When the leaders of Georgetown University, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley sat down on Tuesday morning to testify at a congressional hearing about antisemitism, they clearly came prepared, having learned the lessons of the now-infamous December 2023 hearing with the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, each of whom refused to outright say that calls for genocide violated their schools’ codes of conduct. 

Georgetown interim President Robert Groves, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons were all quick to denounce antisemitism and even anti-Zionism at Tuesday’s House Education and Workforce Committee hearing examining the role of faculty, funding and ideology in campus antisemitism. 

But while the university administrators readily criticized antisemitism broadly, they struggled to apply that commitment directly to their field of academia. 

Lyons in particular offered a revealing look at the gulf between a university’s stated values and its difficulty in carrying them out. 

He was asked to account for the promotion of Ussama Makdisi, a Berkeley history professor who described the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks as “resistance” and later wrote on X that he “could have been one of those who broke the siege on October 7.” Why, Lyons was asked by Reps. Randy Fine (R-FL) and Lisa McClain (R-MI), did Berkeley announce last September that Makdisi had been named the university’s inaugural chair of Palestinian and Arab studies? 

Lyons first defended Makdisi: “Ussama Makdisi, Professor Makdisi, is a fine scholar. He was awarded that position from his colleagues based on academic standards,” Lyons said.  

Later, when McClain followed Fine’s line of questioning, Lyons went to great lengths to avoid criticizing Makdisi. 

“I want to separate the phrase from the person. If I heard some other person —” he said, before McClain cut him off. What, McClain asked, did Lyons think Makdisi meant with his tweet?

For five seconds, Lyons sat in silence. 

“I believe it was a celebration of the terrorist attack on Oct. 7,” he replied slowly. 

He shared that he had spoken to Makdisi about the social media post. Pressed to share what the conversation was like, Lyons returned to an earlier line: “He’s a fine scholar,” Lyons said. 

Lyons, like Matos Rodriguez and Groves, acknowledged that antisemitism exists at his campus. But they all struggled to reckon with what Republican lawmakers alleged was an explosion in antisemitism at each of the three schools after Oct. 7. 

“I believe that most Jewish students feel safe on our campus,” Lyons said, though he also said that he knows some do not feel safe. When asked why they may not feel safe, he demurred. 

“Well, I think there are Jewish people that don’t feel safe in lots of parts —” he said, cut off again by McClain, who asked him to speak specifically about UC Berkeley. 

“I think there is antisemitism in society,” Lyons said, before he was cut off again. 

Lyons repeatedly attempted to make the same point: “I do believe that public universities are reflections of society, and I believe the antisemitism in society is present on our campus,” Lyons said. Asked whether the actions that he takes or that his faculty take can influence the campus environment, he said yes. McClain accused him of “avoiding the question,” and asked: Would he commit to act to make sure all Jewish students and all students feel safe?

“I’m committing to striving to reach that goal,” said Lyons.

Each of the university leaders was asked, at different occasions, to account for faculty members who had shared antisemitic or pro-Hamas rhetoric. Matos Rodriguez, the CUNY chancellor, did not deny that the New York City university system employs antisemitic faculty, though he did not specify whether any action would be taken against them.

“We have faculty that might conduct themselves in antisemitic behavior, and we have no tolerance for it, and we’re clear about the expectations to follow all our rules and policies,” Matos Rodriguez said. “If any individual breaks those rules, they will be investigated, and the appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if warranted.” 

Presented with the cases of two faculty members who had shared pro-Hamas content on social media, Matos Rodriguez condemned Hamas, but did not say specifically if their rhetoric violated codes of conduct or led to any consequences.

“I have been very clear that Hamas is a horrible terrorist organization, and we have no tolerance at the City University of New York for anyone who would embrace that support of Hamas,” said Matos Rodriguez. “I clearly condemn the statements, and it’s been my testimony here, and our practice, that if any member of the City University community violates our policies and our code of conduct, we will conduct an investigation, and if discipline is warranted, we will take it, and we will not hesitate to do that, and we have done so.”

Groves, Georgetown’s president, shared early in the hearing that the university had taken action against Jonathan Brown, a tenured professor who faced criticism last month for a tweet calling for Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” on a U.S. military base after Washington struck Iranian nuclear sites. Brown is no longer the chair of the university’s Arabic and Islamic studies program, Groves said, and he has been placed on leave pending an investigation. 

Groves, who faced several questions about Georgetown’s ties to Qatar, pledged to commit to disclosing every dollar that Georgetown receives from foreign sources. 

At the same time, he stood by Georgetown’s decision to award Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the Qatari emir, with the university’s president’s medal in April. Sheikha Moza has a history of incendiary anti-Israel commentary on social media, including several posts praising the Oct. 7 attacks and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the violence. Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) asked Groves why Georgetown gave her a medal, given those posts.

The medal was awarded because of her “decades-long work for educating, getting access to education, to the poorest children around the world,” Groves said. 

“I don’t support that tweet,” he added, when asked if Georgetown’s values include calls for the destruction of Israel. “That tweet is not consistent with Georgetown policy. We honored her for her decades of work in access to education to the poorest children of the world.” Georgetown would not consider revoking the award, he added.

Groves’ stated commitment to transparency about its sources of foreign funding — the university’s 20-year relationship with Qatar is well-documented and oft-criticized — stood in contrast to Lyons’ response to questions about whether he would disclose all foreign funding to Berkeley. 

“As a public university, I am not ready to commit to that on the fly. There are different donors to the university who request anonymity,” Lyons said. “What I’d be very, very happy to be very transparent about is exactly what is our process for vetting those things. We say no to a lot of foreign money. I promise you that.”

He would not give an example of foreign money he had rejected. 

Democrats at the hearing mostly used their time to criticize President Donald Trump’s approach to higher education, and his funding cuts that are affecting scientific and medical research at top universities. They highlighted his administration’s massive cuts to the Education Department, including at the Office for Civil Rights, the division tasked with investigating civil rights violations — including antisemitism — at American schools and universities.

Jonathan Brown, a tenured Georgetown University professor who came under fire last month for a social media post in which he called for Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” on a U.S. military base, has been placed on leave and removed as chair of the school’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University interim President Robert M. Groves said Tuesday at a congressional hearing. 

“Within minutes of our learning of that tweet, the dean contacted Professor Brown, the tweet was removed [and] we issued a statement condemning the tweet. Professor Brown is no longer chair of his department and he’s on leave, and we’re beginning a process of reviewing the case,” Groves said in response to a question from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on campus antisemitism. 

One day after the U.S. struck Iranian military targets in June, Brown posted on X: “I’m not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops.” 

Last month, a university spokesperson said that Georgetown administrators were reviewing Brown’s conduct and that Georgetown was “appalled” by his comments. 

Brown, until recently the chair of the university’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic civilization in the School of Foreign Service, has a lengthy history of anti-Israel commentary on social media. 

A profile listing Brown as chair of Islamic civilization was still active on Georgetown’s website during the hearing. 

As Georgetown University’s interim president, Robert Groves, is set to be questioned about campus antisemitism on Tuesday morning by the House Education and Workforce Committee, the university is contending with several thorny issues centered around the Jesuit school’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, one of the country’s leading centers for Islamic and Middle Eastern studies. 

Until now, Georgetown’s handling of campus antisemitism has been largely overlooked by the federal government, compared to other elite schools that have recently faced slashed grants and accreditation threats. But several studies published in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks have put a renewed spotlight on Georgetown’s Qatar campus and the more than $1 billion from Qatar the school has received. 

Earlier this year, Georgetown renewed its contract for its Doha campus for another decade. 

Among the unresolved matters that could come up when Groves takes the hot seat is the university’s lack of a disciplinary response to incendiary comments from the center’s chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service, Jonathan Brown, who advocated for Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” on a U.S. military base. Brown, a tenured professor who has a history of spreading anti-Israel vitriol, is the son-in-law of convicted terror supporter Sami al-Arian.     

One day after the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear facilities last month, Brown posted on X, “I’m not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops.” 

A Georgetown University administrator told Jewish Insider at the time that the school was “appalled” by Brown’s since-deleted tweet and said it was “reviewing this matter to see if further action is warranted.” 

On Monday, the administration did not respond to several inquiries from JI asking whether the review is still underway and if further action was taken. 

Georgetown’s administration was already under the microscope following its statements made in March supporting Badar Khan Suri, a professor who was detained by federal authorities and alleged to have ties to Hamas.

Sam Westrop, director of the Middle East Forum’s Islamist Watch project, told JI he wants to see the committee question Georgetown over “why it’s acceptable that such a major, prestigious university should be able to embrace a terror-linked partner.” 

A recent MEF report, written by Westrop, claims that the Safa Network — a Virginia-based group of charities, businesses, and think tanks run by Islamists previously investigated by federal law enforcement agencies over alleged involvement with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaida — established and funded the Alwaleed Center.

“Georgetown in this department, controlled by this network, trains diplomats, civil servants, intelligence agents, law enforcement and other academics who go on to radicalize future generations,” Westrop said. “This is a major failure of higher education to remain impartial and objective. Worst of all, it’s not just domestic. This domestic network is the glue that brought Georgetown into contact with the Qatari, Turkish and Malaysian regimes.” 

The center’s founder, John Esposito, who is a professor of religion and international affairs and of Islamic studies at Georgetown, has a history of defending and collaborating with terrorist groups, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Esposito was previously a member of the advisory board of the United Association for Studies and Research, an American think tank founded by future Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and future Hamas spokesman Ahmed Yousef, according to a report by the George Washington University Program on Extremism.   

In a statement to JI, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), chair of the Republican conference, said that at the hearing she will “hold university presidents accountable for their troubling silence and inaction in the face of rising hate on campus.” 

“It is unacceptable that these institutions have allowed antisemitic incidents to persist without a meaningful response. I will be seeking clear answers on what steps they are taking to ensure intolerance has no place in our universities — including their faculty and student organizations,” McClain said.  

Officials from the University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York are also expected to be probed over their handling of campus antisemitism at the hearing on Capitol Hill.

School may be out of session for the summer, but officials from Georgetown University, the University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York will be in the hot seat this week when they testify on Tuesday before the House Education and Workforce Committee.

This is not the first time that university officials have appeared in front of Congress to account for the situations on their campuses, but this week’s hearing aims to focus on more than just the anti-Israel activism that has permeated many campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza to focus on root issues, including foreign funding in higher education as well as faculty anti-Israel organizing efforts.

With that as the backdrop, Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, is likely to face hard-hitting questioning about the school’s donations from authoritarian regimes. 

Nearly a decade ago, Georgetown took a $10 million donation from an organization connected to Beijing’s ruling Chinese Communist Party — more specifically, according to The Washington Post, to “the specific CCP organizations that manage overseas influence operations” — to establish the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

But that $10 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money Qatar is alleged to have sent to Georgetown. According to a study by the research institute ISGAP — which primarily focuses on progressive and Islamist antisemitism — Qatar has donated more than $1 billion dollars to the Jesuit school in recent decades. In addition, Qatar has long had a partnership with Georgetown that includes an outpost of the school in Doha. Earlier this year, the school extended its contract with Doha for another decade.

UC Berkeley’s own handling of foreign funding will be under the microscope during Tuesday’s hearing. Earlier this year, the Department Education launched an investigation into the school’s alleged failure to report hundreds of million dollars in foreign funding — including $220 million from China for the creation of a Berkeley-linked campus in the city of Shenzhen.

The CUNY system doesn’t receive foreign funding. But it is likely to face scrutiny for its handling of campus antisemitism issues, which date back long before the Oct. 7 attacks. A decade ago, CUNY’s graduate student union was one of the first to push an anti-Israel vote on Shabbat. 

In the years since, the school has seen a number of issues across its campuses and disciplines. CUNY Law School’s 2022 commencement speaker, Nerdeen Kiswani, said from the lectern that she had been targeted by “well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government.”

Kiswani, one of the founders of the far-left anti-Israel Within Our Lifetime organization, was a national leader of Students for Justice in Palestine when she was an undergraduate attending both Hunter College and the College of Staten Island.

We also expect a number of committee members to grill Georgetown and Berkeley leaders on their handling of campus incidents, such as the Georgetown’s support for a professor earlier this year who was alleged to have ties to Hamas, as well as the more recent call last month by the chair of the school’s Islamic studies department to call for “symbolic” Iranian strikes on American bases in the Middle East. 

Past hearings have proven to be significant moments for some of those testifying, as well as members of Congress. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) profile was elevated following her grilling of University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard leaders — two of whom resigned shortly after appearing before the committee.

But they are perhaps most consequential for the Jewish students on those campuses — many of whom matriculated amid the COVID-19 pandemic after having lost out on key adolescent and teenage experiences. For some of these students, their desire to have a “normal” college experience was taken from them by the protests and anti-Israel activity that swept across campuses nearly two years ago. But still, many continue to apply to these schools, hopeful that the worst is in the past.

There’s a saying that has floated around many a conference, Jewish organizational board meeting and Shabbat dinner table in recent years: Jews endow buildings, their enemies endow what happens inside of them. Tomorrow’s hearing will see just how deeply those efforts have permeated.

Georgetown University administration said it was “appalled” after a prominent faculty member called for Iran to conduct a “symbolic strike” on a U.S. military base in a social media post on Sunday.  

“We are reviewing this matter to see if further action is warranted,” a spokesperson for the university told Jewish Insider on Monday, noting that the administration is “appalled” by the since-deleted tweet by Jonathan Brown, a tenured professor and chair of the university’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service, who has a history of spreading anti-Israel vitriol.  

On Sunday, one day after the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, Brown tweeted: “I’m not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops.” 

Brown, who is the son-in-law of convicted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian and has gone on several X tirades since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks slamming Israel — including calling the country “insanely racist”  — deleted his tweet on Monday, claiming that it was misinterpreted. 

“I deleted my previous tweet because a lot of people were interpreting it as a call for violence,” Brown wrote. “That’s not what I intended. I have two immediate family members in the US military who’ve served abroad and wouldn’t want any harm to befall American soldiers… or anyone!” 

The condemnation of Brown’s post comes as the House Education and Workforce Committee has called on Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, to testify on July 9 about its handling of campus antisemitism. The funding Georgetown has received from Qatar, in connection with its Qatar campus, has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of Oct. 7. 

At a time when some elite universities are acquiescing to the Trump administration’s demands to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus, Georgetown has pushed back. In March, for example, the administration issued statements supportive of Badar Khan Suri, a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities. 

The House Education and Workforce Committee announced that its next hearing on campus antisemitism will feature testimony from the leaders of Georgetown University, University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York.

The hearing, set for July 9, will include testimony from Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons and CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), the committee’s chair, indicated in a statement that the committee plans to focus the hearing on the issues driving campus antisemitism including foreign funding and antisemitic student groups.

“We continue to see antisemitic hatred festering at schools across the country,” Walberg said. “While much of the discussion has focused on the devastating effects of antisemitism, this hearing will focus on the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus. Until these factors — such as foreign funding and antisemitic student and faculty groups — are addressed, antisemitism will persist on college campuses. Our Committee is building on its promise to protect Jewish students and faculty while many university leaders refuse to hold agitators of this bigotry, hatred, and discrimination accountable.”

The funding Georgetown has received from Qatar, in connection with its Qatar campus, has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

UC Berkeley has seen a series of disruptive anti-Israel incidents, including a riot that shut down a speaking event, a disruption of a law school event at the dean’s home and various other incidents including assault, harassment, vandalism and robbery. An anti-Israel student group at Berkeley also praised the Oct. 7 attack.

CUNY has faced antisemitism issues predating Oct. 7 and Jewish students have been targeted with antisemitic harassment. Last year, CUNY’s Baruch College tried to cancel a Rosh Hashanah celebration, telling students that it could not “guarantee their security.”

A Georgetown University spokesperson said Groves “looks forward to testifying before the Committee and describing Georgetown’s efforts to combat antisemitism.”

“As a Catholic and Jesuit University, Georgetown condemns antisemitism and all forms of hatred and is committed to ensuring our university is a safe and welcoming space for every member of our community,” the spokesperson continued. “Given its mission of encouraging inter-religious dialogue Georgetown has not only implemented programs and resources to prevent and address antisemitism, but has also worked to cultivate a strong interfaith mission, complete with a robust Office of Jewish Life, to ensure students from all traditions are welcomed and supported in their educational and faith journey.”

A CUNY spokesperson said, “The City University of New York is firmly committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring every student and faculty member is safe from discrimination and harassment. We look forward to discussing the steps we are taking to support Jewish members of our campus community and to uphold CUNY’s values of inclusion, safety and respect for all.”

A Berkeley spokesperson said, “UC Berkeley is committed to combating antisemitism and all forms of hate and has taken meaningful action to achieve this. Chancellor Lyons looks forward to testifying before the committee to share how the campus has been investing, and continues to invest, in resources and programs designed to prevent and address antisemitism on the Berkeley campus.”

Jewish leaders at Georgetown University praised the decision to postpone a referendum on university divestment from companies and academic institutions with ties to Israel — originally scheduled to take place during the Passover holiday — as a “step in the right direction,” but expressed that concerns remain about the impact of the vote on Jewish students.

Georgetown University Student Government Association (GUSA) announced Sunday night on Instagram that the voting window for the non-binding referendum would be changed from April 14-16 to April 26-28. The decision came after pushback from Jewish groups, which were concerned that the vote was originally set to be held during Passover when many students are out of town. 

“While this is a step in the right direction, I don’t see this as a win. It’s a small fix in a much bigger problem — one that’s left many students feeling hurt and alienated,” Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, who leads Georgetown Chabad, told Jewish Insider. 

Shemtov said that while he’s glad the vote was moved — adding that, “actually, I think many believe that such a vote shouldn’t be scheduled at all” —  the postponement “doesn’t undo the deeper issue,” he said. 

GUSA bypassed its standard protocols to bring forth the referendum. Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body. The initial vote, held last week, was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass. 

Georgetown holds investments in companies including Google’s holding company Alphabet and Amazon, both of which have provided technology to the Israel Defense Forces. 

“This vote still singles out Israel in a way that feels unfair, and the fact that it was pushed forward by skipping normal procedures only makes it worse,” Shemtov said. “It’s hard not to feel like there was an effort to sideline Jewish voices, or at least not take them seriously. It’s also hard to see how such a resolution brings us closer to peace. On the contrary, it actually deepens the divide amongst students and causes more friction on campus.” 

Furthermore, GUSA did not postpone a vote for student government senators, which will proceed this week during the holiday. 

“That inadvertently singles out Jewish student groups for favoritism or bias as some are claiming, which is not the case,” Rabbi Ilana Zietman, Georgetown’s director of Jewish life, told JI. “Jewish students would have been happier with postponing all student government matters until after the holiday,” she said.

“Postponing the referendum vote till after Passover was the right move in terms of religious inclusion and a fair process,” Zietman continued. “It took collaboration with GUSA and relationships our students have across the aisle to communicate that need.”

Ahead of the postponement, GUSA was flooded with hundreds of emails condemning the decision to put the referendum on the ballot — including at least one which copied the Office of Civil Rights, according to the campus news magazine Georgetown Voice. 

The referendum comes against a backdrop of several antisemitic incidents that have occurred on Georgetown’s campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. As the Trump administration issues demands to elite universities to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus — or risk losing federal funding — Georgetown’s administration has been less deferential than other schools. Last month, it issued statements supportive of Badar Khan Suri, a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities for his reported affiliations with Hamas. 

On Thursday, Zietman announced a newly formed coalition of about two dozen pro-Israel Georgetown University faculty. One of the group’s first actions was to send a letter to Georgetown’s Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility urging it to reject another Israel divestment proposal, this one from the Georgetown University Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

More than two dozen pro-Israel faculty and staff members from Georgetown University signed a letter — as part of a newly formed coalition — opposing a proposal from their colleagues for the university to divest from companies and academic institutions with ties to the Jewish state. 

In a Thursday night email to the university’s Jewish student groups, Rabbi Ilana Zietman, Georgetown’s director of Jewish life, announced the formation of the new Committee for the Integrity of Academic Institutions as Centers of Learning, which is composed of professors and other faculty members from a variety of departments. 

Zietman also shared a letter that the new group sent to Georgetown’s Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility (CISR), urging it to reject a proposal from the Georgetown University Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. That proposal “calls on the university to cease investing in United States corporate entities that profit from weapons or systems employed to commit war crimes or human rights abuses anywhere in the world. But it makes it clear that the specific target is companies that have anything to do with any part of Israel’s defense sector,” the letter states. It points out that “to date, no American university has taken such a position, known broadly as BDS [Boycott, Divest and Sanctions].” 

Georgetown holds investments in companies including Google’s holding company Alphabet and Amazon, both of which have provided technology to the Israel Defense Forces. In 2017, CSIR rejected a student proposal to divest from companies with ties to Israel, stating that “divestment would not be an effective tactic to end hostilities or promote a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Jacob Intrator, a sophomore and president of the campus chapter of Students Supporting Israel, told Jewish Insider that SSI “stands in solidarity with and supports the letter from Jewish Life.” 

“Our greatest power and tool to evoke change is our voices, and I am grateful to every faculty that joined the committee and signed its letter for using their voices for good. Their support means the world to Jewish and Israel-supporting students on campus,” Ayelet Kaplan, a freshman representative for the Jewish Student Association, told JI. 

The faculty proposals to divest from Israel comes as Georgetown University Student Association earlier this week bypassed its standard protocols to bring forth its own non-binding referendum on university divestment from institutions with ties to Israel — deciding to hold the vote over the Passover holiday. 

Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body April 14-16. The initial vote was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass.

The BDS calls come against the backdrop of a slew of antisemitic incidents that have occurred on Georgetown’s campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. As the Trump administration issues demands to elite universities to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus — or risk losing federal funding — Georgetown’s administration has been less deferential than other schools. Last month, it issued statements supportive of Badar Khan Suri, a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities for his reported affiliations with Hamas. 

Among Georgetown’s faculty, Jonathan Brown, chair of the university’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and son-in-law of convicted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian, has gone on several X tirades since Oct. 7 slamming Israel. 

Shortly after the attacks in November 2023, Brown tweeted, “Israel has been engaged in a genocidal project for decades. I’m a full professor.” 

“Israeli security forces are lunatics. Israel is insanely racist,” Brown, who also serves as the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, tweeted in March 2024.

Georgetown University Student Association bypassed its standard protocols to bring forth a referendum on university divestment from companies and academic institutions with ties to Israel — deciding to hold the vote over the Passover holiday. 

Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body April 14-16. The initial vote, held earlier this week, was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass.

“Any student referendum provides a sense of the student body’s views on an issue,” a university spokesperson told Jewish Insider. “Student referendums do not create university policy and are not binding on the university.” 

Still, Jewish leaders on campus told JI that the vote is creating a “troubling” campus climate and expressed concern about the unusual way in which it unfolded. 

“The students are deeply disappointed by the rushed and irregular nature of this process, which bypassed the regular protocols of GUSA,” said Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, who leads Georgetown Chabad. “Additionally, scheduling the vote on a Jewish holiday is not only insensitive from the start, but sets a troubling tone that only descends from there. Many Jewish students are out of town and observing the holiday at the time of the vote, effectively excluding them from the process.” 

Ayelet Kaplan, a freshman representative for the Jewish Student Association, called on “all of my Georgetown peers to speak out and against this referendum.” 

“It’s one thing to disagree, even vehemently, on geopolitical issues,” Kaplan said. “It’s another thing to subvert your own procedures, as GUSA did, to bring forth a vote that not only has no effect on how the university invests its money but also reveals an underlying bias against the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.” 

Georgetown holds investments in companies including Google’s holding company Alphabet and Amazon, both of which have provided technology to the Israel Defense Forces. 

The referendum comes amid a slew of antisemitic incidents that have occurred on Georgetown’s campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. As the Trump administration issues demands to elite universities to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus — or risk losing federal funding — Georgetown’s administration has been less deferential than other schools. Last month, it issued statements supportive of Badar Khan Suri, a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities for his reported affiliations with Hamas. 

At a time when some elite universities are acquiescing to the Trump administration’s demands to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus, Georgetown University is pushing back by issuing statements supportive of a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities last week for his reported affiliations with Hamas. 

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national who was studying and teaching as a postdoctoral fellow at the university on a student visa, was detained by federal immigration authorities outside of his home in Virginia last Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security alleges he was “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and “has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” according to a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS. 

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, antisemitic demonstrations and graffiti incidents have roiled Georgetown’s campus. Weeks after Oct. 7, a Georgetown faculty statement condemning the war in Gaza failed to mention the Jewish connection to Israel or Hamas’ massacre committed against Israelis. 

Among Georgetown’s faculty, Jonathan Brown, chair of the university’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and son-in-law of convicted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian, has gone on several X tirades since Oct. 7 slamming Israel. 

Shortly after the attacks in November 2023, Brown tweeted, “Israel has been engaged in a genocidal project for decades. I’m a full professor.” 

“Israeli security forces are lunatics. Israel is insanely racist,” Brown, who serves as the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, tweeted in March 2024. 

At a Middle East symposium in 2015, Brown said, “The problem is that the Israeli political creature, the Israeli political establishment, has not told Jews in Israel that they are not allowed to take stuff that doesn’t belong to them, and that is, I think, a fundamental problem. … If you can tell people that your religious belief does not give you the right to take the possessions of someone else.”

In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, Georgetown Law School hosted Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd, who celebrated Hamas as a “liberation movement” and called the massacre a “resistance tactic.” In February, the law school planned to host an event with a Palestinian terrorist convicted for his role in the murder of an Israeli girl, which the university canceled shortly before following pressure from pro-Israel students and lawmakers. 

While university administration has not publicly commented on Brown’s rhetoric nor many of the other incidents on campus, the day following Suri’s detainment, Georgetown University Interim President Robert Groves and Joel Hellman, dean of the School of Foreign Service, where Suri was a fellow, condemned the arrest and planned deportation in a campus-wide email. 

In the email, which was posted to Georgetown’s website, Groves wrote that the university “needs students and faculty with different worldviews.”

“We must in turn build an environment where all members of our community are free to express their thoughts. The University has rules that protect our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” Groves said, arguing that the school’s Jesuit roots “require that we strive to live ‘the Ignatian Presupposition,’ interpreted in Jesuit education as the idea that we must always begin with the assumption that others are acting with good will. Sincere dialogue requires listening, really listening, as well as speaking.”

In a separate email to SFS, Hellman said, “Like many in our community, Dr. Suri has been exercising his constitutionally protected rights to express his views on the war in the Middle East.” He argued that the detention brings a “chilling effect such events could have on freedom of expression on this campus” and said the university will “determine what additional steps it can take” to support Suri as he heads to court, already having filed a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf. 

The Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University research project led by Professor John Esposito, founding director of Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, published a blog post on Thursday claiming that the “smear campaign” against Suri before he was detained was “deeply interconnected” and named multiple Jewish organizations and individuals who “used their political influence and connections to the administration to target” him. 

A discussion scheduled for Tuesday at Georgetown University Law Center featuring a convicted member of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is being postponed so that the university can “conduct a serious investigation,” Jewish Insider has learned.

The postponement came after both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) condemned the event, which was organized by Georgetown Law Students for Justice in Palestine. In a Monday evening email to a member of Torres’ team who reached out to the Law Center to express concern, a university official said that the administration conveyed to LSJP on Sunday that their event would “have to be postponed so that the University could conduct a thorough investigation into serious safety and security concerns that had arisen in connection with the event.”   

The event was entitled “Palestinian Prisoners, an Evening with Ribhi Karajah, student activist and former political prisoner.” Karajah, a U.S. citizen, served three and a half years in an Israeli prison for his role — along with two other PFLP members — in an August 2019 roadside bombing in the West Bank in which 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb was killed while on a hike with her father and brother, both of whom sustained injuries. Karajah was informed about the planned attack by several of his PFLP associates, with specific details of where it would take place, and did nothing to stop it, which he acknowledged in a plea agreement with an Israeli court. 

On Friday, at a roundtable Netanyahu led with 30 Jewish college students and recent graduates in Washington, a Georgetown Law student informed the prime minister about the event. 

Netanyahu “had a very visceral reaction to my speech,” Julia Wax Vanderwiel, founder and president of Georgetown Law Zionists, told JI. “He’s appalled [about the upcoming event]. He said he knows exactly who Rina Shnerb is, he’s met the family. He said that we need to stay strong. He genuinely listened, cared and wants something done.”  

A member of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who failed to disclose to authorities his prior knowledge of the 2019 bombing that killed an Israeli teenager is scheduled to speak at a Georgetown University Law Students for Justice in Palestine event next week, Jewish Insider has learned.

LSJP is hosting a Feb. 11 discussion entitled “Palestinian Prisoners, an Evening with Ribhi Karajah, student activist and former political prisoner,” according to flyers posted on campus and the group’s social media.

Karajah, a U.S. citizen, served three and a half years in an Israeli prison for his role — along with two other PFLP members — in an August 2019 roadside bombing in the West Bank in which 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb was killed while on a hike with her father and brother, both of whom sustained injuries. 

Karajah was informed about the planned attack by several of his PFLP associates, with specific details of where it would take place, and did nothing to stop it, he acknowledged in a plea agreement with an Israeli court. 

“His presence on our campus threatens the security of all Jewish students,” Julia Wax Vanderwiel, a second-year student in the law school, told JI. 

She noted that LSJP has a history of advocating “for Hamas on our campus [and] has members that attempt to discredit the Holocaust.” Weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, Georgetown Law hosted Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd, who celebrated Hamas as a “liberation movement” and called the massacre a “resistance tactic.” 

Karajah “will no doubt propagate those same students and validate their violent inclinations,” Wax Vanderwiel said, noting that administration has “ignored” what has “gone on so long.” 

On Wednesday, Wax Vanderwiel shared her concerns about Karajah with the law school’s dean of students, Mitch Bailin. “He told me they will look into it and asked about the technicalities of [Karajah’s] charges,” she told JI. 

Georgetown University Law Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment from JI about the upcoming event. 

Wax Vanderwiel, founder and president of Georgetown Law Zionists, described antisemitism at the law school as “rampant.”

“And it’s time someone did something,” she said.

Kesher Israel Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C., has a storied, even mythic, history among Jews of the nation’s capital. What it doesn’t have is anything approaching a modern building. That’s about to change.

For decades, Kesher was the only Orthodox synagogue in central Washington (a distinction it now shares with a Chabad House). It has been home to generations of Jewish politicians, including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Jack Lew, now the U.S. ambassador to Israel. It’s a frequent stopping point for Jewish dignitaries visiting Washington. 

“Sometimes people walk in, they’ll be like, ‘I’ve heard so much about Kesher Israel, it has such a big place in people’s minds and in the eyes of the Jewish people,’” said Kesher Rabbi Hyim Shafner. “They’ll walk in and be like, ‘This is it?’”

Shafner is leading the congregation amid a major renovation of the synagogue’s building, which has remained largely untouched since it was built in 1931. The synagogue has no lobby, leading guests to sometimes wonder if they are at the right entrance. It is inaccessible to people with disabilities; all spaces are reachable only by climbing up or down stairs. Its social hall can fit no more than 50 people for a Shabbat dinner, despite the synagogue’s membership of more than 300 people. Critically, the building lacks the security protections that are common in many other synagogues. 

The synagogue recently won approval from the requisite zoning and governmental boards in Georgetown to begin construction, not an easy task in the preservation-obsessed neighborhood. Now Kesher’s leadership is preparing for a major renovation and expansion project that is estimated to cost at least $12 million and take more than two years to complete.

“For the first time in 100 years, after literally decades of aspirations and growth and vibrancy, the synagogue now has a real and exciting opportunity to look at what the next century of operations can look like, and the next century of Jewish Modern Orthodox life in downtown Washington and in our nation’s capital,” said Aaron Tessler, a board member at Kesher. 

He rattled off examples of people who aren’t well-served by the building’s current layout: Families with young children who would have to walk outside through the elements to take their kids to the children’s programming; people who can’t attend Shabbat meals because there isn’t space; a boy on his bar mitzvah who wants to call his grandfather to the Torah for an aliyah, but his grandfather can’t do it because he can’t walk up the stairs. 

Shari Diamond, a doctor who has been a member at Kesher for more than 20 years, is a regular attendee with her husband and their three daughters. Her 17-year-old daughter uses a wheelchair.

“Getting into the building, getting upstairs is basically not possible on her own, so every week I carry her up the stairs,” Diamond told Jewish Insider. “It’s both very undignified and not fair to her. But we love Kesher, and she and our family want to continue to be able to go there. And so the accessibility needs of the shul are really critical for us.”

When Shafner arrived at the synagogue in 2017, he quickly heard from community members that the synagogue needed to adapt. The biggest barrier was space: There was nowhere for Kesher to expand unless the synagogue acquired the townhouse next door. Congregants had broached the subject in the past but never seriously considered it. And there was yet another challenge: The synagogue had never mounted a major fundraising campaign before.

“Fundraising was not something that the shul used to put stress on, and I think there even was this sense that the schlubby-ness of the building is a kind of nice thing, because it sort of creates a more friendly atmosphere,” said Shafner. He disagreed.

In 2021, the synagogue began to look into the possibility of mounting a major construction project, and the architect made clear it couldn’t happen until they acquired the building next door. Kesher convinced its owner to sell in 2022, and the synagogue purchased the adjacent townhouse for $1.6 million. (A detached townhome on the other side of the synagogue is used as its office and a space for children, but congregants can only get there by walking outside.) 

Kesher is one of several dozen small, historic religious institutions in Georgetown, but according to Gwendolyn Lohse, a member of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Georgetown, it’s the first to undergo an expansion. 

“There’s excitement on a broader level for this project and them being able to stay here,” said Lohse, who helped the congregation navigate the daunting approval process. “I think it’s important. They do serve a national and international role, and it’s one reason why I was so supportive.”

Steve Kleinrock, the architect leading the project, also helped calm the nerves of community members when it seemed things were taking a long time to move forward. 

“This building is very important because it’s the congregation’s home, and it’s a place where people make lasting, lifelong connections, where children meet, where husbands and future husbands and wives meet and celebrate important milestones in people’s lives,” Kleinrock said. As an Orthodox congregation, with most members walking to Kesher on Shabbat, the location must be central to the community. 

Once construction starts, likely next year, it is slated to take 12 to 14 months, during which time the synagogue will relocate to a temporary space. The proposed new facility will increase the synagogue’s size by more than 50%, from 8,100 square feet to 12,700 square feet.

The historic sanctuary, with the original stained glass, will still look largely the same. A beit midrash will be added next door, allowing the sanctuary to expand when needed. The project is less about expansion than modernization — meeting modern fire codes, serving congregants with children and those with disabilities and improving security. In December, a man appeared outside yelling “Gas the Jews” and spraying people who left the building with an unidentified substance. 

“It’s very top of mind, especially with Oct. 7, that we are immediately facing the street,” said Tessler. “People are hyper aware of our vulnerabilities.”

Just weeks before he died, Lieberman wrote a heartfelt letter to the Georgetown zoning board, urging its members to approve Kesher’s plans by describing the unique role the synagogue plays.

His own story — as an Orthodox politician who regularly attended Kesher during his four terms in the Senate and his vice presidential run in 2000 — highlighted “not just Kesher’s spiritual significance but also its role as a beacon of faith and community, enabling the participation of observant Jews in the life of our nation’s capital,” Lieberman wrote. “The modernization and expansion of Kesher Israel Congregation are about more than just a building project; they represent a commitment to preserving a vibrant, inclusive and accessible religious community in the heart of Georgetown.”

The vice president of Georgetown University’s Graduate Student Government, Heerak Kim, is facing calls to resign and a pending impeachment trial following an uproar over his recent social media posts. Kim is also a Republican congressional candidate in Virginia’s 8th district. 

Fighting words: Kim’s posts include a call for the FBI to investigate politicians “with ‘questionable’ ties to Israel” in which Kim alleges that Israel has bribed U.S. politicians; a demand that Americans “[curtail] the power of Jewish lobby groups and other Jewish groups”; and a posed question: “Is the Natioanal [sp] Republican Party going to become a SLAVE of the JEWS and go after every Republican leaders whom the Jews call ‘anti-Semitic.’”

On the quad: The South Korea-born candidate is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing at Georgetown and was elected to the Graduate Student Government’s executive board in March 2019. In response to Kim’s social media posts, the rest of the executive board unanimously condemned his comments and said it would initiate proceedings to remove Kim from office. An impeachment hearing scheduled for Thursday night was postponed after Kim alleged he was being targeted for his political and religious beliefs. The hearing is now likely to take place next week so as to comply with the student government’s guidelines.

Background twist: According to a profile in the University of Pennsylvania’s alumni newsletter, the Penn Gazette, Kim, a 1990 graduate of the university, spent time in Jerusalem doing research for his doctoral dissertation, at one point enrolling at Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School. According to Kim’s self-submitted Ballotpedia survey, he is an “expert in Jewish studies with a professional membership in the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS).”

Unlikely odds: Kim is one of four Republicans vying for a spot on the ballot in November. Even if victorious in Virginia’s June 9th primary, Kim is unlikely to beat incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, who has represented the district, which includes the Washington suburbs, since 2015. Beyer coasted to victory in the most recent election, defeating his Republican opponent by a 52-point margin.