
Gottheimer calls on Rutgers University to protect students and remove antisemitic, anti-Israel speakers from Dec. 7 event
NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) Monday wrote to Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, calling on him to take action in response to the University’s inclusion of antisemitic, anti-Israel, and hate-filled upcoming guest speakers Marc Lamont Hill and Nick Estes at a Rutgers-sponsored event on Dec. 7 entitled “Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill.”
Marc Lamont Hill:
- Is a former CNN commentator who was dismissed from the network following unacceptable statements denying Israel’s right to exist.
- At a 2018 United Nations gathering, Marc Lamont Hill delivered a speech calling to free Palestine “from the river to the sea,” words that mean the destruction of the State of Israel and the elimination of the Jewish people.
- Another former employer, Temple University, condemned Marc Lamont Hill’s speech, and was “regard[ed] as promoting violence” against Jews with language “that threaten[ed] the existence of the State of Israel.”
- Marc Lamont Hill’s remarks have been labeled by prominent local and national Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), as “virulent anti- Semitism and hate speech.”
Nick Estes:
- Has openly denounced the right of the State of Israel to exist, and has questioned Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel, labeling Israelis “Zionist settlers.”
- According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Estes openly spreads long-standing troupes of antisemitism regularly “injecting the bigotry and antisemitic conspiracy theories into the discourse on the conflict.”
Gottheimer recently wrote to the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, regarding the University’s decision to host two well-known antisemitic and anti-Israel speakers — singer Roger Waters and former news commentator Marc Lamont Hill — at a University-sponsored Palestinian literature and culture festival this September.