Witness a riveting “dual narrative” of Israeli and Palestinian history through the interwoven personal & familial stories of two individuals --one Israeli (Uriel Abulof) and one Palestinian (Nizar Farsakh) - who have become scholars, political advisors, professors, and activists for peace.
Dialogue & Question and Answer to Follow.
Muller Chapel, 5:00-6:30 pm
Sponsored by Hillel at Ithaca College and Office of Spiritual and Religious Life
More on the speakers
Uriel Abulof is an associate professor at Tel-Aviv UniversityLinks to an external site.’s School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs. Abulof studies the politics of fear, happiness and hope, legitimation, social movements, nationalism, and ethnic conflicts. He has written extensively on the Middle East and Israel and is the recipient of the Young Scholar Award in Israel Studies.
Nizar Farsakh is a trainer on leadership, negotiations, and advocacy with over 20 years of experience across the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining George Washington University, Farsakh was head of Civil Society Partnerships at the Project On Middle East Democracy (POMEDLinks to an external site.) where he built the advocacy capacity of Arab civil society organizations. Before that, he directed the Palestinian Delegation in Washington D.C. Between 2003 and 2008 Nizar advised senior Palestinian leaders including the President, the Prime Minister and various ministries in their negotiations with Israel. Currently, and in addition to teaching negotiations at the Elliot School of International Affairs, Nizar co-founded an online leadership training platform Inspire Leadership SchoolLinks to an external site., and is frequently invited by think tanks and the media (ArabicLinks to an external site., EnglishLinks to an external site.) to comment on Middle East affairs. He is also on the board of the Museum of the Palestinian PeopleLinks to an external site. in Washington D.C.
You have a good neighbor. He does a lot for you. He keeps the street clean around your house. He mows your lawn when you are away. He signs for your packages and brings them to you later. Your kids go and play with his kids in the backyard. He has an alarm on his house with a camera, which you don't, and he once ran burglars away from your house. He's done a thing or two for you that you haven't noticed. Like the time he stopped a crew from mistakenly taking down a tree in your front yard. And the time he found your cat outside, on the street, and gave it to your kid.
And now your neighbor's house has caught fire. The flames are just now visible. There's plenty of time to react. In fact, you happen to be standing nearby, at exactly the right place, watering your garden, with a hose in your hand. The flames are in easy reach. Your neighbor runs to you and asks you to just turn the water in the direction of the flame.
You refuse. You turn off the water and walk away. And then you hurry down to your basement and shut off the valve, just to make sure your neighbor can't be helped.
All you had do was flick your wrist, turn the hose in the right direction. But you didn't. It wouldn't have cost you anything. A nickel on your water bill that you wouldn't notice.
And if you had helped, you'd have been a hero. Your neighbor would remember you, as would the press, as would your kids, as would everyone. But you chose not to help. Your neighbor's house burns down.
And then yours does, too.
This is, currently, our Ukraine policy. We are choosing to let a good neighbor burn. Ukraine does things for us that we need, and often that we neglect to do ourselves, or cannot do ourselves. It does things for us that we do not notice.
These are not small things. By resisting Russia, Ukraine shows the world that there are people who care about democracy enough to take risks for it. It reduces the risk of nuclear proliferation and nuclear war by showing that nuclear blackmail does not work. It maintains the international legal order. It fulfills the NATO mission by absorbing and reversing a Russian attack, making war elsewhere in Europe very unlikely. It deters China from risky action in the Pacific by showing how difficult offensive operations are.
These are all hugely important American interests, most of which we cannot fulfill ourselves. Ukraine can fulfill them, if we help, just a little, in ways we would not even notice.
Ukraine is on fire. In the past few days, Russia has launched something like five hundred rockets and drones at Ukrainian civilians, including nearly a hundred drones on New Year's Eve. Russia continues to undertake offensive operations in Ukraine. Russian propagandists and Russian leaders continue to announce the same genocidal war aims now as at the beginning of the war: the end of the Ukrainian state and the end of the Ukrainian nation. Ukrainian citizens under Russian occupation continue to be tortured and deported.
Ukraine resists, very effectively, with the weapons it has. It has opened the Black Sea to trade, something that no one expected. It is holding back the Russian advance, inflicting huge casualties. It is shooting down missiles and drones. (If you want to help detect the drones, which is a matter of urgency, please make a contribution to my Safe Skies campaign here).
So we are standing here with easy access to water. It would be so easy to help. And yet we are turning away from our neighbor in need. Ukraine needs our support, and some of our Congressional representatives are blocking it.
The amount in question is not meaningful, given what we spend on national security. It is about a nickel on the defense budget dollar.
And that nickel is extremely well spent! The defense department budget, after all, is meant to keep us safe. That nickel on the dollar brings us security in the Atlantic and the Pacific, it brings us a reduced risk of nuclear war and a greatest international respect for law, it brings us the sense that we have friends who take risks for good things. There is no other nickel on the defense department dollar that is nearly so important as this one.
And, in fact, we don't even really spend that nickel on Ukraine. Most of the defense money we nominally spend on Ukraine actually stays in the United States. The arms Ukraine needs are in large measure weapons that your tax dollars would otherwise be spent to decommission -- to destroy and throw away. For example, we have about a thousand long-range missiles that we will soon pay tax money to take apart and drop in landfills. Those missiles, given instead to Ukraine, would seriously hinder Russian attacks, and put Ukraine in a position to win the war.
We are turning off the water. Running down to then basement, caught in some strange self-destructive fit of self-absorption, we are putting our own house at risk. Ignoring our neighbor is the worst thing we can do, even if all we care about is ourselves.
Everything that the Ukrainians are doing for us can be undone this year. Russia can win, and be encouraged to start other wars, where our participation is likely to be much more direct. China can be encouraged, and we can find ourselves in a cataclysm over Taiwan. International order can break down, and we can confront confusing, difficult, and painful conflicts all over the world. Russia can halt food deliveries to Asia and Africa, leading to starvation and further war. Everyone can be demoralized by the realization that those who risked their lives for democracy were sold out, just because Americans lacked the wherewithal to what is obviously the right thing.
It doesn't have to be that way. It's easy to help a good neighbor. This is a conflagration that we can stop with a flick of the wrist. A bit of legislation to support Ukraine, and we all have a safer year, and safer lives.
The @nytimes just published the most comprehensive report on the sexual violence of 10/7 that I have seen. It confirms what many have already suspected: that sexual violence against Israeli civilians did not only occur, but was used as a method of war.
Before I continue: This conversation is not about Israeli's military strategy/goals. Or its history. This is a conversation about an event that will have historical ramifications. It is not a conversation about justification, past or present. It is only a conversation about truth.
Hand-to-hand combat against civilians is a rare kind of "first strike" in warfare.
Something that has gotten terribly elided--if we care about history or truth--has been the overall nature of the attack by Hamas on 10/7. It was an attack where the primary victims were civilians. Hand-to-hand combat against civilians is a rare kind of "first strike" in warfare.
The swift violence of such an event. . . it is not something seen frequently outside the context of genocide
This attack also happened very quickly, something people don't seem to have noticed. In the space of a few hours, over a thousand people were butchered. The swift violence of such an event. . .it is not something seen frequently outside the context of genocide.
It is important to sit with all of this--the true nature of 10/7--b/c so much truth has being lost, here. 10/7 was one of the most brutal--and swiftest--attacks on civilians in our modern history. Now, within this context, we must consider the sexual violence that was committed.
The primary question since 10/7 has not been whether or not sexual violence occurred, but whether sexual violence was used as a method of war. The preponderance of evidence has long weighed in favor of the latter. The Times' article makes it even clearer.
Every indicator is that the violence was systematic
When determining whether sexual violence has been used as a method of war, investigators will look at the scale & scope: was the violence limited to one area & one group of men or was it much broader in its scope? The answer is: every indicator is that the violence was systematic.
The Times interviewed witnesses and reviewed visual evidence--photo and video--from at least 7 sites on 10/7. This entails that Hamas militants, in the space of a few hours, are alleged to have committed several *separate* acts of sexual violence across multiple sites.
This single fact would be of great interest to the International Criminal Court or to other bodies interested in war crimes. Several militants committing assaults across several different sites in a short time entails some level of planning/permission to engage in sexual violence.
To believe otherwise would entail asserting that, within the space of 6-12 hours, different men came to music festival, to a military base, & then to different kibbutzim & other sites & decided, independently of one another, to commit these crimes against women.
Trigger warning: I am trying to not be graphic, but here I do have to give some detail: Both genital mutilation & gang rape are alleged to have occurred at different sites. Different weapons were used for the mutilation. There are also accounts of broken bones across sites.
I'm not a war crimes investigator or expert in international humanitarian law. But, broadly speaking, this is how people answer the Q: "was sexual violence used as a method of war?" Was there planning? Was it systematic? Are only the soldiers culpable or are others culpable too?
I have many thoughts on this story and our reaction to it, but I am taking a break now. I encourage everyone to be faithful to the truth first & foremost. No justice has ever come from denying the truth.
The last paragraphs of the New York Times article are on the children of Gal Abdush, who was raped and murdered by Hamas terrorists, and her husband Nagi, also murdered by Hamas.
The couple had been together since they were teenagers. To the family, it seems only yesterday that Mr. Abdush was heading off to work to fix water heaters, a bag of tools slung over his shoulder, and Ms. Abdush was cooking up mashed potatoes and schnitzel for their two sons, Eliav, 10, and Refael, 7.
The boys are now orphans. They were sleeping over at an aunt’s the night their parents were killed. Ms. Abdush’s mother and father have applied for permanent custody, and everyone is chipping in to help.
Night after night, Ms. Abdush’s mother, Eti Bracha, lies in bed with the boys until they drift off. A few weeks ago, she said she tried to quietly leave their bedroom when the younger boy stopped her.
“Grandma,” he said, “I want to ask you a question.”
On October 7, 2023, the very day of the Hamas attack on Israel, the pro-Palestinian group "Within our Lifetime" posted this statement on their Instagram page, and it's still there: "By any means necessary. With no exceptions and no fine print." From the very beginning they supported murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping of Israeli and foreign civilians. I hadn't realized how vile this group was.
And they're planning another rally for tomorrow in New York City, with a slogan that echoes the name that Hamas gave to their terrorist attack - "Flood New York for Palestine." One of the cosponsors is "Jews Against White Supremacy" - in this case a more accurate name might be "Jews against Jewish existence."
They are calling to "end all attacks on our people." Well, if their heroes, Hamas, had not attacked Israel on October 7, Israeli soldiers would have remained on the Israeli side of the border, and there would be no Israeli planes bombing Gaza. (This is not an endorsement of the Israeli tactics in Gaza, which have now killed over 21,000 people, most of them civilians just as innocent as the people murdered by Hamas).
On October 7, this is what "Jews Against White Supremacy" posted on Instagram:
According to them, the Hamas terrorist attack was "decolonisation in action."
The Hamas attack was "Land Back" and decolonisation in action.
No, it was rape, murder, torture, and kidnapping in action.
And then, three days later, on October 10, they post that "There are absolutely devastating scenes in Gaza right now as Israel is annihilating the Palestinian people." And they supported, and continued to support, the Hamas attack on Israel, they urged "by any means necessary" from their safe places in the US, Canada, and other western countries - knowing that they would not suffer from the utterly devastating Israeli attacks on Gaza. When will it occur to them that the unconscionable course of action they supported and still support would do nothing but lead to death and destruction? This is "performative activism" at its worst.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
"Out there, in the world, all the walls were covered with graffiti: 'Yids, go back to Palestine,' so we came back to Palestine, and now the world at large shouts at us: 'Yids, get out of Palestine.' —Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness@faniaoz@JewishWonk
This is all that remains of the Chabad of Oakland’s Hanukkiah (menorah). The level of Antisemitism in Oakland is unbelievable. @SFJCRCpic.twitter.com/Op67LNgsJ0
The Israeli artist Shoshke Engelmayer has been producing at least one image a day about the war, usually about the hostages. She made this one yesterday and posted it to her Facebook page.
Rutgers University has just suspended its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
From the JTA article:
A dean’s letter to the group stated that it had violated several university policies, including those forbidding “disruptive or disorderly conduct,” failure to comply with university directives, improper behavior by campus guests, and “inappropriate use of space.” It referenced student complaints that members of SJP had disrupted “classes, a program, meals, and students studying.”
The letter also noted “allegations of vandalism” at the business school that corresponded with the group’s programming; a recent Instagram post from the group stated that SJP was “occupying the business school.” Neither the letter nor a university spokesperson elaborated further on the particulars of the incidents that led to the group’s suspension, but a Nov. 30 open letter from local Jewish federation CEO Dov Ben-Shimon said that Rutgers SJP and other student groups “have called Hamas’ massacre of Jews in Israel ‘justified'” and added, “Their actions against Jewish students on campus have moved far beyond microaggressions.”...
Michelle Jefferson, associate dean of students and director of student conduct at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus, wrote in her letter to SJP that “there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the continued activities by the student organization pose a substantial and immediate threat to the safety and well-being of others, or the suspension of organizational activities is needed to maintain preservation of the University.”
On October 12, the Rutgers SJP chapter issued a statement decrying the participation of the President of Rutgers in a vigil organized by Hillel to mourn the Israelis and citizens of other countries murdered by the Hamas terrorists, using these words: "His statement endorses Rutgers Hillel’s vigil mourning Israeli settler deaths." This is, of course, a lie and a smear. Those killed by Hamas were Israelis and citizens of other countries living within the borders of sovereign Israel, not in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or the Golan Heights. SJP makes clear with this statement that they consider all of Israel to be "occupied" and therefore illegitimate.
I'm glad that Rutgers suspended SJP, and hope that this becomes a permanent ban.
On October 26, 2023, the "faculty of the Cornell Coalition for Justice in Palestine" published a letter in the Cornell Daily Sun. The letter began, "The faculty of the Cornell Coalition for Justice in Palestine stand for Palestinian human rights, sovereignty, liberation and the right to resist." What does the "right to resist" consist of?
The third paragraph reads: "While we abhor any targeting of civilians, our collective represents a diversity of views about the tactics of the Palestinian struggle. Yet we unite in unwavering opposition to apartheid and to the ongoing occupation, displacement, degradation, collective punishment and slaughter of Palestinians."
"While we abhor any targeting of civilians...." This is apparently as far as they can go to indicate any displeasure at the murder of over 1,200 people on October 7 by the Hamas terrorists. They don't mention the taking of hostages, much less murder or rape.
What are the "diversity of views about the tactics of the Palestinian struggle"? No details are given, but I suspect that the diversity includes those who don't care about deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians, or perhaps even applaud it. (Remember Russell Rickford's words a week after October 7 at an anti-Israel rally in Ithaca).
The letter has no signatories - none of the faculty concerned revealed their names.
Hadash, the leftist Arab-Jewish party in Israel, held a protest calling for a ceasefire on November 18. The demonstration was very small, according to the Times of Israel:
Dozens of people gather in Tel Aviv for an anti-war protest calling for a ceasefire and diplomatic solution to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The protest, organized by the mostly Arab Hadash party, was allowed by police after several similar gatherings were refused permits over the past few weeks. Protesters carry signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English calling for an end to the war, with slogans reading “In Gaza and Sderot, children want to live”; “An eye for an eye and everyone is blind”; “No to occupation and siege, yes to peace” and others. No Palestinian flags can be seen in photos online of the event.
Here's a photo of some people in the demonstration:
People demonstrate against the Israel-Hamas war in Tel Aviv, November 18, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)Hundreds gather in Tel Aviv to protest for immediate ceasefire
The Ha'aretz article on the protest says that several hundred attended.
Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv's Charles Clore Park in central Israel for a Jewish-Arab demonstration led by Israel's Hadash party. The protest calls for the immediate ceasefire and an end to the war. Protesters say they support an "all-for-all" hostage deal where all Israeli hostages are brought back in exchange for "Palestinian political prisoners unlawfully held in Israel."
Hadash MK Aida Touma Suleiman spoke at the protest, saying: "They will not silence us. We won't let the human voice against the war be unheard, so here we say: we are against the war. From the first day, we said that we oppose the atrocities and crimes committed against civilians, and when civilians in Gaza die from bombings - we will condemn these crimes as well. You will not prevail because there is also a voice in Gaza, and there are also citizens and children in Gaza."
Dana Mills, former Peace Now director, declared, "Enough of the war, enough of the murder and massacre in Gaza. We will not be silent or calm until all the prisoners return home safely.'"
Apparently, according to the Cornell Daily Sun, all of the posters of Israeli hostages were taken down from the Commons a few days ago. (Although I had noticed a few were still left up on light poles outside of the Commons). Before they were taken down, antisemitic graffiti was drawn on some of them, including "Free Palestine," "Still free" and "Israel is Hitler."
An anti-Israel rally is planned for tomorrow afternoon on the Commons, sponsored by a variety of organizations including the "Ithaca Communist Party" (Who knew? There's also a nifty little graphic from them on the poster, sporting an updated hammer and sickle). The poster for the rally accuses Israel of intentionally killing Palestinian children. No notice, of course, of the Hamas massacre of civilians on October 7, or of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Other sponsors include Cornell SJP, Tompkins County SURJ, Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace, Ithaca DSA, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation - in short, the far left in Ithaca.
National SJP lauded the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7.
(The PSL supported the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, supported Bashar Assad in Syria, denies that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its own citizens, and thinks that the North Korean regime has been unfairly targeted - see the Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Socialism_and_Liberation).
I just saw the statement that National Students for Justice in Palestine issued as part of their "tool-kit" right after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. They entirely approved of the Hamas terrorist attack on civilians that left over 1200 dead and hundreds taken hostage. I'd been looking for this statement in order to prove that SJP supports Hamas and wants Israel to be destroyed. Anyone who supports SJP should know that this is their position.
Here's the statement:
National Students for Justice in Palestine is calling for a national day of resistance on college campuses across occupied Turtle Island and internationally this Thursday, October 12th, 2023. On the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war, the resistance in Gaza launched a surprise operation against the Zionist enemy which disrupted the very foundation of Zionist settler society. On the morning of October 8th (sic, the attack was on October 7), the Palestinian resistance stormed the illegitimate border fence, gaining control of the Gaza checkpoint at Erez, and re-entering 1948 Palestine.
Referred to as Operation Towfan Al-Aqsa (Al-Aqsa Flood), the resistance has taken occupation soldiers hostage, fired thousands of rockets, taken over Israeli military vehicles, and gained control over illegal Israeli settlements. In the West Bank, the Palestinian resistance has called for collective action by the Palestinian masses amidst attempts by the Zionist entity to lock-up the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance has called for mass protests in every Palestinian city, and Palestinian workers have called for a general strike. In
Gaza, Israel has launched an onslaught of airstrikes. As of Sunday, Oct 8th at 12pm ET, Israel has murdered 320 Palestinians and left over 2200 others injured. Despite this, our people choose resistance over negotiated cages on our homeland. Fearlessly, our people struggle for complete liberation and return.
Today, we witness a historic win for the Palestinian resistance: across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity, taking with it the facade of an impenetrable settler colony and reminding each of us that total return and liberation to Palestine is near. As the Palestinian student movement, we have an unshakable responsibility to join the call for mass mobilization.
National liberation is near— glory to our resistance, to our martyrs, and to our steadfast people.
In addition to this statement, and some information about organizing, the toolkit also included templates for two posters - one showing a captured Israeli tank with people holding a Palestinian flag standing on it, and one showing an outline of a hang glider, like the hang gliders that Hamas used on October 7 to attack Israeli civilians.
Four Bedouin drove from Rahat to evacuate their cousin in Be’eri; they rescued dozens
Amazing seven-minute video from coexistence group Have You Seen the Horizon Lately tells the chilling story of how a kibbutznik cyclist was saved from Hamas by a cafeteria worker’s family
Four Bedouin men from Rahat saved dozens of Israeli lives on October 7 while deployed by their uncle to evacuate his son Hisham from Kibbutz Be’eri.
As described by Ismail Alqrinawi in an intense 7-minute video produced by the coexistence organization Have You Seen the Horizon Lately, his uncle pointed at his nephews at about 6:45 that Saturday morning and said, “You four, you’re going to bring back my boy.” They immediately got in a jeep and began what normally was a half-hour trip — but this one was amid the Hamas onslaught that killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, throughout the area and decimated the kibbutz’s population.
On their way to Be’eri they entered the area in which the Supernova rave was under attack, near Kibbutz Re’im, and found people running from the party in immediate danger.
“Our conscience wouldn’t allow us to leave them there, under fire. Before we went to evacuate our cousin, we helped many other people who were at the party… we evacuated at least 30-40 people who were at the party,” Alqrinawi said. Some 260 partygoers were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists; dozens were taken hostage.
With each carload of frantic partygoers that they ferried to a safe location, the four men said they hugged them, asked if they were okay, gave them water to calm them down, and washed their faces. One of the cousins made sure that they called their parents.
Then they’d go back to rescue more people.
Recalling the horrors and crying himself, Alqrinawi says he is hit with flashbacks of the piles of corpses at the party and in the nearby fields.
After hours of saving dozens from the party, the four men decided to enter the heaving gunfire near Be’eri and attempt to evacuate their cousin, who was hiding in bushes with a local resident near the kibbutz where he worked in the cafeteria.
The resident, Aya Meydan, had set out early for her regular Saturday morning bike ride. A triathlete, Meydan was set to meet up with her biking partner Lior Weizman, who was biking in from Sderot. Hearing the massive rocket barrage overhead, she checked in with her husband, Omri, who was at home in the kibbutz with their three children. Omri asked her to return home. He wasn’t clear on the details, but it was dangerous to be outside.
Today I was driving past the Ithaca Commons and saw some of the posters of kidnapped Israelis put up on light poles and other surfaces, so I stopped to take pictures of some of them. You can see that these posters were pasted over an earlier set that had been torn down by people who don't appreciate being confronted by the actions of Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Update: Cornell student charged in threats against school’s Jewish community
by Matt Butler and Judy Lucas October 31, 2023Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks Monday morning at Cornell, with Cornell President Martha Pollack by her side. Credit: Michael Groll / Office of Governor Hochul
Update (8:26 p.m.): Federal prosecutors have announced charges against a Cornell University student for the violent threats posted online directed at the university’s Jewish community.
Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old junior at Cornell, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick in a press release. Dai is originally from Pittsford, New York.
The release states that Dai is suspected of issuing all of the threats, which were posted under various anonymous usernames on Sunday. Dai will appear in federal court Nov. 1 in Syracuse.
Dai will face up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release of up to three years, according to Southwick.
Southwick does not disclose whether Dai’s threats appeared to be serious or not.
Ithaca Police and federal agents were observed raiding a building on Eddy Street in Collegetown Tuesday afternoon. IPD Acting Chief Ted Schwartz said questions had to be directed to the FBI Albany office. The Ithaca Voice is awaiting more information from the FBI on the results of the raid.
ITHACA, N.Y.—Cornell University officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed the arrest of a person of interest who allegedly posted violent threats against the school’s Jewish student population via an online forum Sunday.
No details about the individual have been released, including whether the person is affiliated with Cornell or not, or where they were found. According to a tweet from the governor, the person was taken into custody Tuesday morning.
Hochul, who visited the university Monday morning in the wake of the threats, posted a tweet around 1 p.m. Tuesday announcing a person of interest was taken into custody by the New York State Police for questioning.
Whether or not the person is in federal custody is unclear, despite Gov. Hochul’s statement crediting the NYS Police for their work. Police have yet to confirm any arrest in the case. Local law enforcement officials were also unaware of any arrests made in the case.
However, Cornell University Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina also confirmed the arrest in a statement to The Ithaca Voice.
“We can confirm that a subject has been identified as a suspect in the antisemitic threats made against our Jewish students on Sunday and is currently in custody,” Malina said. “We thank the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for their coordination. We will update the public as we have further details to release.”
The arrest comes two days after the threats were posted on the GreekRank forum page for Cornell, which is not affiliated with the school. Posted anonymously from several different accounts, the posts included various graphic threats targeting Jewish students on campus and threatened to “shoot up” 104West!, the kosher and multicultural dining hall on campus next to the Center for Jewish Living.
There are about 3,500 Jewish students enrolled at Cornell, equaling about one-fifth of the total student population at the school, according to Cornell’s Hillel chapter.
This is a developing story. More details will be added once they are confirmed.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks Monday morning at Cornell, with Cornell President Martha Pollack by her side. Credit: Michael Groll / Office of Governor Hochul