Retsef Levi, Professor of Operations Management at MIT, and a former IDF intelligence official, is flagrantly abusing his power and using social media to spread misinformation, target students, incite violence, and create division within MIT’s community. 

1. On November 10th at 12:42 AM, Levi posted a defamatory letter written by MIT’s Israel Alliance (MITIA) with the sensational headline, “This is the reality that the MIT President wants to hide. A letter from Israeli & Jewish MIT students.” This same letter was emailed to MIT students with the subject line “Jews are scared.” As of November 11th, Professor Levi’s post has amassed 6.5 million views, and has made national headlines. 

The letter is what can only be described as an alternate reality account of a November 9th protest and sit-in organized by the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), a student group calling for an end to Israeli apartheid and an end to the MISTI-Israel Lockheed Martin Fund at MIT. 

In the tweet, MITIA and Professor Levi selectively construct a dangerous narrative that frames a group of counter-protestors as innocent victims, and MIT as a hostile environment for Jewish people. Videos captured by students prove that beginning at 8 AM, CAA and anti-war students gathered in MIT’s main lobby peacefully to protest and left ample empty space for egress. The counter protestors, however, who first arrived at around 9AM, came with the specific goal to harass the CAA and its allies. 

2. On November 9th at 4:04 PM, Professor Levi posted a video of the counter protestors holding Israeli flags and dancing in a circle around photos of Israeli victims, captioned “Proud of Jewish & Israeli students singing for peace in memory of the babies, children, women & men horrifically murdered by Hamas & those held hostages!”

 

 

He conveniently failed to post any documentation of what these same counter protestors did moments later. Using physical intimidation, filming without consent, and vulgar verbal abuse, the counter-protestors (whose identities are unknown thus far) physically assaulted and threatened to doxx White, Black, Brown, Jewish, and Muslim student protestors, accusing them of supporting rape and being members of Hamas. These counter protesters spared no one: even respected MIT faculty members— whose only crime was stopping in the lobby to check on students—were subjected to cameras and verbal abuse.

This culminated in a violent rampage by a male counter protester who assaulted several student protestors. Please watch the video. Are we supposed to believe that these are the actions of fearful victims? Truthfully, they read as the actions of ultranationalist extremists who feel emboldened by people like Professor Levi to act with impunity. It remains to be seen at what point the counter protestors felt “unsafe”…they showed up with a loudspeaker, projected graphic videos on a screen, snatched signs out of peoples hands, taunted women protestors with horrific threats like "you'll be raped by Hamas," called people "terrorists" and “self-hating Jews,” created a hostile and violent atmosphere, danced with their flags, shook hands with the MIT police, then immediately dispersed. This disgraceful behavior was met with a congratulatory post from Professor Levi and so far zero accountability from MIT. 

 

 

CAA, on the other hand, a group led by students of color, has been suspended from all non-academic activity on campus after an appalling hours-long bombardment by MIT police. The detailed events of the protest are summarized on a student's thread. 

Levi and MITIA do not have the moral authority to speak on behalf of all Jewish students at MIT. Their counter protest had about 10-15 participants, several of whom engaged in the dangerous behaviors listed above. Professor Levi invites and encourages violence, then spreads blatant disinformation to make the counter protestors look like victims. Here’s what a group of Jewish students had to say about the MITIA letter.

It gets worse:

3. On November 6th at 1:32 AM, Professor Levi posted a video vilifying the CAA, claiming they partook in “antisemite hate chanting & endorse Hamas unimaginable atrocities on Oct 7.” Nowhere in the video was there an endorsement of Hamas, this is yet another example in Professor Levi’s pattern of inflammatory lies.

 

 

In the same post Professor Levi publicly divulged the full name of the group’s student leader, and tagged billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. For reference, Ackman supported the cruel and shameful public doxxing of Harvard students a few weeks ago, an act which has been openly condemned by Harvard’s Jewish student group, Hillel.

In what world is it acceptable for a professor to post a video of a student on their social media without the student’s consent and with the explicit aim to subject the student to public scrutiny, harm, and prevent future employment? This is a heinous abuse of power and reckless endangerment of student safety. We are disgusted by Professor Levi's moral bankruptcy and MIT’s inability to protect students from dangerous individuals like himself posing as leaders and educators. He has got to GO!

4. On November 12th at 10:07 AM Professor Levi reshared a post by Elon Musk about a man who ripped down an American flag, which he captioned, “The ideology of the Iranian regime and its puppets Hamas and Hizbullagh sees Israel as the small Satan and the US as the big Satan…! Nobody will escape if they have power, including not moderate Muslims!”

 

 

His implication that Muslims are dangerous and his use of the problematic phrase, “moderate Muslims” is a textbook example of Islamophobia. 

Retsef Levi needs to be held accountable for his fear-mongering and flagrant misconduct. Professors should protect the safety of all students in their community; not just students who share their nationality and right-wing political views. There is no room for this brand of hatred and division at MIT. We demand that the Sloan School of Management terminate Professor Retsef Levi IMMEDIATELY! 

We cannot allow extremists like Professor Levi to divide us; we as a community need to come together, now more than ever, and demand justice, wherever there is injustice!

No, we are not exaggerating when we say these posts are just a tiny sampling of Professor Levi's deeply problematic twitter presence; we encourage you to check him out for yourself before he inevitably deletes his digital footprint.