‘Jew-Hating’ Asian American Studies Program Exposed at Northwestern University

Defending Hamas’ butchery and partnering with Students for Justice in Palestine.

By Sara Dogan, Front Page Magazine

Since the barbaric Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7th, American universities have become an undeniable locus of Jew hatred within our nation. Much attention has deservedly been paid to the radical campus groups like Students for Justice in Palestine who call for the genocide of the Jews and cheer the terrorists of Hamas. What has received less attention—but should in fact rank as the universities’ worst offense—is the Jew hatred promoted by official departments and institutes of the universities themselves. In the case of our campuses, Jew hatred is “the call coming from inside the house.”

The Freedom Center is exposing these academic institutes and programs as “The Top Ten Jew-Hating Academic Departments” in a new report. We will be publishing one school per day as a series on Frontpage. Northwestern University’s Asian American Studies Program came in at #10 on our list.

The Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University has repeatedly used university resources and official communications channels to promote Jew hatred and condone Hamas’s actions against Israel and its Jewish citizens.

Roughly a week after the barbaric October 7th Hamas massacre of over 1200 Israeli civilians, the Asian American Studies Program (AASP) published a statement on the official department website and reproduced it on the official department Instagram page. Rather than condemning Hamas’s brutality and the innocent loss of Jewish lives in Israel, AASP instead decried “Islamophobia” on campus and chastised the Northwestern University administration for their “silence at the loss of life in Palestine.”

The statement blatantly whitewashed the atrocious actions of Hamas, claiming that “On October 7, 2023, Hamas, the political group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, attacked Israel. Israel subsequently declared war, marking the latest in a long line of armed struggles between the two nations since their formation in 1947-48.” No mention was made of the sheer brutality of Hamas’s actions—raping women, slaughtering children, mutilating civilians both before and after death. In fact, AASP mocked reports that Hamas beheaded babies as “baseless claims [that] are meant to incite hate against Palestine and equate supporting Palestinian civilians with antisemitism.”

Showing almost no concern for the Israeli victims of October 7th, and the citizens of Israel threatened by Hamas’s intended genocide, AASP instead chose to demonize and delegitimize the world’s only Jewish state, referring to Gaza as the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” and blaming the “civilian death toll” in Gaza solely on Israel—rather than on Hamas who started the war by attacking civilians and taking hostages and who then used Palestinian civilians as human shields.

The Asian American Studies Program also critiqued the “visible Islamophobia expressed in pro-Israel posters on NU’s campus falsely claiming that ‘Hamas is ISIS.’” Notably, the Program did not explain why they felt that comparison to be inaccurate or Islamophobic. Both organizations are Islamist terrorist groups known for their brutal treatment of women and ethnic minorities. The comparison seems apt.

Lest the message of support for Hamas and its aims was not clear enough, the Program statement went on to clarify that “The Asian American Studies program stands in solidarity with Palestinians, Arab Americans, the SWANA diaspora, and victims of Islamophobia worldwide.”

“As Ethnic Studies scholars, we are pro-Palestine and against antisemitism because we understand that all systems of oppression reinforce one another, and none can be fought in isolation,” continued the statement. “Islamophobia and antisemitism must both be eradicated if we are to live without violence. We offer our program as a haven for those who support or are Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, SWANA diaspora, and anyone experiencing Islamophobia at NU who seeks a safe space.”

It is notable that the statement condemns both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, but offers only those experiencing Islamophobia or those of Palestinian or Arab origin, a “haven” and a “safe space” within their program. No Jews need apply.

The Asian American Studies Program has also promoted Jew hatred by partnering with the Hamas-funded campus hate group Students for Justice in Palestine to hold a “Teach-In About Palestine” on campus. Held on November 7, just a month after Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians, the event description claimed it would concern “Palestinian liberation and building solidarity with other liberation movements, and what action we can take to support Palestine in this moment.” Northwestern University’s chapter of SJP proudly declares the genocidal slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free” on its social media accounts and demands “The complete Northwestern boycott, divestment, and sanctioning of Israel’s apartheid and genocide,” thus demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state.

That the Asian American Studies Program saw fit to partner with an organization clearly known for its promotion of Hamas and its anti-Semitic rhetoric illustrates the lack of academic standards and rampant Jew hatred promoted by the Program. It is abundantly deserving of its place on the list of the worst Jew-hating academic departments.