Andrew Pessin, a philosophy professor at Connecticut College, is the only Jewish member of the faculty that regularly speaks up in support of Israel and has become the target of a well-organized anti-Semitic smear campaign by anti-Israel activists. United with Israel is helping him gain support by sending hundreds of people to sign his online petition. 

BACKGROUND

Andrew Pessin is a philosophy professor at Connecticut College, a private liberal arts institution located in New London. Pessin, who is the only Jewish member of the faculty that regularly speaks up in support of Israel, became the target of a well-organized anti-Semitic smear campaign by anti-Israel activists.

A former student of Pessin’s, Lamiya Khandaker, sent him an email this past February complaining about a Facebook post from the previous August in which he used the metaphor of a rabid pit bull to describe Hamas in Gaza. Khandaker, a Bangladeshi anti-Israel activist and founder of her former high school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, misinterpreting the post, decided it was racist and has since launched a campaign against Pessin even though he has since apologized in print and deleted the post.

UPDATE

United with Israel’s Call to Action, which remains ongoing, resulted in thousands of people signing the United with Israel online petition.

Many UWI supporters expressed their anger on their Facebook pages and on Twitter. Others wrote directly to Katherine Bergeron, the president of Connecticut College protesting the administration’s biased treatment of Professor Pessin in this controversy, essentially siding with the offending student and her peers.

Professor Pessin was so moved by the support he received that resulted directly from the United with Israel Call to Action, that he wrote to UWI Executive Director David Zeit saying, “Just wanted to thank you for that shout-out you gave me recently — it was really incredibly appreciated –:-)… Best, Andrew.”

Click here to view more of United with Israel’s calls to action.

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