-professor-punished-supporting-boycott</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Michigan professor punished for
supporting boycott</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/nora-barrows-friedman">Nora
Barrows-Friedman</a></span> <span class="field
field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-10-16T23:23:48+00:00">16 October 2018</span></span>
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<p><em>On this episode of The Electronic Intifada
Podcast: University of Michigan punishes professor
for refusing to write a recommendation letter for a
student wishing to study abroad in Israel; Major
Jewish communal organizations fund far right-wing,
Islamophobic and homophobic groups.</em></p>
<p><em><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://soundcloud.com/intifada">https://soundcloud.com/intifada</a><br>
</em></p>
<p>In recent weeks, <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/09/a-second-michigan-instructor-withheld-a-recommendation-letter-from-student-headed-to-israel/">two
professors</a> at the University of Michigan <a
href="https://palestinelegal.org/news/umich-punishes-professor-boycott">have
declined</a> to write recommendation letters for two
separate students seeking to join study abroad
programs in Israel.</p>
<p>The professors cited Israel’s discriminatory laws and
policies of occupation and apartheid against
Palestinians in their decisions to not write the
letters. They have expressed their support for the
call to boycott Israeli institutions as long as Israel
continues to violate Palestinian rights.</p>
<p>In September, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/michigan-professor-stands-firm-despite-israel-lobby-attacks">after
he refused</a> to write a recommendation letter,
professor John Cheney-Lippold received death threats.
The threats were not publicly addressed by the
university.</p>
<p>But the administration did choose to comment on the
professor’s actions, charging him with interfering in
the student’s request with his own “personal views and
politics.”</p>
<p>Israel lobby groups pressured the university to
discipline Cheney-Lippold, claiming that his choice
was an act of discrimination and anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>In an apparent effort by the university to appease
Israel advocates, an advisory committee declared in
late September that “a student’s merit” must be “the
primary guide for determining how and when to provide
letters of recommendation.”</p>
<p>On 3 October, the university again bowed to the
demands of Israel supporters, <a
href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/09/university-michigan-disciplines-professor-over-israel-letter-controversy/1580969002/">sanctioning
him</a> with the loss of his earned sabbatical for
two years and no merit pay raise for the academic
year.</p>
<p>Cheney-Lippold is being <a
href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/09/university-michigan-disciplines-professor-over-israel-letter-controversy/1580969002/">threatened
with further sanctions</a> if his <a
href="https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/10/university_of_michigan_creates_6.html">politics</a>
guide future decisions about recommendation letters.</p>
<p>Another University of Michigan instructor recently <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/09/a-second-michigan-instructor-withheld-a-recommendation-letter-from-student-headed-to-israel/">refused</a>
to write a letter of recommendation for a student
wishing to study abroad in Israel.</p>
<p>Doctoral student instructor Lucy Peterson said that
she had “pledged myself to a boycott of Israeli
institutions as a way of showing solidarity with
Palestine.”</p>
<p>Last week, she was questioned by the administration.
Peterson also faces potential discipline, <a
href="https://palestinelegal.org/news/umich-punishes-professor-boycott">according</a>
to civil rights group Palestine Legal.</p>
<p>“This is an alarming violation of the professor’s
First Amendment and 14th Amendment due process rights
under the US constitution,” Palestine Legal’s Radhika
Sainath told The Electronic Intifada Podcast.</p>
<p>As an employee of a public university, Cheney-Lippold
has full constitutional protections, she said, “and
that means that the university may not punish him for
his viewpoint supporting Palestinian rights, or
because he is taking this principled stance to support
the boycott for Palestinian rights.”</p>
<p>Sainath said that the administration’s punishment is
a “really extreme measure, and it will have a chilling
effect” on political speech.</p>
<p>Moreover, Sainath noted, by refusing to write the
letters for a program that inherently discriminates
against students of Palestinian ancestry,
Cheney-Lippold and Peterson are merely “abiding by the
university’s really strict anti-discrimination and
diversity policies by refusing to write
recommendations for institutions that all of their
students cannot study at.”</p>
<h2>Appeals</h2>
<p>Approximately 800 individuals have signed a <a
href="https://www.change.org/p/elizabeth-cole-defend-lucy-peterson-john-cheney-lippold-support-academic-freedom-right-to-boycott">petition</a>
in support of the professors, urging the university to
rescind Cheney-Lippold’s punishment and ensure that
Peterson not be subjected to similar sanctions.</p>
<p><a
href="http://usacbi.org/2018/10/defend-academic-freedom-and-the-right-to-boycott-support-lucy-peterson-and-john-cheney-lippold/">Academics</a>,
<a
href="https://www.richard-hoffman-reinhardt.com/writing/letter-to-dean-interim-dean-cole-in-support-of-john-cheney-lippold-and-lucy-peterson">scholars</a>,
<a
href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEzhihG0-TTkELNAA-QLVXIUymv6XKMhH8tEIzS7VmxHOGuQ/viewform?c=0&w=1">graduate
students</a>, <a
href="https://www.michigandaily.com/section/viewpoints/op-ed-university-will-not-silence-us">alumni</a>
and <a
href="https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51044/p/dia/action4/common/public/">human
rights</a> <a
href="https://secure.everyaction.com/VUraYfNM5U26-EU6ldTo_Q2">advocates</a>
are appealing to the university to drop the
punishments as well.</p>
<div id="file-70436">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">.<a
href="https://twitter.com/ProfKFranke?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ProfKFranke</a>:
"Like [Michigan professor Cheney-Lippold], I
don't write letters of recommendation for
students seeking jobs/internships in Israel
because I have many students who are
structurally disqualified from applying for
those opportunities on account of being
Palestinian." <a href="https://t.co/es9dFe3jFM">pic.twitter.com/es9dFe3jFM</a></p>
— Palestine Legal (@pal_legal) <a
href="https://twitter.com/pal_legal/status/1050478266505748481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
11, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">USPCN's Abudayyeh praised <a
href="https://twitter.com/UMich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UMich</a>
professor Cheney-Lippold's stance in support of
<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BDS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BDS</a>:
"It's exactly what the academic boycott was
established for. We thank him and we support
him." <a href="https://t.co/Xq5E3m9MxG">https://t.co/Xq5E3m9MxG</a></p>
— US Palestinian Community Network (@uspcn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/uspcn/status/1050909513631567874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
13, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p>Essayist and academic <a
href="https://activeforgetting.com/">Maximillian
Alvarez</a> pointed out on Twitter that the
University of Michigan <a
href="http://record.umich.edu/articles/20m-kahn-foundation-gift-expands-michigan-israel-research-effort">renewed
and expanded</a> a research grant with Israel’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/technion">Technion</a>.
The grant is worth $20 million.</p>
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">After <a
href="https://twitter.com/UMich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UMich</a>/<a
href="https://twitter.com/DrMarkSchlissel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DrMarkSchlissel</a>
drop the hammer on Prof. Chenney-Lippold over <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BDS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BDS</a>/rec
letter controversy UM Record announces, "$20M
Kahn Foundation gift expands Michigan-Israel
research partnership." Probably pure
coincidence... <a
href="https://twitter.com/palumboliu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@palumboliu</a><a
href="https://twitter.com/stevesalaita?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stevesalaita</a><a
href="https://t.co/k3xc3T59Vp">https://t.co/k3xc3T59Vp</a></p>
— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillian_alv) <a
href="https://twitter.com/maximillian_alv/status/1050854383401889793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The Technion is a major Israeli research institution
that <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/palestinian-boycott-campaign-end-cornells-collaboration-technion">works</a>
in partnership with a number of Israel’s arms
manufacturers and has even helped develop a <a
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3231665.stm">remote-controlled
function</a> for the Caterpillar bulldozers Israel
uses to demolish Palestinian homes.</p>
<h2>Jewish Community Federation funds hate</h2>
<p>The Technion has another financial backer in the US:
a major Jewish communal organization that has secretly
funded a bevy of right-wing, pro-Israel and pro-Trump
groups while <a href="https://jewishfed.org/">purporting
to represent</a> the “vibrant, caring and enduring
Jewish community” of the San Francisco Bay Area.</p>
<p>In early October, an investigation by <em>The
Forward</em> <a
href="https://forward.com/news/411355/revealed-canary-mission-blacklist-is-secretly-bankrolled-by-major-jewish/">revealed</a>
that the <a href="https://jewishfed.org/">Jewish
Community Federation of San Francisco, the
Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties</a>, a major
communal philanthropic organization, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/jewish-community-federation-admits-it-secretly-funded-canary-mission">has
been a top funder</a> of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/canary-mission">Canary
Mission</a> – the anonymous blacklisting website
that aims to tarnish the reputations of US supporters
of Palestinian rights.</p>
<p>The blacklist is also used by the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ministry-strategic-affairs">Ministry
of Strategic Affairs</a> to bar activists and
supporters of Palestinian rights from entering through
Ben Gurion airport, <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-official-documents-prove-israel-bans-young-americans-based-on-canary-mission-site-1.6530903">according</a>
to documents recently released by Israeli newspaper <em>Haaretz</em>.</p>
<p>Tax filings led reporters to an Israeli company named
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/megamot-shalom">Megamot
Shalom</a>, <em>The Forward</em> reports, “that
operates or operated Canary Mission.” Their address is
an abandoned office west of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Last week, <em>The Forward</em> <a
href="https://forward.com/news/national/411895/second-major-jewish-charity-admits-funding-canary-mission-blacklist/">reported</a>
that another major charity, the Jewish Community
Foundation of Los Angeles, “made a series of grants
totaling $250,000” to Megamot Shalom.</p>
<p>“Evidence is now building that major Jewish
institutions with hundreds of millions of dollars in
assets, and boards of directors that include prominent
members of the US Jewish community, have played a
significant role in bankrolling the site,” <em>The
Forward’s</em> Josh Nathan-Kazis wrote.</p>
<p>On Monday, <em>Haaretz</em> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-new-details-revealed-about-the-israeli-money-pipeline-to-canary-mission-1.6554802">reported</a>
that the head of Megamot Shalom is a British-born
Israeli settler named Jonathan Bash.</p>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ben-packer">Ben
Packer</a>, a far-right rabbi from the United States
and a devout follower of racist leader Meir Kahane,
works with Bash and both are shareholders in Megamot
Shalom.</p>
<p>Packer has a long history of racist and inflammatory
statements and recently <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/former-duke-rabbi-campus-calls-death-curse-durham">called
for</a> a “death curse” on Durham, North Carolina,
after city leaders voted to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/listen-how-durham-activists-led-city-ban-police-training-israel">prohibit</a>
“military-style training” programs for its police
force in foreign countries, including Israel.</p>
<p>Packer is <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/former-duke-rabbi-campus-calls-death-curse-durham">also
a friend</a> of Stephen Miller, the senior White
House official who is a <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/immigration-children-sessions-miller.html">key
proponent</a> of President Donald Trump’s racist
immigration policies separating children from their
parents.</p>
<p>Prompted by these recent findings, Chicago-based
researcher <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/stephanie-skora">Stephanie
Skora</a> sorted through more of the Jewish
Community Federation’s (JCF) tax filings and <a
href="https://medium.com/@stephanieskora/the-jewish-federation-of-san-francisco-funds-far-right-and-anti-muslim-groups-and-i-can-prove-it-dc030484266c">found</a>
that it has not only been a top funder of Canary
Mission, but of many other far right-wing, anti-Muslim
and homophobic groups going back at least 15 years,
with funds totalling more than $300 million.</p>
<p>The Federation “seeks to be this progressive Jewish
organization that funds aspects of American life and
progressive and liberal causes in the US, but is
willing to go so far right as a pro-Israel
organization that they fund some of the nastiest
people that the country has to offer,” Skora told The
Electronic Intifada Podcast.</p>
<p>Skora’s research indicates that the JCF gave $100,000
to the American Society for Technion, designated for
the “Iron Dome Project.” <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/iron-dome">Iron
Dome</a> is an Israeli missile interception system.</p>
<h2>Federation funds pro-Trump, anti-Semitic groups</h2>
<p>Among the beneficiaries of the federation’s funding
are right-wing, pro-Trump groups such as <a
href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-conservative-nonprofit-that-seeks-to-transform-college-campuses-faces-allegations-of-racial-bias-and-illegal-campaign-activity">Turning
Point USA</a>, the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/tea-party">Tea
Party</a> and the <a
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/09/trump_is_laying_the_groundwork_to_overturn_marriage_equality.html">anti-LGBTQ</a>
Heritage Foundation.</p>
<p>Groups with deep ties to white supremacy and
anti-Semitism, such as the Tea Party, and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/zionist-organization-america">Zionist
Organization of America</a> – which has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/anti-semites-feted-zionist-organization-america">invited
former Trump adviser Steve Bannon</a> to speak at
its annual gathering – highlight the contradictions in
the federation’s funding priorities.</p>
<p>“You run into this contradiction where you have this
major Jewish organization funding the work of
anti-Semites to promote the interests of the Israeli
state,” Skora noted.</p>
<p>Right-wing Zionist organizations including the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/david-horowitz-freedom-center">David
Horowitz Freedom Center</a>, led by David Horowitz,
a key player in the Islamophobia industry, and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/american-freedom-defense-initiative">American
Freedom Defense Initiative</a>, headed by notorious
anti-Muslim bigots <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/pamela-geller">Pamela
Geller</a> and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/robert-spencer">Robert
Spencer</a>, have also been funded by the
federation.</p>
<p>The Dutch anti-Muslim politician <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/geert-wilders">Geert
Wilders</a>, who has been <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/geert-wilders-dutch-anti-muslim-party-forced-reveal-us-donor">funded</a>
by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, has also
received funding through the federation, according to
Skora’s research.</p>
<p>The <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/foundation-defense-democracies">Foundation
for Defense of Democracies</a> – a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film/24566">neoconservative
Israel lobby group</a> and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/middle-east-forum">Middle
East Forum</a>, which is run by leading anti-Muslim
bigot <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/daniel-pipes">Daniel
Pipes</a> – have collected funding as well.</p>
<p>Skora found that other beneficiaries of the
federation’s largesse include Israel lobby groups that
attempt to disrupt boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) campaigns and smear student activists.</p>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/standwithus">StandWithUs</a>
received almost $1.3 million, while <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-project">The
Israel Project</a> received nearly $2 million.</p>
<p>The Israel Project shares a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder/25356">funder</a>,
Adam Milstein, with Canary Mission.</p>
<p>Other campus-focused right-wing Zionist groups such
as the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/amcha-initiative">Amcha
Initiative</a>, the <a
href="http://www.aiefdn.org/">American Israel
Education Foundation</a>, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hasbara-fellowships">Hasbara
Fellowships</a>, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/students-supporting-israel">Students
Supporting Israel</a> and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-campus-coalition">Israel
on Campus Coalition</a> have collectively received
millions of dollars through the JCF.</p>
<h2>Reconsidering support</h2>
<p>The Federation also <a
href="https://awiderbridge.org/jewish-community-federation/">supports</a>
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/wider-bridge">A
Wider Bridge</a>, a group that engages in <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/pinkwashing">pinkwashing</a>
– a public relations strategy that deploys Israel’s
supposed enlightenment toward LGBTQ issues to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/pinkwash-greenwash-hogwash-ali-abunimah-israels-use-sex-and-marketing-distract">deflect
criticism</a> from its human rights abuses and
appeal particularly to Western liberal audiences.</p>
<p>Skora said that she hopes her research prompts
progressive US Jewish communities to reconsider their
support of the federation.</p>
<p>“I’m sure that most of the Jews in the Bay Area would
be horrified to learn that the JCF funded the Tea
Party,” she said.</p>
<p>For college students, Skora said this research could
be helpful for them to know where the funding is
coming from “when they’re fighting against groups such
as Students Supporting Israel, the Israel on Campus
Coalition, or even just right-wing groups associated
with their local Hillel [chapter].”</p>
<p>“These groups that claim to speak for the interests
of Jews on campus are in fact representing the Israeli
state, and they have the right-wing funding to do it.”</p>
<p>Listen to the interviews with Radhika Sainath and
Stephanie Skora via the media player above.</p>
<p><em>Theme music and production assistance by Sharif
Zakout</em></p>
<br>
</article>
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