Open letters calling to end cooperation with the Halle Jewish community organization on a counter-antisemitism project because they were ostensibly Zionist were posted at a German university repeatedly for a week, according to the Jewish Community of Halle (JG Halle), the State Association of Jewish Communities of Saxony-Anhalt (JG Saxony-Anhalt), and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle.
The anonymous letters had been posted on the art university campus since last Thursday, despite the administration reporting on Wednesday that the flyers were repeatedly removed. The letters accused Burg of supporting genocide by cooperating with JG Halle, and demanding that the group “be disinvited, that all collaborations with Israeli universities be ended, and that the Burg take a clear stance against apartheid and genocide.”
“There should definitely be a focus on protecting Jewish life, and confronting antisemitism is important,” read a copy of the letter published by JG Halle and JG Saxony-Anhalt on Monday. “However, we criticize the planned cooperation with a racist and Zionist organization.”
The letter accused JG Halle of publishing racist, violent, “problematic,” and disinformative content, as well as “Israeli propaganda.”
The Burg was called upon to cooperate with “suppressed” anti-Zionist groups and to cease treating Jews as a homogeneous and wholly Zionist demographic.
“A critical examination of Israel’s history and the narrative that allows Western powers to instrumentalize a religion to achieve colonial goals is needed,” read the letter. “Effectively combating antisemitism requires a clear distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, as well as education about the instrumentalization of religion and an understanding that Israel deliberately undermines this education. Giving a platform to people who spread fascist propaganda from an apartheid state has nothing to do with a culture of discussion.”
Jewish groups, university condemned the letter
The Burg and the Jewish community groups decried the letters as antisemitic, with JG Halle and JG Saxony-Anhalt further dismissing the allegations as low-quality propaganda and empty sloganeering. IT was ignorant to describe a community that had relatives who were murdered in the country by the Nazis. Accusing Jews of enabling genocide was a reversal of perpetrator-victim narratives, according to the Jewish groups.
“You write that Jews are not a ‘homogeneous group,’ only to demand in the next sentence that they cooperate exclusively with ‘anti-Zionist groups,’” the Jewish groups said in a Monday joint statement. “So you’re dividing Jews into ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable.’ Who gives you the right to decide who may speak for us?”
The Jewish groups charged that the letter-writers engaged in the demonization of a people with baseless accusations, in a similar capacity to the posters leading up to the Holocaust that “ended with violence, arson, and pogroms.”
“Under the guise of TikTok slogans, you are deliberately reversing terms. You are confusing cause and effect. You are making classic antisemitic statements as ‘decolonialism.’ You are selling the demand for exclusion and censorship as ‘a culture of discussion,’” said the Jewish groups. “If you desire a genuine dialogue, we are ready. However, if you choose the path of threats and slander, there will be no basis for conversation.”
Burg said that the content of the letter was “clearly antisemitic” and had no place on the campus.
“The Jewish community of Halle is an important part of the city’s society, and we, as a university community, maintain close contact with its members. It must not be made a proxy for political conflicts, publicly defamed, or forced out of the university community,” the university said on Wednesday.
The Israeli embassy in Berlin said on Tuesday that the letter had utility, in that it voiced a perspective that others kept to themselves – that they didn’t want any Jews at German universities.
“It’s always said that while all Israelis must disappear from the university, Jews are allowed to stay – as long as they reject Israel,” the Israeli diplomatic mission said on X/Twitter. “That’s naturally always a lie. Because the unleashed anti-Israel furor always targets all Jews. And the Jewish communities across the entire country are not prepared to categorically condemn the Jewish state as a precondition for any discussions.”
After alleged antisemitic exhibition installments at the art university, Berg and JG Halle had reportedly held dialogue sessions. The student council and Jewish community leadership hosted two meetings for students at the Halle synagogue, with a third meeting set later in May at the university.
“Both meetings took place in a friendly atmosphere and were very productive,” said the Jewish groups.
The Burg said that, in light of the calls to break ties with JG Halle, the synagogue visits and other activities would be redoubled.
“Precisely because the notice was directed against these very forms of exchange, it is important for us to defend them.”