Steven Weitzman | Moving beyond public statements
(10/18/23 3:05am)
In my role as director of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, I work closely with many Israeli scholars, and have many friends in Israel. So the fear and grief created by Hamas’ atrocities hit close to home, and I am grieving for the lives that have been lost, both Israeli and Palestinian. Compounding the situation is my concern about Penn’s community. I have heard things on campus from protestors that have left me stunned, including the claim that it is completely justified to target civilians in Israel, and that if Jews don’t like it, they can go back to Minsk, Moscow and Berlin. Such statements do not help anyone, but they certainly hurt.