Stanford University teacher suspended for allegedly separating Jewish students, calling them colonizers, downplaying the Holocaust

A Stanford University teacher has been suspended for allegedly separating Jewish students from the rest of the class, calling them colonizers, and downplaying the Holocaust.

Just days after the Hamas invasion that killed more than 1,300 Israelis, a Stanford University lecturer is accused of "identity-based targeting" of Jewish students. The disturbing alleged actions took place on Tuesday during two "Civil, Liberal and Global Education" classes – a course for undergraduate students on campus.

Senior Nourya Cohen and junior Andrei Mandelshtam – co-presidents of Stanford’s Israeli Student Association – caught wind of the troubling accusations and interviewed several students who were in the classroom.

The lecturer allegedly began one of the classes by announcing that the lesson would be about colonialism. The teacher blamed the war on Zionists and excused the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists because their actions were part of a "resistance."

The lecturer – who was not identified – reportedly asked Jewish students to raise their hands. The teacher then ordered the Jewish students to leave their belongings at their seats and go stand in a corner.

Rabbi Dov Greenberg – director of the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center – said three students in the class informed him that the instructor told the class, "This is what Israel does to the Palestinians."

The lecturer then asked, "How many people died in the Holocaust?" A student responded by saying, "Six million." The teacher replied, "Colonizers killed more than six million. Israel is a colonizer."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Cohen and Mandelshtam said students told them that the lecturer asked if anyone knew who 19th-century Belgian King Leopold was. When no one responded, he said the king, who colonized Congo, had killed some 12 million Africans. Students reported that the lecturer told them that more people died from colonization than from the Holocaust and that colonization was what happened to the Palestinians, Cohen and Mandelshtam said.

The instructor allegedly asked every student where their ancestors were from. The teacher then purportedly labeled each student as a "colonizer" or someone who was "colonized."

A student allegedly said his ancestors were from Israel, and the teacher shot back, "Oh, definitely a colonizer."

Cohen said, "I feel absolutely dehumanized that someone in charge of students and developing minds could possibly try and justify the massacre of my people. It's like I’m reliving the justification of Nazis 80 years ago on today’s college campus."

Joshua Jankelow – President of the Jewish organization Chabad at Stanford – noted, "It sounds like a vile form of hatred."

Stanford University suspended the teacher and launched an investigation into the alarming allegations.

Stanford University said in a statement:

We have received a report of a class in which a non-faculty instructor is reported to have addressed the Middle East conflict in a manner that called out individual students in class based on their backgrounds and identities. Without prejudging the matter, this report is a cause for serious concern. Academic freedom does not permit the identity-based targeting of students. The instructor in this course is not currently teaching while the university works to ascertain the facts of the situation.

The students who exposed the teacher remained anonymous because the atmosphere had gotten toxic on campus following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

There were posters and slogans written in chalk that read: "Israel Is Dead," "Long Live The Intifada," "From The River To The Sea," and "2-4-6-8, Smash The Zionist Settler State."

The Stanford Daily reported, "Multiple banners were hung on campus buildings over the weekend. One at Tresidder Memorial Union read, 'The Illusion Of Israel Is Burning.' Another banner at the clock tower on Sunday read, 'The Land Remembers Her People,' accompanied by a drawing of the Palestinian flag. The banners were taken down before Monday."

Requests were made to increase security at Hillel at Stanford – the self-described "Jewish home for 550 Jewish undergraduate and 1100 Jewish graduate students, and a center to share the wisdom and beauty of Jewish life with the university community as a whole."

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner – executive director of Stanford Hillel – said Jewish students are "feeling invisible" and are experiencing a real sense of uncertainty and fear.

Originally, Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez issued a statement on Monday that described the bloody Hamas invasion of Israel as a "Middle East conflict." The press release did not use the word "Hamas" at all.

After blowback to the milquetoast statement, the president and provost delivered a second statement that was much more sympathetic to the murdered and kidnapped Israelis.

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