A Rutgers University law student who faces expulsion for exposing antisemitic social media posts is fighting back with a lawsuit, according to reports.
Yoel Ackerman says he is facing possible disciplinary repercussions up to and including dismissal for speaking out against alleged pro-Hamas propaganda shared on social media channels by other students. In a group chat, law students downplayed the October 7 attacks and argued that Israel overstated the extent of Hamas’ massacres.
The law student says he may be expelled or suspended from campus over exposing the social media posts to peers in a Jewish law student group. Students in the private channel took issue with Ackerman sharing messages with their names and photographs included, accusing him of “doxxing.”
“I spoke out against this behavior by sharing this information with my community, my fellow Jews,” Ackerman said, according to ABC 7.
Lawyers representing Ackerman say that the incident is part of a broader antisemitic environment the New Jersey-based university has allowed to fester among students and faculty.
“Rutgers has to recognize that it has created a cancerous culture that is antisemitic,” the lawyers said, per the outlet.
Ackerman says, according to the New York Post, that members of the university’s Student Bar Association spread antisemitic messages in the immediate aftermath of the October 7th attacks on Israel. The law student also alleges that his peers bullied him and asked him why he objected to “clearing up propaganda.”
In his lawsuit, Ackerman alleges that he distributed the video to his peers to, “protect fellow Jewish students and community” from, “harassment, intimidation, bullying and discriminatory conduct aimed at Jewish law students,” according to The New York Post.
David Mazie, Ackerman’s lawyer, argues that he is being punished over his outspokenness against antisemitic behavior by other students.
“Mr. Ackerman is being prosecuted by Rutgers because he was brave enough to object to propaganda circulated in an official chat by another student which seeks to justify the Hamas atrocities committed on October 7th,” Mazie said according to the New York Post.
Rutgers denied allegations that the school is indifferent to any antisemitic behavior on campus, per the outlet.
“Rutgers takes seriously claims of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of bias and intolerance. Any such claims are investigated and reviewed, and where appropriate, remedial or disciplinary actions are taken,” a Rutgers University rep told the New York Post.
Ackerman’s lawyer disputed the notion that Rutgers protects its Jewish students.
“Rutgers’ tolerance for antisemitism exists across its campuses, a culture which has it now prosecuting a student for objecting to antisemitic propaganda. Rutgers’ transgressions have recently caused the U.S. Department of Education to open an investigation over alleged antisemitism at Rutgers,” Ackerman’s lawyers said in a press release.
As the new semester begins, Hamas sympathizers – both students and administrators alike – are continuing to perpetuate lies and defend terror. Students who want to stand up for Israel can find activism resources on Young America’s Foundation’s ‘Stand With Israel’ Activism Hub.
