On Nov. 11, 2024, seven members of the UR’s faculty and staff, alongside six members of the University’s Leadership team, were targeted by a vicious personal misinformation campaign. Hundreds of ‘wanted’ posters, emblazoned with their names in bold lettering, their image in large format, and a patently false list of crimes, were plastered throughout common areas on campus. The combination of boldface type, blood-red backgrounds, and declarations of falsehoods as fact rendered these posters an open call for violence against the targeted individuals.
Because the University’s initial announcement pertaining to this unfortunate event was immediate, it was based upon partial information and only labeled it as “vandalism.” It was not until the following day when President Mangelsdorf, herself being one of the victims of this personal attack, publicly declared that the University “views this as antisemitism.” Since then, as the investigation into this unfortunate incident has unfolded, numerous members of the faculty and student body have openly challenged the claim that this malicious campaign was antisemitic, citing the fact that some of the targeted individuals were “not even Jewish.” Questions regarding the antisemitic nature of this campaign were publicly raised at the Nov. 19 Faculty Senate meeting, in an online discussion of a misguided Campus Times article that amplified the false claims made by the posters, and all over social media.
As an educator who is deeply committed to fostering an open, inclusive environment and is alarmed by the steep rise in antisemitic crimes across this country and university campuses, I feel obligated to explain why this poster campaign is clearly an expression of antisemitism — irrespective of which of the several definitions of the term you choose to adhere to — or even if you simply ascribe to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s declaration of “I know it when I see it.” Perhaps the best way to determine whether an action is antisemitic is by applying Natan Sharansky’s 3D test of antisemitism. Below are some of the most glaring reasons why there can be no question about the antisemitic intent of these posters incorporating Sharansky’s 3D’s of Demonization, Double Standards, and Delegitimization.
- Demonization: Undeniably, one of the main objectives of the wanted posters was to demonize the individuals who were targeted. The posters readily accomplished this visually by using evocative red backgrounds and fonts that label the featured individuals as criminals with a mere glance. Furthermore, by so publicly assigning “wanted for” accusations, the authors of these posters both accused and judged upstanding members of the UR community as guilty of heinous crimes without any basis. Such action can have no purpose other than demonization.
- Double Standard: A key element in the propagation of antisemitic tropes is the holding of Israel and her supporters to double standards. Commonly, this manifests as selective and grossly unfair criticism towards Israel while ignoring much more pervasive and blatant violations elsewhere in the world (for additional information, please see UN Watch website, as a start). These posters are significant in that they are the first example of a public denunciation of individuals for alleged crimes carried out by another country. Where are the posters highlighting faculty members with Afghani ties accusing them of abolishing women’s rights in Afghanistan? Or the posters accusing Chinese faculty of genocide in Uyghur? Where are posters condemning pro-Hamas protestors for their support of a terrorist regime that orchestrated the murder of nearly 1,200 Israeli citizens and, more than 429 days after Oct. 7, continues to hold kidnapped hostages whose only crime was living in a border community that sought to make peace with their neighbors in Gaza?
- Delegitimization: Both the targeted individuals, and the state of Israel herself, are delegitimized by the claims made by the wanted poster campaign. Fallacious accusations such as “Ethnic Cleansing,” “Displacement,” “War Crimes,” and “Genocide” against Israel have been characterized as outrageous and baseless by leaders of both sides of the U.S. government. The suggestion that the 13 victims of this poster campaign are somehow complicit in any such crimes is even more preposterous. Nevertheless, the intent, and to some degree the effect of these posters, is clearly to delegitimize these individuals, to discredit them, and to put them and the rest of the Jewish community on notice.
- Collective blame: Beyond Sharansky’s 3D’s, each of the posters featured a subset of alleged crimes that have been attributed to the state of Israel by anti-Israeli entities worldwide. Without digressing too far into the patent falsehoods of these vile accusations, pointing allegations such as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” at individuals, and holding them responsible for the perceived actions of the state of Israel, is antisemitic.
Throughout history, collective blame has been used to “justify” centuries of violence against Jewish communities worldwide. Such a strategy is one of the oldest forms of antisemitism, and this kind of collective blame intentionally creates a hostile environment and forces ALL people with any relationship with the state of Israel to either hide or defend their personal beliefs, and in many cases, their very identity.
The collective blame that is so prominently featured in these posters also renders the observation that some of the individuals targeted are not Jewish to be irrelevant. This malicious campaign sends a strong message that ALL individuals with any connection to the state of Israel are guilty and are deserving of punishment. Such blanket hate, based only upon an affiliation with Israel, meets every definition of antisemitism.
The ‘wanted’ posters at the University clearly and unequivocally aim to propagate antisemitic tropes by targeting individuals not for their personal actions, but for their perceived association with Israel or for simply being Jewish. Such collective hate is evil, damaging, and unacceptable in any environment, least of all on a university campus such as ours. To paraphrase a colleague and victim of this poster campaign — calling these posters “vandalism” is akin to calling a cross burning a “fire code violation.” These posters were created and distributed by individuals or groups with a clear anti-Israel agenda, and who have become too blinded by their own hate to see the consequences of their misguided actions. Like masked protests, harassment, and threats, campaigns such as the ‘wanted’ posters only deepen the chasm that our community, and colleges nationwide, must cross.
Like all other members of the devout Jewish community, I pray for peace every day. I pray for peace in Israel, for peace here in the U.S., and for peace on our campus at UR. However, I am keenly aware that such peace will not come through divine intervention alone. A necessary first step is for us to collectively call out antisemitism and all other forms of hate whenever we see it, and to reject it outright because lasting peace will only be achieved through accountability and honest dialogue.
