‘HARDCORE JEW HATER’: U Minnesota TA who said ‘Israelis have to be bombed’ will talk at Minneapolis Federation of Teachers event
Herzallah said that Israel is ‘an illegitimate creation born from colonialism and racism.’
Herzallah, who has been described as a ‘hardcore Jew hater,’ responded to opposition by saying: ‘It's very convenient for people to paint me, an Arab Muslim man with a beard, as this rabid antisemite.’
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers is planning to host a discussion with a speaker who has repeatedly made aggressive anti-Israel statements, including saying that “Israelis have to be bombed” and that Jews are “enemy number one.”
Taher Herzallah, a teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota, was invited to speak Friday by the Federation about “being an educator in a time of war & genocide,” according to Jewish Insider.
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Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist massacre against Jewish civilians, Herzallah took the opportunity to bash Israel’s Jewish and Christian supporters, saying: “Anybody who has any relationship or any support or identifies themself as a Jewish person or a Christian Zionist, then we shall not be their friend. I will tell you that they are enemy number one,” wrote CBS.
He also previously said that “[t]he State of Israel is a lie,” and that “Israelis have to be bombed, they are a threat to the legitimacy of Palestine, and it is wrong to maintain the State of Israel. . . It is an illegitimate creation born from colonialism and racism,” according to Jewish Insider.
Ethan Roberts, a leader with the Minnesota JCRC, told Jewish Insider that Herzallah is a “hardcore Jew hater” who is “notorious in orchestrating Jew hatred on college campuses.”
Herzallah’s planned appearance has drawn widespread opposition from those opposed to his aggressive anti-Jewish statements, Jewish Insider wrote. Herzallah himself, however, denies charges of anti-Semitism and seemed to imply criticism of him is motivated by racism.
“It’s very convenient for people to paint me, an Arab Muslim man with a beard, as this rabid antisemite,” he said, as seen on CBS.
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Besides his role as a teaching assistant, Herzallah also works as Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a controversial group that “holds suspected ties to designated terrorist organizations,” as stated in a letter from Congressman Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Herzallah was arrested several times during anti-Israel protests.
Campus Reform has reached out to Taher Herzallah and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
