House Education Panel Seeks MIT Records in Growing Campus Anti-Semitism Probe

Some of the records requests cover the specific period in time since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and carried out a series of terror attacks across southern Israel.

Other requests seek records of anti-Semitic incidents and other forms of harassment that may have occurred at the Boston-area private research university since 2021.

Ms. Foxx asks MIT to produce the requested documents by March 22.

The Hamas attacks in October and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip have brought renewed public attention to the long-running Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

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Much of that attention has been rising across U.S. college campuses in the form of debates, demonstrations, and more aggressive altercations.

The Republican-led House committee has stepped up its scrutiny over how leading U.S. universities are responding to concerns that Jewish and pro-Israeli students, faculty, and university guests are being targeted for harassment.

The University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University also have faced scrutiny over their records handling allegations of campus anti-Semitism.

“We have received the Committee’s letter and are examining it,” MIT spokeswoman Sarah McDonnell told NTD News on March 8. MIT is committed to providing a response to the Committee’s question.”

MIT’s Record Under Scrutiny

Ms. Foxx said in her 12-page letter that Ms. Kornbluth “made numerous statements that further called into question the Institute’s willingness to address antisemitism seriously, including failing to state unequivocally during a Dec. 5, 2023, House hearing that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate MIT’s code of conduct and community standards.”

Ms. Foxx noted several additional instances of individuals repeating “hateful slogans” during demonstrations on the MIT campus in recent months, including references to “intifada” and chants of “from the river to the sea.”

The term “intifada” is Arabic for uprising and has been used to describe past periods of Palestinian-led civil unrest ranging from non-violent protests and acts of civil disobedience challenging Israeli institutions to stone-throwing, bombing attacks, and shooting battles.

The phrase “from the river to the sea” references the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Variations of the phrase include “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and proffered interpretations for its meaning range from an assertion of equal rights and self-determination for all Palestinians within that geographic range to more antagonistic references to the toppling of the Jewish state of Israel.

Ms. Foxx’s letter asserts that MIT’s leadership “has failed to condemn anti-Israel campus groups’ endorsement of Hamas’ terrorism against Israel” before noting an Oct. 8, 2023, statement by pro-Palestinian organizations at MIT that said they “hold the Israeli regime responsible for all unfolding violence” and “affirm the right of all occupied peoples to resist oppression and colonization.”

In a Dec. 6 incident that was reported by MIT Hillel Jewish campus center, an individual from outside the MIT community allegedly accused Jewish students of being agents of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and, after being denied entry into the Jewish campus center, allegedly proceeded to urinate on or at the building.

Ms. Foxx’s letter raises concerns about specific MIT organizations and individuals as well. The Republican chairwoman noted one postdoctoral associate alleged to have made several social media posts she described as “virulently antisemitic,” including calling Zionism—a term encompassing the Jewish nationalist project and support for the modern state of Israel—a “mental illness.”

The same postdoctoral associate allegedly referred to Zionists as “ZioNazis,” accused them of “genocide,” of wanting to harvest people’s organs, and of wanting to “enslave the world in a global Apartheid system.” The same individual also rejected claims of Hamas sexual violence against Israeli women as “perverted rape fantasies.”

Ms. Foxx said MIT’s Women and Gender Studies Program, Libraries, Center for International Studies, and Anthropology Department also hosted an event with an author who has allegedly accused Zionists of having “an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood.” MIT’s Women and Gender Studies Program hosted another guest who was arrested in Israel in November after threatening Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Also highlighted in the letter are incidents in which demonstrations have disrupted classes or blocked students from access to certain on-campus buildings. One involved members of the Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA) student group, and included multiple alleged physical altercations between alleged CAA members and Jewish students. Last month, Ms. Kornbluth announced the CAA student group had been suspended.

MIT officials declined further comment when NTD News reached out with additional questions about the contentious statements and incidents highlighted by Ms. Foxx in her letter.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.