On July 31, 2017, SJP founder and UC Berkeley Professor, Dr Hatem Bazian re-tweeted a meme from an infamous Twitter bigot and anti-Semite, Ron Hughes – an account that Bazian also Follows.
The meme was a classic anti-Semitic attack on Jews and Judaism.
The tweet accused a “Zionist” Twitter user of supporting “apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide” and theft of “Palestinian land+resources+body-organs.”
The meme itself showed an image of a purportedly Jewish man with the words “MOM LOOK! I IS CHOSEN! I CAN NOW KILL, RAPE, SMUGGLE ORGANS & AND STEAL THE LAND OF PALESTINIANS *YAY* ASHKE-NAZI”
The meme included another image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wearing a yarmulke (skull-cap) along with the words “101 JUDAISM WE TEACH IT”, “GOD CHOSE ME” and “I JUST CONVERTED ALL OF NORTH KOREA TO JUDAISM….DONALD TLUMP: NOW MY NUKES ARE LEGAL & I CAN ANNEX SOUTH KOREA & YOU NEED TO START PAYING ME $34 BILLION A YEAR IN WELFARE”
With even the briefest of looks at the Hughes account, one can see many many more examples of similarly bigoted memes and attacks:
- https://twitter.com/wherepond/status/922525492183535616
- https://twitter.com/wherepond/status/924555427198722049
On August 29, 2017, Canary Mission first brought to Bazian’s attention that he had retweeted a repulsive anti-Semitic meme. Since then, Canary Mission brought it to his attention a four more times.
- Date: August 30, 2017
- Date: November 6, 2017
- Date: November 12, 2017
- Date: November 16, 2017
For three months he ignored the issue. After our latest attempt, Bazian issued a confusing and rambling apology, (Nov 21, 2017). At first Bazian seems to genuinely apologize stating “I do sincerely apologize for re-sending it… [it] does not represent my views.” Bazian goes on to proclaim that he retweeted “without giving it much thought,” arguing he was distracted because he was abroad in Spain and France. Of course this is already a tenuous excuse (especially since he follows Mr Hughes).
If someone was possibly considering giving Bazian the benefit of the doubt, they would be hard pressed to explain away the rest of his ‘apology’.
He proclaims “my issue is with Zionism, a settler colonial movement…not with Judaism or Jews, as diverse communities” This is a repetition of Bazian’s well documented view that Jews have no right to self-determination, and can only exist as “diverse communities” in the diaspora.
https://twitter.com/HatemBazian/status/890248299873271809
In his ‘apology’ for his anti-Semitism, Bazian is spreading his own definition of Judaism – bereft of its religious and historical connection to Israel.
Given that almost half of world Jewry live in the State of Israel, his suggestion that Jews should merely live “as diverse communities” is itself a deeply anti-Semitic attack.
We draw your attention to the following videos which detail further examples of Bazian’s anti-Semitism and bigotry.
