The ‘Zionist Pig’ Saga: No Witness; Charges of Anti-Semitism Dropped

THE FORWARD – Claims of widespread anti-Semtisim at City University of New York created an uproar earlier this year. One troubling event, described in a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report and later repeated in a long letter penned by the Zionist Organization of America, took place at a February 16 student protest held during a faculty meeting. One student, the report went, shouted at a Jewish faculty member: “Zionist pig!”

The only thing is, it doesn’t appear anyone ever said it.

In statement released the afternoon of June 9, Brooklyn College said that after an extensive investigation it could find no witnesses who heard the phrase. While a protestor may have shouted “Zionist,” the more incendiary phrase was not heard by witnesses questioned.

“Contrary to allegations reported int he media,” the statement read, “no witness heard the phrase ‘Zionist pig.’”

The college mounted an investigation almost immediately after it occurred in February. Two students, Thomas DeAngelis and Sarah Aly, were ultimately brought forward for a disciplinary hearing for their involvement in the February action, which was held to protest a number of university issues, including tuition increases and reports of police surveillance at the school — not the Israeli government or its policies.

De Angelis and Aly faced charges of disrupting the meeting and possible expulsion, but were largely exonerated in a May 20 hearing. The Brooklyn College disciplinary committee found that the students were only guilty of violating “one of Hendersons Rules,” and therefore, imposed the penalty of “admonition.”

The students were charged with violating Henderson Rules 1, 2, 3, and 7, the decision from the committee read, but were only found guilty of violating Henderson Rule 2, failing to “comply with lawful direction issued by representatives” of the university.

“The students were never even charged with making hateful or anti-Jewish statements. That is because they never said anything hateful or anti-Jewish,” said Radhika Sainath, a lawyer with Palestine Legal, an organization which provided legal support for the students.

“This was a politically-motivated disciplinary process that should never have happened,” Sainath said.

The report of the phrase “Zionist pig” dates back to the JTA article, which cited an anonymous faculty member as the source. It was widely repeated afterwards by other outlets (including this site) and condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and the ZOA.

The ZOA’s public letter highlighted the possible involvement of Students for Justice in Palestine, a loosely organized national group that has been at the forefront of efforts to boycott or divest from Israel on campuses. While Angelis and Aly are members of the group, the February protest was not an SJP event.

The ZOA letter pegged a long string charges of anti-Semitism on SJP but the charges were largely self-reported by students . The fact that Brooklyn College could find no witnesses to corroborate the “Zionist pig” claim could suggest that similar allegations of widespread anti-Semitism at CUNY will prove difficult to independently verify.

The ZOA declined to comment on the inclusion of what now appears to be a baseless charge in their letter, but in a previous interview with the Forward described how they compiled the letter. “When we wrote the letter,” ZOA president Morton Klein said, “we simply described what was described to us.”

Palestine Legal said the disciplinary hearing for two SJP members was part of a wider trend.

The charges against Aly and DeAngelis reflect a “pattern of politically-motivated tactics used to suppress Palestinian rights advocates across the country, including at the City University of New York,” a statement from Palestine Legal said.

Maria LaHood, deputy legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said that Aly and DeAngelis deserve an apology from Brooklyn College. By immediately characterizing Aly and DeAngelis as participating in an “anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish” event — as the protest was called by the the school’s president — the students were “publicly smeared … as having made hateful comments.”

The charges of anti-Semitism, LaHood said, were “trumped-up.”