New York University has failed to address a sharp rise in antisemitism on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel — leaving some Jewish students feeling “under siege,” according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The prestigious Big Apple university has dealt with numerous instances of antisemitism over the past decade that spiked after Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and the Jewish state began retaliating against the Gaza Strip, three Jewish students said in a Manhattan federal court suit.
Mobs of students harassed and intimidated NYU’s Jewish residents — who were regularly confronted with chants of “Hitler was right,” and “gas the Jews,” among other hateful phrases, according to the lawsuit.
Additionally, many students and faculty have “enthusiastically supported” Hamas’ deadly attacks on the Jewish state, the suit said.
When Jewish students pleaded for help from administrators, their complaints were either “ignored, slow-paced, or met with gaslights,” the lawsuit alleges.
Students including those from NYU during a pro-Palestinian walkout in Washington Square Park.James Keivom
As a result, students have been left “traumatized” and feel like they are treated as “second-class citizens” at NYU because of their Jewish identity and ancestry, the suit says.
“The effect of NYU’s inaction and, indeed, complicity in the tide of anti-Jewish hatred that has engulfed its campus has been the normalization of antisemitism within the NYU community,” part of the lawsuit states.
“While pro-Hamas faculty and students are allowed to engage in vicious antisemitic hate speech, Jewish students are told to keep quiet, keep a low profile, avoid making waves, and call health hotlines.”
The three students suing the school want the court to force NYU to enact measures that would better combat antisemitism, including disciplining students and staff behind the hateful acts.
A student was spotted in Washington Square Park with an antisemitic sign.Twitter/@StopAntisemites
“NYU’s willful indifference to the plight of its Jewish students beset by appalling antisemitism is outrageous,” one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Marc Kasowitz, said in a statement.
“We ask the Court to compel NYU to comply with the Civil Rights Act, its own self-proclaimed policy, and basic human decency, which the University has thus far failed and refused to do on its own.”
An NYU spokesperson said the university is eager to “challenge the biased narrative of this claim.”
NYU students tear down Hamas hostage posters.Instagram/sophiagindi_
“The statements in this suit do not accurately reflect the conditions on our campus or the many steps NYU has taken to combat antisemitism and keep the campus safe,” spokesman John Beckman said in a statement to The Post.
“Antisemitism violates our rules; we take the issue of antisemitism and any other form of hatred seriously, and we are committed to protecting our community and providing an environment where all students can live and learn in peace.”
He said NYU, which has a campus in Tel Aviv, was one of the first US universities to condemn the October 7 attacks and has a large academic presence in Israel.
The lawsuit alleges the University left Jewish students out in the cold during a traumatic time.Getty Images
“NYU hopes to set the record straight, to challenge the one-sided narrative of this lawsuit, to make clear the many efforts NYU has made to combat antisemitism and provide a safe environment for Jewish students and non-Jewish students, and to prevail in court,” said Beckman too.
Additional reporting by Ben Kochman
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
