Congressman Asks Rutgers To Cancel Two Pro-Palestine Speakers

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — North Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer is asking Rutgers University not to proceed with this lecture scheduled to take place Thursday afternoon, where Marc Lamont Hill and Nick Estes, both of whom are critical of Israel, will speak.

The talk is scheduled to be held at 4:30 p.m. on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus. It is entitled “Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes and Marc Lamont Hill.” Rutgers will not be canceling the lecture, a spokeswoman for the university told TAP Into, citing academic freedom.

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On Monday, Gottheimer (D-NJ5) sent this letter to Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, asking him to not allow Lamont Hill or Estes to speak. He asked Rutgers to “remove” them from the lecture.

The congressman said Lamont Hill and Estes are “two well-known antisemites” who “promote hate speech.”

“On the surface, this discussion appears to be a valuable learning opportunity for students,” wrote Gottheimer. “The reality is that (this) is only providing a platform for two well-known antisemites, Marc Lamont Hill and Nick Estes. Students deserve to feel safe on their campuses, and allowing these speakers to present their antisemitic, anti-Israel views will promote hate speech and exacerbate the potential for violence and attacks toward Rutgers’ Jewish students.”

The talk is scheduled to take place from 4:30 – 6:00p p.m. on the Rutgers Cook/Douglass campus. Here is a description of the talk; the lecture will also be livestreamed here.

Lamont Hill is a former CNN commentator. In November 2018, he spoke before the United Nations on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, at which he said: “We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires. And that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

Shortly thereafter, CNN terminated his contract. CNN never gave a public reason as to why the network stopped working with him. However, Temple University, where Lamont Hill was at one time a professor, publicly criticized him after his UN talk for using “a statement that many regard as promoting violence.”

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase “from the river to the sea” is code, often used by Hamas, for the complete destruction of the nation of Israel.

After he was fired from CNN, Lamont Hill tweeted: “My reference to ‘river to the sea’ was not a call to destroy anything or anyone. It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things. I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things.”

Estes is a Native American and member of the Lakota tribe. According to Gottheimer, he has openly denounced the right of Israel to exist. He has also questioned Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel.

Gottheimer had no criticism for the third speaker, Erakat, who is a professor at Rutgers.

In his letter this week to the Rutgers president, Gottheimer wrote:

“Since October 7, there have been more than 110 anti-Israel rallies on U.S. college campuses. Similar to other universities, Rutgers University has also permitted protesters to hide behind face masks, creating a culture of fear on campus. At Rutgers, anonymous protesters have gathered outside of the Chabad House, destroyed hostage posters and verbally assaulted Jewish students. The Chabad rabbi reported that Jewish students felt ‘physically afraid’ to leave the building.”

“While differing views are a critical part of building cultural understanding, they cannot provide a bully pulpit for those who seek to divide others and spew hate,” Gottheimer continued in his Dec. 4 letter. “The first amendment does not give students the right to bully, intimidate and instill fear onto other students. If the University’s goal is to promote mutual understanding and bring students together, it will fail so long as antisemites and anti-Israel advocates are given a sanctioned platform on your campus to promote hatred.”

Rutgers says talk will proceed as planned Thursday

Rutgers said it will allow the talk with Estes and Hill to proceed as planned Thursday. Rutgers released this statement to Tap Into, which was the first to report this story:

“This is an academic seminar supported by Mellon Foundation funding. Rutgers University has a longstanding policy protecting academic freedom, which allows our faculty members, in the discharge of their duties and within the bounds of the law and university policy, to express their ideas and to challenge the ideas of others without fear of retribution. This includes the expression of viewpoints that others within the university community may not share and, in fact, may vigorously oppose — as many do in this case. Rutgers is a community of diverse ideas; we value academic freedom’s protections that allow our faculty and invited guest lecturers to state their views and engage in lively discourse.”

Gottheimer is Jewish. In September, Lamont Hill spoke alongside Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters at a Palestinian culture festival at the University of Pennsylvania — Gottheimer’s alma mater. At that time, Gottheimer sent Penn this letter, asking Penn to not have Waters or Hill speak, again citing what he says is their antisemitism.

Pro-Palestine rally held Wednesday on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus

Separately, at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday a pro-Palestine rally was held at Brower Commons on the Rutgers campus. Attendees demanded Rutgers divest from Israeli investments. They also demand Central Jersey’s Congressman, Rep. Frank Pallone, (D-NJ6) call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Last month, Pallone attended the March for Israel in Washington, D.C.

The only two New Jersey Congress reps who have called for a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas are Trenton-area Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Newark-area Congressman Donald Payne, Jr.

According to organizers, here are some of the groups that attended Wednesday afternoon’s rally: Rutgers Alumni for Justice in Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Rutgers New Brunswick , Jewish Voice for Peace – Central NJ, Princeton SJP, the Rutgers Bookstore Union, Rutgers Faculty for Justice in Palestine, CAIR-NJ and Jews 4 Palestinian Right of Return

Prior on this topic: Rutgers Palestinian Group Planned March, But Called It Off Last Minute (Oct. 13)

Rutgers Student Made Online Threat Against Israeli Student (Nov. 4)

Man Tore Down Israeli Flag From Private Home In Highland Park (Nov. 21)