Israel advocates seek probe of Prof. David Klein

LONG BEACH, California (Press Release) – California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees have heard, without comment, an appeal for support for the AMCHA Initiative’s request to California Attorney General Kamala K. Harris to investigate CSU Northridge’s Professor David Klein. AMCHA Initiative contends that for four years Klein has illegally used CSUN’s name and resources to promote a personal, political agenda, to denigrate Israel.

“Professor Klein is a math professor. You wouldn’t hire him as an International Affairs lecturer.  You wouldn’t offer course credit to students if he decided to teach a class on Middle Eastern studies.  His boycott websites are not educational; they are part of his personal mission to indoctrinate,” said AMCHA co-founder, Tammi Benjamin, during a public comment session at the board meeting. “They’re not state business and should not be promoted on the taxpayer dime.”

The following new evidence demonstrates that Klein’s anti-Israel postings are personal, political propaganda and do not qualify as state business:

• CSU Trustees Did Not Give Permission:  On September 25, 2013, CSU Interim General Counsel Andrew Jones confirmed that CSU Trustees did not give Klein permission to post his webpage promoting the boycott of Israel on the CSUN website.  A violation of  CAL. EDUC. CODE 89005.5(a)(2)(C) occurs if an individual uses the CSU name, without the permission of the CSU Trustees, “to display…this name publicly at, or in connection with any…propaganda, advertising, or promotional activity of any kind which has for its purpose or any part of its purpose the support, endorsement, advancement…of…boycott.”
• Klein uses CSU website for character defamation:  In March 2012, Klein posted a link comparing AMCHA co-founder Rossman-Benjamin to a Nazi collaborator.  The author of the link writes, “Rossman-Benjamin reminds me of the court academics who prostituted themselves in 1933 when the Nazis came to power.” The author posted three photographs of Rossman-Benjamin next to a photograph of Martin Heidegger, whose caption reads: “famous philosopher who lent his talents to the cause of the 3rd Reich,” and he accused her of “climbing into bed with Hitler supporters.”  The author also calls her a “junk academic,” a “zombie,” and a “fruit cake.”
• Violates Federal Law: Federal law prohibits any state from engaging in the type of anti-Israel boycott activities advocated by Klein.  Were the University to engage in such activities, it would be subject to federal sanctions, including fines and tax penalties.  As a result, Klein’s advocacy may trigger an obligation by CSUN to report the anti-Israel boycott campaign to the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments.

“Freedom of speech is essential, but an attempt to ostracize Jews and demonize Israel and its Jewish supporters is antisemitic,” said Leila Beckwith, AMCHA’s other co-founder.  “Antisemitism has no place on a college campus and certainly not on an official university website.”

The promotion of non-state business on official CSUN websites violates the following state and federal laws:

• CAL. GOV’T CODE 8314: Prohibits any state employee from using public resources for personal benefit.
• CAL. EDUC. CODE 89005: Prohibits the use of state-owned name CSUN for the purpose of promoting personal or political activities and propaganda, including boycotts.
• 50 U.S.C.App. § 2402 (5) and § 2407 (c): Make it illegal to for a state agency to engage in anti-Israel boycott activities.

AMCHA Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating, documenting, educating about, and combating antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America. AMCHA Initiative identifies antisemitism using the U.S. State Department’s “Defining Anti-Semitism.” AMCHA Initiative’s efforts are bolstered by a network of more than 5,000 members and supporters of the Jewish community — including university alumni, parents and grandparents, rabbis, religious school principals and synagogue members — who have joined together to speak in one voice to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students on college and university campuses across the country.
*
At the same meeting, the trustees were addressed by Roberta Seid, research and education director for Stand With Us, a pro-Israel advocacy organization.

Seid said:

“I am Roberta Seid, an historian, adjunct at UC Irvine, and education/research director of StandWithUs, an international education organization that attempts to restore informed debate about Israel-related issues.

“I am here because we are concerned that CSUN math professor David Klein is misusing public university resources to promote his personal politics, in particular, to wage an aggressive anti-Israel campaign that is filled with misinformation and bigotry.

“We unequivocally support faculty members’ right to free speech and political activism in their personal lives, no matter what fabrications they deploy to target a minority group or nation, unless it enters the realm of hate speech, but using university resources to do so seems to give CSU’s imprimatur to their views and seems to violate university regulations, state laws, public trust, and scholarly standards.

“There is also a larger issue at stake.  If safeguards against such misuse are not reinforced, our university resources can deteriorate into political battlegrounds of irresponsible misinformation and bigotry.

“Therefore, we urge you to further investigate whether Professor Klein has violated these basic standards and to review your standards and safeguards against misuse of university resources.”

*
Preceding culled from material provided by AMCHA Initiative and StandWithUs