Jeffrey Lax, a 47-year-old Jewish professor of business at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, was appalled by a recent 83-34 vote by the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York on a June 10 resolution condemning "the continued subjugation of Palestinians to the state-supported displacement, occupation, and use of lethal force by Israel" and "racism in all its forms including antisemitism, and recognizes that criticisms of Israel, a diverse nation-state, are not inherently antisemitic."
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The resolution, which made no mention of the Hamas terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, also referred to Israel as an apartheid state.
"Whoever wrote this was not very intelligent," Lax told JNS in a phone interview. "You can't have it both ways. If Israel is an apartheid state, how can it also be a diverse nation-state? It's clearly an antisemitic trope to call it an apartheid state. Do they not know that there are Arabs in the government? They serve on the Supreme Court and make up 20% of the population. It's absurd. Facts matter."
Lax, who is also an attorney, said he plans to quit the union because he does not want his money to go to Jew-hatred. He said union dues are about 1% of his salary. He said he had written to PSC President James Davis and made it clear that just because a resolution says it is not antisemitic does not make it so. Lax said the resolution also seeks to put an end to American financial support for Israel, a move tantamount to divestment from Israel, one of the stated goals of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement.
Lax said it was embarrassing to see educators who are so uneducated.
"It's downright antisemitic that the resolution completely failed to mention that Hamas rockets were fired down at Israeli civilians," Lax said. "This was a month ago, not years ago. Did they forget? This was a reaction to the fighting in Israel. That Palestinians died is a terrible tragedy, of course, but you can't ignore the actions of Hamas. It took place. It's a fact. You can't just choose to ignore it and expect that you are doing something honorable. It's nonsensical."
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Noting the union has a history of antisemitism, Lax said the vote did not surprise him. He said he believes more than 55 other union members have also resigned as a result of the vote.
"I don't want my money to go to foster antisemitism," said Lax. "It's absurd."
He said the decision to insert the term antisemitism did not address the real conflict and was only used as a facade or childish attempt to make it appear as though the resolution was not in fact antisemitic.
Lax, an Orthodox Jew, said he had filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after learning that Orthodox or Zionist professors had been singled out for exclusion from the Progressive Faculty Caucus at his college and was vindicated on all counts in a ruling about four or five months ago. In addition, under investigation, other members admitted that they purposely planned meetings on Friday night so Lax would not be able to attend.
"It was very stupid of them to admit it," said Lax. "I don't know why they admitted it, but they did."
He said he was disappointed the union had not taken any measures to rebuke his colleagues despite their ill-treatment of him. While Lax said his job was secure, he did not always feel like he was.
"I'm not afraid of being fired. I don't think that will happen," he said. "But I've been harassed. I was once surrounded by five union members. I was trying to leave, and a guy put his hand above my head. He said, 'No, we're just getting started.' So they've been very threatening to me."
'People are angry about this'
Lax said union members should be embarrassed the resolution made no mention of the 10 Israeli civilians killed in the fighting or Jewish Americans who were under attack on the streets of New York City.
Part of the problem, he noted, was fellow Jewish teachers.
"There are definitely Jewish professors who voted for this," he said. "I'm not surprised by it. You don't have to be not-Jewish to be antisemitic. There are plenty of secular Jews who hate religious Jews. There are plenty of non-Zionist Jews who hate Zionist Jews. No matter what stream you follow, that doesn't give you the right or a shield to discriminate against others. It's just wrong."
He said the delegates were wrong to not further discuss the vote with the union's 25,000 members.
"It's a matter of respect," he said. "They purport to represent the entire union, and this was a very controversial resolution, and I don't think they represent the union. People are angry about this, as well they should be. I'm angry about this because you don't make a decision like this without properly discussing it first."
Lax said he hoped that people could become more educated about the situation in general and the Middle East in particular. He also expressed alarm over growing antisemitism.
He said: "It's sad that people are saying these things in 2021. I only hope people do some research to see how foolish this resolution was. My hope is that other unions across the country do not follow suit."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
