The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia calls on Haverford College officials to condemn today’s student-organized campus event entitled “COVID in Times of Genocide: How Israel uses COVID as a Tool for Settler Colonialism in Palestine.” 

The event’s title dangerously and inaccurately implies that Israel spread coronavirus to advance its global control, repackaging a centuries-old antisemitic trope that Jews take advantage of global crises as a means for their own gain and advancement. In this case, the event’s narrative takes on a new form of the antisemitic blood libel trope, accusing Jews of committing ritual murder and perpetuating the harmful stereotype of Jews as evil and conniving. 

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to establish college campuses as a space for free speech and critical thinking. However, it must be rooted in academic integrity rather than disinformation.  

Haverford College and institutions of all sizes have a responsibility first and foremost to protect the safety of their students. This event and the tension on campus that has led to Jewish students and faculty being vulnerable and victimized constitutes a failure of leadership.  

There should be no tolerance for student events that permit dangerous antisemitic tropes and threaten the safety of Jewish students and faculty, particularly when antisemitism is at an all-time high on college campuses following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. 

We urge Haverford College to take immediate action to show its Jewish students and community members that there is zero tolerance for the spread of disinformation and hate on its campus.

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Since 1901, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has served as the hub of the region’s Jewish communities, providing an infrastructure of support for Jewish people and organizations in need. Through grants, emergency funding, restricted gifts, endowments, and our partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Day Schools, we invest more than $61 million each fiscal year to care for those in need, combat antisemitism and global crisis, and strengthen Jewish identity.

For more information, please visit: jewishphilly.org.  

For press inquiries, email phillyfed@redbanyan.com.