Several antisemitic incidents related to the University of Michigan have made headlines over the past few years, including fake bloody corpses that were placed in an elected university board member's yard and spray paint on the home of then school president Santa Ono.
Now, federal prosecutors have charged eight pro-Palestine activists with conspiracy to transmit threats through interstate commerce, reports Associated Press. According to an unsealed indictment, the activists are accused of conspiring to get university officials to cut financial ties to Israel by running a criminal intimidation campaign.
Not only have they threatened and vandalized the homes of several officials and other businesses, but they also targeted the Jewish Federation of Detroit.
Protestors showed up outside the courthouse where the hearing took place, with dozens of people dawning Palestinian flags. One person had a sign saying to drop the charges against the activists.
Many times, these activists will claim that they are just using their right to free speech to commit these acts.
Miriam Fischer-Vidal, the director of communities and social media for Herut North America, doesn't see it that way.
“Free speech ends when you do something physical or threaten physical violence, and that's what they did,” Fischer-Vidal states.
Fischer-Vidal says that criticisms of the Israeli government can be free speech, depending on the intent of one's criticisms. She says it becomes antisemitism once one begins spreading lies about the government.
She also says that something colleges, particularly private institutions, can do to crack down on these attacks is to not let nonstudents come onto the campus and instigate.
“Stop letting outside instigators on (campus). Would you let an outside instigator in your child's high school or even your child's middle school? You wouldn't let that happen. If you don't belong on the property you don't belong on the property,” Fischer-Vidal states.
