Blood libel on campus: Haverford College hosts seminar saying Israel intentionally infects Palestinians with COVID-19

It is 1348 all over again.

Yesterday, anti-Zionist groups held a seminar at Haverford College that accused Israel of intentionally spreading COVID-19 as a tool of genocide to Palestinians.

Teach-in on Israel’s weaponization of COVID against Palestinians.

Join us to learn about how the Israeli state intentionally debilitates Palestinians through the spread of COVID and how we can resist COVID spread and the genocide against Palestinians

Just as with the Black Death, Jews are being accused of deliberately spreading disease - and this time it is being described as an intentional genocide, part of a planned effort to wipe out Palestinians altogether.

Only hours before the scheduled seminar, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia called on Haverford College to condemn the event.

The event’s title dangerously and inaccurately implies that Israel spread coronavirus to advance its global control, repackaging a centuries-old antisemitic trope that Jews take advantage of global crises as a means for their own gain and advancement. In this case, the event’s narrative takes on a new form of the antisemitic blood libel trope, accusing Jews of committing ritual murder and perpetuating the harmful stereotype of Jews as evil and conniving. 

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to establish college campuses as a space for free speech and critical thinking. However, it must be rooted in academic integrity rather than disinformation.  

Haverford College and institutions of all sizes have a responsibility first and foremost to protect the safety of their students. This event and the tension on campus that has led to Jewish students and faculty being vulnerable and victimized constitutes a failure of leadership.  

There have been no new reports of COVID infections among Palestinians since January 2023. The most recent death from COVID-19 I could find is September 2022.

Which makes this, in a sense, even worse than the accusation against Jews in the 14th century. The antisemites are making up deaths that aren't even happening and blaming them on Jews. 

As we are seeing in Europe, this depraved and crazed antisemitism leads to violence. And no one is doing anything effective to fight it - on the contrary, as we see on this campus, there is no pushback from the administration altogether.

(h/t Andrew)

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