Photo: Former Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, speaks at Duke University, March 22, 2023
In our new world order, a small, very aggressive and vocal minority of university students can decide what all their fellow students do–and do not–get to hear. Listening to a variety of information and opinions, formerly a bedrock of academia, is no longer the standard. A recent infamous incident occurred at Stanford University Law School, when students shouted down a visiting speaker. Something similar happened at Duke University when Naftali Bennett came to speak on March 22nd. NCCI members attended the event.
In advance, Duke Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) announced a planned walkout, to occur 20 minutes into the talk. They promised food, music and dancing for their followers after the walkout.
Former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, Speaks at Duke University, March 22, 2023
As Bennett was introduced, some in the audience shouted “criminal” and “how many Arabs you killed?” Bennett was asked about a Palestinian state. He said that was already tried and “the consensus is that it doesn’t work. We handed over—got massive intifada.” This was interrupted by shouts “how many dead Palestinians?”
Bennett continued “we pulled out of Gaza, expelled Jews, handed over to Abbas, now not a month goes by without rockets”—again he was interrupted by “it’s a prison, you’re a liar, war criminal, stop lying.” Bennett responded, “if you yell louder, it doesn’t make you right.” The response was more yelling, followed by a walkout (filmed by NCCI) as planned. Duke security did not attempt to quell the shouting, and there were no apparent consequences for SJP’s bad behavior.
Duke’s SJP then held their annual “Israel Apartheid Week”
SJP then held their annual “Israel Apartheid Week.” As usual, events were scheduled for Passover, so Jews would not be there to defend themselves. NCCI was able to attend the final event “Visualizing Identity: Palestinian Perspectives,” on April 12th. ClubZ staff and students made the trek from Charlotte to be in attendance. Between NCCI and ClubZ, the speakers got more pushback during the Q&A than they bargained for.
The following nonsensical quotes are typical of the lies SJP used to justify violence against Jews: “The Israeli infrastructure is a colonial one rooted in identity erasure, and then you can understand Palestinian resistance.” “We know when geopolitical remapping that happens it places boundaries and apartheids,” the speaker said when pointing to the security wall in Jerusalem. She falsely claimed the Jews “came to take over, they had no plans to co-exist, they just wanted to take over.” When an NCCI member quoted Ben Gurion’s inaugural speech inviting Arabs to join them in building a state despite ongoing violence against Jews, he was shouted down and there was no discussion.
Another NCCI member pointed out that the land they called Palestine was once like a wasteland, based on writings from witnesses such as Mark Twain. That NCCI member was called a racist, and SJP said that Twain and writers like him just had an agenda.
One woman who grew up during South Africa’s apartheid said that Israel’s security wall doesn’t make Israel apartheid, she said “using that word is a lie.” A ClubZ mom asked where Jews came from originally. The SJP answer was “they came from Europe”—and the true origin of the Jewish people from Israel/Judea/Samaria was ignored.
Unfortunately, Duke University continues to host a hotbed of defamation against Israel and the Jewish people. We at NCCI believe it’s important to stand up for the truth. We invite you to join us.
