Dear president Englert, students, and faculty of Temple University,

We, Students for Justice in Palestine representing the Palestinian students and our partners in joint struggle, are writing this letter to express our disappointment at the recent statement issued regarding the escalating violence in Palestine-Gaza, and the occupied territories of the West Bank. We chose this institution as our academic home due to its rich diversity and deep ties to the community we proudly call our own. However, the university’s response to recent events, particularly the past week, have revealed a different reality. You have presented a one-sided perspective showing solidarity and concern only for Israel with no acknowledgment of the ongoing and historical suffering and death of Palestinians.  

The recently issued statement by President Englert, condoning violence in Israel, was incredibly saddening and disappointing to read. Palestinians who have been resisting the 75 years of land occupation, oppression, murder, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid, including some of our own family members and friends have been referred to as terrorists. This is an unbalanced and biased stance that is harmful to the institution’s reputation and, more importantly, its numerous students and faculty. You have placed a target on the backs of Palestinian students at your school, for we face smear campaigns, doxing, and the distortion of our narratives to portray us as terrorists.

For decades, those of us in the academic and activist community who have openly criticized Zionism have had to face relentless harassment, threats to our safety, nonsensical accusations of antisemitism, and have had our careers and academic pursuits threatened. Your statements enable those inside and outside our community to continue these attacks—attacks that are now emboldened by your recent careless and dangerous rhetoric. Many of the Palestinians at Temple University are first generation students of immigrant parents who were forced off their homes and sought asylum from  the Zionist entity. This past week, it feels as though that very occupation has followed us here, continuing to weigh heavily on our lives and making it seem as if the First Amendment applies to everyone in this country except us.

In the past week, your Palestinian students have not felt safe at Temple. We are grappling with trauma, watching the terror unfolding against our loved ones back home. Over 4,200 Palestinian including 1,500+ children have been brutally killed and 12,000+ are injured so far in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. Earlier today, Israel committed a massacre by bombing a hospital in Gaza and killing over 500 Palestinian civilians. The Israeli Occupation Forces has also been carrying countless raids and attacks on different parts of the West Bank. Killing and imprisoning Palestinian civilians who choose to resist the injustice and occupation they are living under.

Your statement, however, did not acknowledge those innocent lives that are being taken, you failed to even use the word Palestine. We acknowledge the ongoing dehumanization and erasure of Palestinian identity, and your statement provided clear evidence that you do not regard Palestinian students as equals within this institution.

We wish to convey that this institution has turned its back on us. We feel hurt, abandoned, and overlooked by a university that prides itself on its diverse student body. It appears that the voices of our oppressors are being given precedence over ours. To focus only on the loss of Israeli lives whilst failing to condemn the attacks on Palestinians is extremely harmful and further dehumanizing to Palestinians. It shows that Temple University is clearly not supporting its Palestinian students and faculty equally and is sending a clear message that their grief for loved ones does not matter.

As students of this institution, we want to make it clear that we will not tolerate the wording used by President Englert and his failure to equally recognize the Palestinian students on campus. The strength of a diverse community lies in its ability to embrace all its members, and we ask that you stand in solidarity with us, demonstrating your commitment to the principles of justice, equality, and inclusion.We call on our university to reject the colonial narratives and to not heed the Zionist pressure to conform. 

We demand that you stick to the principles of integrity and truth that supposedly governs academia and not continue to uplift the dehumanization and ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians. We ask that in lieu of the recent biased statements, you also issue a statement affirming the pain and suffering of the Palestinians, who have been called “human animals” by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. These humans, who are being indiscriminately bombed by Israel at this very moment, are also worthy of your outrage.

Sincerely,

Temple students, alumni, and allies. 

 

 

Please sign the petition, then copy and paste the above letter and email it to: 

president@temple.edu 

stephen.orbanek@temple.edu

 deirdre.hopkins@temple.edu

trustees@temple.edu

secretary@temple.edu

gfrager@temple.edu 

Read the latest statement from president Englert