Over 100 Yale students, faculty pledge to risk arrest to defend alleged anti-Semites
In an open letter published on Nov. 17, signatories took aim at a 'doxxing truck' for having digital displays of students with the title, 'Yale's Leading Antisemites.'
The letter calls the display a form of 'harassment' and part of an ongoing effort to 'silence dissent to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.'
In response to a “doxxing truck” that recently made an appearance around New Haven starting on Nov. 16, more than 100 Yale University alumni, students, faculty, and staff have condemned the display and pledged to “defend the principle of open and respectful debate of difficult issues.”
In an open letter published on Nov. 17, signatories took aim at the truck for having digital displays of university community members with the title, “Yale’s Leading Antisemites.” A project of the conservative group, Accuracy in Media (AIM), the vehicle featured a link to the website, “YaleHatesJews.com.”
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The letter calls the display a form of “harassment” and part of an ongoing effort to “silence dissent to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.”
”The climate of increasing smears, threats, and untruths is lethal to the free exchange of ideas that is an essential cornerstone of university education,” the letter states. “As a university community, we must collectively defend the principle of open and respectful debate of difficult issues, even and especially when we disagree.”
On the day the truck first operated near Yale, AIM took to X to “highlight the rampant antisemitism from radical ‘scholars’ on campus.”
Our Campus Accountability Campaign is at @Yale today to highlight the rampant antisemitism from radical “scholars” on campus.
Visit https://t.co/0bIe0KcnQQ to take action! pic.twitter.com/r5t9T3ebo4— Accuracy In Media (@AccuracyInMedia) November 16, 2023
According to the Yale Daily News, AIM president Adam Guillette said those who were featured on the truck’s display were “hateful students who signed an antisemitic pledge.” He also reportedly said that the accusation that the truck deliberately targeted minorities was “baseless.”
In the open letter, signatories specifically stated, “We affirm the rights, especially those of our Arab, Black, Brown, Jewish, Indigenous, Muslim, Native American, and Palestinian students, who are often disproportionately targeted by censorship and punishment, to dissent in public.”
The document also takes issue with claims of anti-Semitism for those featured on the display.
”The conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism, as many scholars have noted, is politically driven,” it states. “Many Jewish writers, activists, and artists have stated that equating critique with anti-Semitism is a dangerous path and it is ‘antithetical to Jewish values.’”
In writing to pro-Palestine activists on campus, the letter’s signatories pledged: “If censuring and/or censoring groups try to suppress these rights, we are prepared to engage in nonviolent direct action, up to and including arrest, in order to protect you.”
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Many of the signatories include faculty of Yale’s department of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration, as well as Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
AIM’s “doxxing truck” has also made recent appearances at Harvard University and Columbia University, with some students having sued the group as a result.
Campus Reform contacted Yale University and AIM for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.