UCLA investigates Guest Speaker’s Alleged Remarks comparing Jews to White Supremacists

UCLA professor Kyeyoung Park teaches anthropology and other courses at the public university, and invited Rabab Abdulhadi, a San Francisco State University professor of Arab and Muslim ethnicities and Diasporas/Race and Resistance Studies to lecture at UCLA. However, UCLA is looking into Abdulhadi’s guest lecture because it apparently veered into anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Abdulhadi has an alleged history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and anti-Zionist actions, and during the guest lecture, allegedly told students that pro-Israel students are “white supremacists” who want to “ethnically cleanse the Middle East.”

Abdulhadi has taught classes, such as the following:

• Arab American Identity: Memory and Resistance
• Gender and Modernity in Arab and Muslim Communities
• Theories and Issues in Ethnic Studies
• Palestine: Ethnic Studies Perspective
• Gender, Identity and Society in the Middle East
• Colonial Legacies, Post-Colonial Discourse: Perspectives on Resistance and Revolution
• Introduction to AMED
• Introduction to Arab and Arab American Feminisms

Her Twitter page is full of anti-Zionist rhetoric and content, such as quoting the left-wing website Truthout with the following caption:

“Why did @SFSU cancel Palestine Study Abroad trip? Why are Zionist bullies misrepresenting what happened @UCLA? Why does Lawfare target campus advocates for justice in/for Palestine?”

Despite the evidence of her anti-Israel bias, the investigation is to confirm whether she used anti-Semitic language in her guest lecture. The university emphasized its ties to Israel in announcing the investigation and said they “are working together to learn more” about the lecture and pointed out that the university is “committed to academic freedom as well as building an inclusive learning environment without discrimination and harassment.”

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