McCarthyism in Israel: Left-wing professors targeted

A fascist Israeli organization announced Tuesday, May 14, that it has launched a new website listing Israeli university professors and lecturers who are “anti-Zionist and Leftists” and inviting students to file complaints about teachers who “preach anti-Israel rhetoric.”

The Im Tirzu movement said the McCarthyite website, “Know Your Professor,” already lists 85 academics, among them members of the left-wing electoral coalition Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel, whom it alleges are involved in activity such as promoting boycotts against Israel or accusing the Israel military of war crimes.

The “Know Your Professor” website includes a form that allows users to file complaints about “anti-Zionist professors and cases of anti-Zionism in academia.”

Im Tirzu says it is active on campuses to “protect Zionism when it comes under attack within Israel.” The new website was harshly criticized by Israel’s Committee of University Heads, which said Im Tirzu was “continuing a witch hunt run by extremist political organizations serving cynical political interests.”

“We must immediately stop the system of denunciations and intimidation,” the committee said, warning that the site would damage Israel’s reputation. “In universities in a democratic state, lecturers and students should not be afraid to talk, ask questions, and question [governmental policies]” it said.

Communist Party of Israel