Matthias Monroy

German professors express their solidarity with Jewish students and Israeli institutions. A student now complains with a similar tenor.

In an open letter, 72 German professors speak out against anti-Semitism and the marginalisation of Jewish students. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that they can study and work at our institutions safely and without harm”, reads the letter published on Tuesday. The letter also condemns “in the strongest terms” the “questioning of Israel’s right to exist” as well as “violence and vandalism within university buildings”. It is in the signatories’ interest that “hatred towards Jews at our institutions should be ostracized and penalized”. The authors also express concern about the boycott of Israeli universities and the marginalisation of Israeli colleagues at conferences or in publications.

The statement begins with the words “In light of current events” and is apparently a reaction to pro-Palestinian protests at Berlin universities, which ultimately led to an affair over funding at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (Liberal Democratic Party, FDP) supported a campaign by the “Bild” newspaper against over 1000 university members who had criticised the action taken against the student protests. The BMBF subsequently had an investigation carried out into whether the financial support of those labelled as “university people” by “Bild” could be withdrawn.

Stark-Watzinger and “Bild” were delighted with the professors’ initiative on Tuesday: the minister shared the open letter on X, while the Springer newspaper ran the headline “Uprising of the decent university professors!”.

The signatories of the letter mainly come from the centre-right spectrum, including Susanne Schröter (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main) and Ruud Koopmans (Humboldt University Berlin), who warn against the dominance of Islam and too much migration. However, Christoph Scherrer, who is active on Attac’s Scientific Advisory Board, and Bettina Kohlrausch, who is a member of the Hans Böckler Foundation’s Institute of Economic and Social Sciences, have also signed.

The open letter was initiated by Stefan Liebig from Freie Universität (FU) Berlin. The sociology professor regularly expresses his support for the Gaza war on the short messaging service X. On 14 June, Liebig posted a montage with an Israeli flag also spread over Palestine, framed in English with the words “From the river to the sea. That’s the flag you’re gonna see”.

Of those asked to sign, “only five people cancelled”, explains Liebig on X, none of them for content-related reasons. “That’s a lie,” Paula-Irene Villa from the University of Munich contradicts, also with regard to other professors, also on X. Signing could have “highly problematic political consequences”, the sociologist explained her non-participation.

Jewish student Lahav Shapira is now suing the FU Berlin, accusing it of increasing anti-Semitism at Berlin universities. The 31-year-old was brutally beaten up by a fellow student outside a bar in February. The incident was preceded by a political dispute at the FU. There, Shapira had expressed solidarity with Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“The point is that the university has tolerated the anti-Semitic atmosphere, which also led to the attack, for far too long,” Shapira told the ZDF programme “Frontal 21”, which reported exclusively on the lawsuit last week. According to the Higher Education Act, the FU management has a duty to ensure a non-discriminatory environment, he explains. Shapira is represented by the left-wing lawyer Kristin Pietrzyk from Jena. In the complaint, she lists occupations, demonstrations and events against the Gaza war since 7 October and describes them as “pro-Palestinian hegemony”.

Published in German in „nd“.

Image: The initiator of the open letter shared this picture on X, framed by the words “From the river to the sea you will only see this flag” (Screenshot/ X).