SDJW staff report
The Secure Community Network reports that “According to federal authorities, [a] 21-year-old Pennsylvania man was charged with receiving a firearm and ammunition with the intent to commit terrorism on behalf of ISIS. Investigators also uncovered online communications expressing support for Hamas and discussing plans to poison food and drinks at synagogues and other locations frequented by non-Muslims. The FBI recovered a semiautomatic rifle, five magazines, and approximately 190 rounds of ammunition.”
Michael Masters, SCN National Director & CEO. stated: “Our strong partnerships between law enforcement and the Jewish community are essential to keeping our enemies at bay and ensuring Jewish communities can engage in faith-based life without fear or compromise.”
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Pratt Institute, a private college specializing in the visual arts, disciplined a student who repeatedly harassed a Jewish professor. The Brooklyn, New York-based Institute “placed the student on disciplinary probation for the remainder of the student’s enrollment, replaced the mutual no contact order with a unilateral directive protecting the professor, required responsible-discourse training and ordered removal of the social media post calling for a boycott of the professor’s classes. Failure to comply could result in additional discipline, including suspension or expulsion,” according to publicist Harper Huckabay.
“Jewish professors should not have to choose between openly participating in Jewish life and being safe. This was not a disagreement over political views or speech. This was about repeated anti-Semitic behavior. And even after Pratt put protections in place, those protections were repeatedly violated, and the illegal harassment continued to escalate,” said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education who ran the Office for Civil Rights during two administrations. “While Pratt ultimately recognized the discriminatory nature of this harassment and imposed meaningful protections, this decision sends a clear message that targeting Jewish members of any academic community will have consequences.”
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San Diego Jewish World staff roundup.