The leader of a camp on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus is urging the school to divest from Israel and criticizing the media for suggesting that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism.
Zeno, a graduate student at MIT, spoke to Fox News Digital at the camp, which has been operating since April 21 on the Kresge Auditorium lawn. SAGE has sent a clear message to the University of Cambridge: End all research contracts sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
“Now that we know Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, we don’t want our students’ intellectual prowess used for killer drone research,” Zeno said, standing in front of a giant “liberated areas” sign.
The camp claims that MIT has received more than $11 million in research funding from the Israeli Defense Ministry since 2015, which has “material benefits” for the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), which anti-Israel voices deride.
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Zeno, a graduate student at MIT and a disabled military veteran, said protesters are calling for the school to divest funding from the Israeli Defense Ministry. (Nicholas Lannum/Fox News Digital)
It is said that one of the projects funded by MIT is an “autonomous robot swarm”. The group fears the measure could increase the ability of drones to track moving targets, whether Gaza citizens or U.S. protesters. This topic is of great concern to Zeno, a disabled Air Force veteran who currently serves as an organizer for Graduates of Palestine.
When asked to comment on the camp’s claims, MIT told Fox News Digital that it strongly supports the principles of academic freedom, which allows faculty to collaborate with a broad range of partners in the pursuit of knowledge.
They also cited a statement from MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who said: “I will not compromise the academic freedom of our faculty in any area of study. Our faculty represent a broad range of viewpoints at an institution dedicated to broadening our Students think, faculty regularly collaborate with colleagues around the world, including in Israel, and all sponsored research on our campus is openly shareable, publishable, and freely available to researchers around the world.
Zeno said that more than 70% of graduate student union members called for a ceasefire and complete divestment of “IOF”.
Before the camp was set up, students held teach-ins, protests and educational events to raise awareness. Zeno said the rows of tents were erected in solidarity with Columbia and to send a signal to MIT’s administration.
“Not taking action is deeply unethical and I believe our government is complicit in this genocide and clearly has not demonstrated a proper moral compass and it is up to us to guide them. If they do not have a moral compass, we will provide for them Provide a moral compass.
He claimed that the camp received strong support from teachers and classmates. Some professors even came to set up their own tents.
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Posters made by camp members were taped to the gates at the edge of the Kresge Auditorium lawn. (Nicholas Lannum/Fox News Digital)
An anonymous group of MIT faculty recently asked Kornbluth and other administrators to allow the camp to remain on campus.
“We’re building a beautiful community around this sport, and it’s a deeply intersectional community,” Zeno said.
Senior leaders at MIT disagree. “This particular form of expression needs to end as soon as possible,” Kornbluth said of the encampment on Saturday. She also claimed the protesters violated school policy.
She acknowledged that the protests were peaceful, but some students believed some of the chants were calls for Israel’s annihilation.
Her remarks came after hundreds of protesters were arrested at Emerson College and Northeastern University, two other schools in Massachusetts.
High-profile encampments at Columbia University also resulted in student suspensions and arrests.
By comparison, the MIT camp was relatively quiet, with students ordering pizza and playing football. Some students painted paintings and hung signs accusing MIT of complicity in war crimes.
Zeno dismissed claims of anti-Semitism in his organization and said one of the largest parts of their alliance is the Jewish Ceasefire organization.
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Since April 21, tents have been set up on the MIT campus. (Nicholas Lannum/Fox News Digital)
Zeno said he and other pro-Palestinian students recently attended a Passover seder with other Jews on campus.
Zeno added: “Since I organized Palestine Solidarity, I have learned more about Jewish culture and gained a deeper appreciation for Jewish culture.”
The MIT graduate student emphasized that the MIT protesters had disagreements not with Jewish students but with Zionist students, pointing to a sign that read “anti-Zionist and It does not amount to anti-Semitism.”
Eight in 10 American Jews say caring about Israel is “an important part of being Jewish for them,” according to the Pew Research Center.
The Anti-Defamation League says anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism “that, in intent or effect, because it invokes anti-Semitic tropes, is used to disempower, demonize, disparage, or punish all Jews and/or those associated with Israel. People of Contact,” equating Zionism with Nazism and other genocidal regimes, and making Jews less worthy of sovereignty and statehood than other peoples and nations. “
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“We have the right to criticize the state of Israel, which American taxpayers pay $4 billion a year. I’m a veteran and I can’t even get health care, while Israel pays the full cost of health care with our tax dollars .
“We are allowed to criticize another country. This is not anti-Semitism,” he continued. “Like I said, some of my best friends here are Jewish. This has nothing to do with anti-Semitism and the media needs to stop being dishonest and trying to conflate the two. All you are doing there is pushing Israeli propaganda, which is It is unacceptable and unethical for the media to continue to do this.
