Palestinian university partnership with Brandeis under fire after fascist-style rally

Brandeis University is being criticized for its partnership with the Palestinian Al Quds University following a fascist-style military rally at Al Quds.

In recently posted photos by Middle East analyst Tom Gross, students are shown wearing black military gear, carrying fake automatic weapons, and giving the fascist salute during a march on the Al Quds campus. Additionally, several rally participants portrayed dead Israeli soldiers and trampled a banner painted with Jewish stars. Eve Herman, president of the Brandeis Zionist Alliance, told the Washington Free Beacon, “It bothers me very much that the school I am attending has a partnership with a school that inherently promotes death to Jews.”

Brandeis and Al Quds partnered in 2003, forming “a unique intercultural partnership, linking an Arab institution in Jerusalem and a Jewish-sponsored institution in the United States in an exchange designed to foster cultural understanding and provide educational opportunities for students, faculty and staff,” according to the Brandeis website.

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An anonymous Brandeis faculty member told the Free Beacon that it is  “appalling” that activities such as the fascist-style rally occur at Al Quds. Imad Abu Kishek, executive vice president of Al Quds, said the event “horrified the whole student body, who is not used to such acts on campus.” He said Al Quds promotes “openness and toleration” and has a “policy of non-violence and pacifism,” but also condemned the Israel Defense Forces. Kishek cited “all kinds of difficulties that Al Quds University students, in specific, are facing on daily basis from Israeli soldiers, whom provokingly keep attacking them alongside university staff with hundreds of tear gas bombs.”

The Free Beacon said Brandeis declined multiple requests for comment.