DV Journal

A federal judge denied a request for an injunction against the University of Pennsylvania that would have prevented Penn from giving Congress information about a Palestinian literary festival held at the university.

A group of professors and students called Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine sued Penn to stop it from complying with a request for documents from a U.S. House of Representatives committee. Lawyers for Penn filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of standing.

Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg, chief judge for the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania, dismissed the group’s lawsuit on June 24.

Lead plaintiffs Huda Fakhreddine, a professor of Arabic literature who organized the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, and Eve Troutt Powell, who teaches Middle Eastern history,  did not respond to requests for comment.

Penn spokesman Ron Ozio said the university does not comment on litigation.

Jewish leaders had asked Penn to distance itself from the Palestine Writes Festival, which began Sept. 22, 2023, and overlapped Yom Kippur. It was held near Hillel, where Jewish students would worship. They also objected to listed speakers, some of whom were known antisemites, including Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, who supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and compared Israel to Nazi Germany. Another presenter listed was Marc Lamont Hill, who was fired from CNN after using the phrase “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” often viewed as a call for the destruction of Israel and the Jews who live there.

The festival preceded the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the ensuing protests at Penn that culminated with a tent encampment.

Former Penn President Liz Magill testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee, and her remarks saying calls for Jewish genocide are allowed “in context” led to her eventual resignation.

In his opinion, Goldberg noted the House committee sent Penn a letter expressing “grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Penn’s response to antisemitism on its campus.”

“The letter consists of a narrative of events and a document request. It mentions the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, which it states included ‘antisemitic speakers,’ and criticizes Fakhreddine by name for her statements about Israel.”

Part of the House request regarded “disciplinary … processes,” Palestine Writes Literature Festival, and various Penn-affiliated organizations and events. The letter is not a subpoena and does not legally compel Penn to produce documents. Nonetheless, Penn has indicated it will honor the Committee’s request.”

Further, the plaintiffs argued that if Penn gives the documents to the House committee, “it will “threaten” them with “a renewed and continued barrage of death and rape threats and hate speech” and could expose “members of [Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine] who have not previously been doxxed.”

Goldberg added, “Plaintiffs thus seek an order prohibiting Penn from complying with the House Committee’s request. The plaintiffs’ complaint does not identify the documents or information they believe Penn will produce. In particular, plaintiffs do not allege whether documents Penn plans to produce would include their personal contact information such as home addresses.”

The judge found the plaintiffs did not have standing because the documents the House requested were not “defamatory” and did not have private details like their home address.

“The fact that plaintiffs were harassed before is not enough; plaintiffs need to show that Penn’s documents would contribute to that harassment,” the judge wrote.

However, he said he would allow them to refile their case if they can “in good faith” allege facts supporting their standing or right to file it.

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Jewish leaders are asking the University of Pennsylvania to distance itself from a campus festival scheduled to overlap with Yom Kippur featuring speakers who espouse anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.

With antisemitic incidents rising and Jewish students reporting bullying and discrimination on college campuses, Jewish students and organizations are raising concerns about the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.

In a statement, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said it has joined with the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia chapter in “privately urging University of Pennsylvania officials to publicly condemn the Palestine Writes festival since the middle of August.

“The conference includes multiple presenters with a history of spreading inflammatory rhetoric and antisemitism that go against the fundamental principles of academic integrity and respectful discourse. The impact of these narratives will create a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus, especially on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday,” it added.

Among the scheduled speakers is Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, an outspoken supporter of the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement who has compared Israel to the Nazi Germany. Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department said Waters has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes.” And it said a concert he gave recently in Germany “contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust.”

Also among the speakers is Noura Erakat, a Rutgers University professor who called Zionism a “bedfellow” to Nazism.

The news site Jewish Insider, which first reported on the controversy, said the festival would also include Marc Lamont Hill, who was fired from CNN after using the phrase “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” often viewed as a call for the destruction of Israel and the Jews who live there.

A group of Jewish students wrote a letter to Penn administrators about the festival, claiming the “co-sponsorship and partnership by four Penn departments make us, as students who take classes in those departments and are Jewish, feel less welcome, safe, and accepted, given the inclusion of these speakers.”

They added, “This event is at a particularly sensitive time for our community as it takes place right as Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, begins. On this day, Jewish students will be walking to services in Houston Hall, observing the holiday, and be noticeably Jewish and vulnerable on campus.”

Penn sent DVJournal a statement from President M. Elizabeth Magill, Provost John J. Jackson Jr., and Steven J. Fluharty, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences: “The Palestine Writes Literature Festival, a multi-day event featuring Palestinian writers, filmmakers, and artists, will take place on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus later this month. This public event is not organized by the university. As is routine in universities, individual faculty, departments and centers, and student organizations are engaged as sponsors, speakers, and volunteers at this conference intended to highlight the importance and cultural impact of Palestinian writers and artists.

“While the festival will feature more than 100 speakers, many have raised deep concerns about several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people. We unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values.

“As a university, we also fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values,” he said.

Rav Shai Cherry, the chief rabbi at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, said Susan Abulhawa, the executive director of Palestine Writes Literature Festival, “is using the old playbook. She does her cause no service by promoting speakers who seek the elimination of the one Jewish state in the world.”

“The Palestinians need to trade in their old playbook and stop condemning their own people to a life filled with indignities. Palestinians deserve better leadership. Alas, they are not getting it from those who seek to deny Jewish Israelis of what they seek for themselves—dignity, security, and peace,” Cherry said.

Rabbi Lance Sussman, author of the new book, “Portrait of an American Rabbi,” called it “a classic scenario where an outside group uses a university as a venue to give itself legitimacy and then have the university provide a defense in the name of freedom of inquiry.”

“However, a truly literary festival does belong on campus. I think Penn erred by scheduling the event on Yom Kippur and having the festival so physically close to Jewish worship services. Jewish pro-Israel students are thereby effectively blocked from protesting because of the holiday. It’s hard to reconcile the school’s claim of nobility of purpose with its (hopefully) logistical naivete.”

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