The "Antisemitism on College Campuses" hearing took place on May 16 in Washington.
Credit: Ethan YoungCollege senior Eyal Yakoby testified in front of the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee in a hearing entitled "Antisemitism on College Campuses" on Wednesday.
In the hearing, Yakoby — who spoke alongside Rabbi Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center; Shabbos Kestenbaum, a graduate student at Harvard University; and Kevin Rachlin, the Washington director of the Nexus Leadership Project — called for more decisive action from University administrators in response to alleged antisemitism at Penn, including during the recent Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
A University spokesperson declined to comment on the hearing.
"I sit here today because I'm urging the administration to redeem themselves," Yakoby said during his opening remarks. “Penn’s coat of arms reads ‘laws without morals are useless.’ Well, right now, Penn has laws with zero morals.”
In his testimony, Yakoby described Penn's Gaza Solidarity Encampment as "unlawful and dangerous” and discussed alleged instances of aggression from members of the encampment directed at members of the Penn community. He specifically referenced strobe lights being flashed at a passing student, chants including “Al Qassam, make us proud,” and vandalism of the Benjamin Franklin statue on College Green.
Yakoby also criticized the time it took for the encampment to be dismantled, adding that “after 16 days,” the University “acknowledged reality.”
“What value is such an acknowledgement if action takes two weeks?” Yakoby asked.
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment began on April 25 and was disbanded by University officials last week after Penn Police and the Philadelphia Police Department arrested 33 individuals, including nine Penn students.
During the hearing, Yakoby mentioned that two petitions calling for an end to the encampment were delivered to University officials and that both petitions were “not responded to.”
“The lesson that Penn has been teaching students and faculty is that violence and harassment work,” Yakoby said. “Penn has allowed individuals to act with impunity.”
He went on to question whether taxpayer dollars should support institutions that fail to curb antisemitic behavior, adding that Ivy League institutions receive significant federal funding.
"Congress must also examine how they should use our power of the purse to shut off the flow of taxpayer dollars that are going to universities to fuel this radical ideology," Yakoby said.
The committee was briefly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs with their hands painted red. The protesters were escorted from the room.
Yakoby is currently a plaintiff in a Dec. 5 lawsuit alleging that the University has not sufficiently responded to antisemitism on campus. The lawsuit claims that Penn “subjects them to a pervasively hostile educational environment,” according to the preliminary statement.
Also on Dec. 5, Yakoby appeared alongside House Republican leadership for a press conference with Jewish college students ahead of a Congressional testimony from leaders in higher education — including former Penn President Liz Magill — about antisemitism on college campuses.
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