Antisemitism Echoes in MIT Halls
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the leadership of President Sally Kornbluth is under intense scrutiny amidst a growing crisis of antisemitism. Kornbluth, notably the only university president who testified before Congress in December 2023 and remains in her role, faces challenges in addressing the concerning rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment on campus.
In a striking testimony to Congress, Talia Khan, a Jewish graduate student and President of the MIT Israel Alliance, detailed a toxic atmosphere at MIT. Khan's account highlights a climate where a significant 70% of Jewish students reportedly feel compelled to hide their identities, indicative of the deep-seated issues of intolerance and fear on campus.
Amidst these developments, MIT, along with Harvard, Penn, and Cornell, faces a new House probe over campus antisemitism.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth
In early November, as anti-Israel protests heated up on campus and Jewish students felt more and more threatened, President Kornbluth feared the demonstration would get out of hand and “lead to violence.”
This led Kornbluth to declare that students who engaged in unsanctioned protests would face expulsion. On Nov. 9, students defied Kornbluth and held a protest at a campus location that specifically forbids demonstrations.
Afraid of the backlash, Kornbluth responded by backing down. Explusions would mean that foreign students would be deported. So instead, Kornbluth gave offending students a "non-academic suspension," essentially a non-punishment that allowed them to continue attending classes but forbid them from engaging in non-academic campus activities.
In a subsequent statement, Kornbluth specifically cited “visa concerns” for her about-face.
“There are roughly one million foreign-born students enrolled at American colleges and universities. At elite institutions like MIT, nearly a quarter of all students hail from another country. Keeping these students on campus is that one reason college administrators have opted not to punish students making anti-Semitic comments, even as Jewish students say they feel unsafe.” – Washington Free Beacon
MIT Professors and Faculty
Amidst the leadership of President Sally Kornbluth, MIT is facing a serious issue with several of its professors and faculty members, who have been actively involved in propagating antisemitic rhetoric. This worrying trend seems to have been overlooked by the administration, leading to a growing concern about the institutional response to such behavior.
Michel DeGraff
“one courageous question that might help break the Zionist genocidal propaganda machine: Was the Holocaust really truly a singular historical event — not to be compared with, say, the ongoing genocide in Gaza?” – Michel DeGraff, Instagram, Dec 23 2023
“Our call for Palestinian liberation is one for dignity and equality for all. It is for these reasons that we will always be proud to declare, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” – Michel DeGraff, Instagram, Dec 10 2023
DeGraff is listed as a professor of linguistics at MIT. Degraff's LinkedIn profile said he received a PhD in computer science and linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.
Nasser Rabbat
“Germany has a long bloody record of human rights abuses of course (Nazism…) so why is it again blinded by a supremacist ideology, Zionism, even if it is brandished by descendants of its Jewish victims?...” – Nasser Rabbat, Twitter, Oct 28 2023
Rabbat is listed as the professor and director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received a PhD in architecture, art, and environmental studies from MIT in 1991.
Afif Aqrabawi
Afif Aqrabawi is an MIT faculty member who spread anti-Semitism, called for Israel’s destruction and expressed hatred of Israel during a war against Hamas terrorists in late 2023.
“Zionism is a mental illness.”
Afif Aqrabawi, Twitter, Oct 25 2023
“Incredible how Western governments will gaslight their own populations to support Nazism, disguised as Israeli self-defense. God damn every one of you.”
Afif Aqrabawi, Twitter, Oct 10 2023
Aqrabawi is listed online as a postdoctoral associate at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. Aqrabawi is also listed online as a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Professor Susumu Tonegawa, director of the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics, an independent research institution supported by the Japanese government that is part of the Picower Institute.
MIT’s Coalition Against Apartheid (MIT CAA)
Amidst the mounting allegations of antisemitism at MIT, the university's Coalition Against Apartheid (MIT CAA) has emerged as a significant source of concern. MIT CAA is reportedly one of the main organizing groups in the Coalition for Palestine, comprised of 12 MIT student groups.
Presenting itself as a group 'in opposition to colonialism, occupation, and apartheid in Palestine and beyond,' MIT CAA has been instrumental in organizing numerous anti-Israel events. These activities, including a rally just two days after the horrific Hamas attacks on Israelis, have not only stoked the flames of division but also escalated fears among Jewish and Israeli students. The group’s rhetoric and actions, often veering into aggressive territory, have contributed significantly to a hostile and unsafe environment on campus.
On October 8th, 2023, just one day after Hamas carried out their atrocities on Israeli civilians, MIT CAA released a “Joint Statement on the Current Situation in Palestine.”
In their statement, MIT CAA stated that: “the Israeli regime responsible for all unfolding violence.” They went on to claim that “Any media narrative that does not acknowledge the occupation and the siege as the root cause is insidious and inaccurate.”
This intensifying situation at MIT reached a critical point when Jewish and Israeli students reported being physically barred from attending classes by CAA members. The group’s apparent harassment of Jewish staff and disruption of classes have been met with a concerning silence from the MIT administration. Such inaction has amplified the fears of Jewish students, many of whom now feel compelled to avoid central areas of the campus for their safety.
The administration's passive response to CAA’s blatant disregard for campus guidelines and the safety of Jewish students not only reveals a distressing tolerance for such behavior but also marks a failure to uphold the principles of a safe and inclusive academic environment. The events orchestrated by MIT CAA, especially on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, resonate as a grim reminder of history repeating itself, leaving Jewish students at MIT feeling marginalized and endangered.
MIT CAA have participated in more than 30 anti-Israel events between October 7, 2023, the date of the Hamas terror attack, and December 31, 2023.
Question for MIT:
Why does the Coalition Against Apartheid, the group responsible for spreading vicious antisemitism and lies about Israel on MIT's campus have an official MIT email address? Is this an endorsement by MIT of this discriminatory group?
Anti-Israel groups at Harvard and UPenn released similar statements placing the full blame of Hamas’ massacre on Israel.
MIT's Coalition Against Apartheid (MIT CAA): Activists
Safiyyah Ogundipe
As of November 2023, Ogundipe was reportedly the president of MIT CAA. In December 2023, she appeared [slide 1] in a photo on the group’s Instagram page, where she was in the center of the front row and wearing a white headscarf.
In an interview about an MIT CAA protest on November 9th 2023, Ogundipe reportedly said she encouraged others to stay even after the MIT administration said that protesters would be suspended for violating campus policies regarding the protest’s location.
As of January 2024, Ogundipe’s Instagram page and LinkedIn profile said she was active with MIT CAA.
Also as of January 2024, Ogundipe's LinkedIn profile said she was an undergraduate student in Chemical-Biological Engineering at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, slated to graduate in 2024. In November 2023, she was reportedly an MIT “senior studying mechanical engineering.”
Susanna Chen
Susanna Chen is a member of a MIT CAA. Chen is also reportedly an organizer with the Boston chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
On November 9, 2023, Chen participated [00:00:10] as a member of MIT CAA in an anti-Israel protest on the MIT campus. In an interview about the protest, Chen reportedly explained that the goal of the Coalition for Palestine was to “build a consensus that is willing to say ‘stop the genocide’ of the Palestinian people.” In the same article, the Coalition for Palestine was described as “a group of 12 student organizations.”
On November 17, 2023, Chen spoke [00:00:16] at an anti-Israel rally as an activist with the Boston chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which co-organized the rally. The rally was titled: “Shut It Down for Palestine.”
In her speech, Chen recounted that at the November 9, 2023 protest at MIT, the anti-Israel demonstrators disobeyed the university administration’s dispersion order. Chen then said [00:00:33]: “MIT, you cannot silence our voices to fight side-by-side with the people of Palestine for the right to live! We have the power, and we will build a future for the people and by the people!”
The rally, which took place at Boston’s South Station during the rush hour, caused detours of Boston’s subway system and several bus routes. PSL posted a video about the rally the next day, writing: “Racist, Zionist repression of students protesters will not succeed — it only makes the movement grow! 
On December 5, 2023, Chen led [00:00:01] the chants: “Free, free Palestine!” and [00:00:09]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” at a PSL-organized “emergency rally.”
As of January 1, 2024, Chen was listed online as a graduate student at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Austin Cole
Austin Cole is an activist with the MIT CAA. Cole is a graduate student at MIT.
At the MIT CAA rally on October 19, 2023, Cole delivered a speech titled “Stop the Genocide: MIT Emergency Rally,” where he made several controversial statements. Cole glorified the brutal Oct. 7th attack by Hamas:
“In 2023, the people of Gaza and the Palestinian resistance broke the prison door and now face a bombing and murder campaign that is apocalyptic in its scale and horror!”
YouTube: [00:05:32]
“We support the Palestinians’ just struggle for liberation 100%!”
YouTube: [00:01:43]
Cole's speech included leading a chant of “Free, Free Palestine!” and various assertions criticizing Israel, supporting Hamas, and linking the situation in Palestine to wider global struggles. He accused Israel of being a product of Western imperialism and called it a white supremacist settler colonial state. Furthermore, he condemned what he described as hypocritical attitudes towards Hamas and the IDF, accusing the latter of committing genocide.
Concluding his speech, Cole emphatically yelled, “Long live the intifada! Long live the resistance! Long live Palestine!”
Hannah Didehbani
Hannah Didehbani is an activist with MIT CAA.
She spoke at protest organizaed by MIT CAA on December 13th. Just one week earlier Didehbani signed MIT CAA's “Scientists Against Apartheid Pledge.” The document read: “We call on all [science] students and workers to withhold their labor from companies and research projects that are complicit in Israeli apartheid and the occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Signatories committed to neither work for, nor accept funding or research opportunities from, companies that did business with Israel.
At the December 13th Protest, Didehbani said [00:00:09]: “...we have continued to keep our efforts focused on the real issue: the genocide of the Palestinian people perpetuated by the Israeli government and fully funded by the United States with our tax dollars.”
As of January 2024, Didehbani was listed online as a fourth-year student at MIT in the Department of Physics, slated to graduate in 2024.
Alejandro Tanon Diaz
Alejandro Tañón Díaz is an organizer with MIT CAA.
Díaz featured in an MIT CAA Instagram video discussing the MIT administration’s opposition to the event and concluded [00:01:03]: “Stay tuned for more details. Until apartheid falls!”
As of January 2024, Díaz’s biography on his fraternity’s website said he was slated to graduate from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2025.
