Jewish teacher to sue students who accused him of being a ‘Nazi’

After being harassed and accused of being a “Nazi” by students at the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam) during a lecture on entrepreneurship in Israel, last Thursday (10), the political scientist specializing in the Middle East and National Security, André Lajst, told Gazeta do Povo that he will sue the aggressors for defamation.

“Defamation incites hatred and needs to set an example. Incitement to hate generates thoughts that generate actions, which generates physical violence. And that is precisely what we need to fight in Brazil”, said Lajst to Gazeta, this Friday (11).

Lajst was the target of students linked to the Central Directory of Students (DCE), who gathered outside the place where the lecture took place with posters, megaphones and Palestinian flags. Screaming, dozens of militants accused Lajst of making “apology for the genocide of the Palestinian people”.

“They weren’t there to protest because of what I was going to say, they were there to protest because of who I am. This is racism and antisemitism […] They say they are against ‘genocide’, the ‘apartheid’ and against ‘ethnic cleansing’. Me too. I never protected those ideas. There’s nothing about me defending these nefarious ideas”, but “they convince other people that they are there protesting someone who is racist. They called me a Nazi. I’m Jewish, my grandfather survived the holocaust and I’m a Nazi? Do I want my own death? This is ridiculous, it is a defamation,” said Lajst.

The teacher had to be escorted by police to get in and out of the venue safely. The demonstration did not prevent the lecture from being held, but ended up with a university employee injured and a militant arrested.

“Unfortunate. I was invited to speak about sustainable development at the Federal University of Amazonas and had to be escorted by the police because a group of anti-Semites wanted to violently prevent my ‘presence’. This hatred has to stop”, said the professor when commenting on what happened in a post on Twitter.

What does the University say?

In a note sent to the A Crítica portal, Ufam said that the lecture was promoted by the Faculty of Social Studies (FES) and that all (the units) have autonomy to offer content that they deem important for their students.

“This premise is based on the Statute of the Federal University of Amazonas, more precisely on its Article 4, which discusses the Purpose of the University as an institution that must cultivate knowledge in all fields of knowledge. In this article, it appears as Ufam’s mission ‘ encourage cultural creation and the development of reflective thinking, without discrimination of any kind'”, says an excerpt from the note.

reactions

StandWithUs Brasil, an educational institution chaired by professor André Lajst, issued a note of repudiation of “anti-Semitic and violent actions promoted by protesters from hate groups” during the lecture at Ufam.

“As an educational institution, we defend plurality and freedom of thought and expression in academic environments and higher education institutions. Trying to violently prevent an academic lecture is an attack against democratic principles, which becomes more serious when the reason is the speaker’s identity – by nationality, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. of the note.

The Israeli Confederation of Brazil (Conib) also condemned “the violence committed by protesters at the Federal University of Amazonas” and sympathized with the Ufam employee who was attacked by the militants.