Prof's Nazi-Israeli Comparison Stirs Uproar

Students, faculty defend instructor amid anti-Semitism charges
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2009 6:24 AM CDT
Prof's Nazi-Israeli Comparison Stirs Uproar
The campus of UC Santa Barbara, where a professor's email to students concerning the Holocaust and the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused an uproar.   (©doopokko)

A UC Santa Barbara professor's decision to send his students an email comparing graphic photographs of the Holocaust's Jewish victims to similar shots taken of Palestinians during the recent offensive in Gaza has caused an uproar. Many students and faculty members have expressed support for the professor, who is Jewish, but two national Jewish groups have accused him of anti-Semitism, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"Gaza is Israel's Warsaw—a vast concentration camp that confined and blockaded Palestinians," wrote William Robinson in his email to 80 sociology students, two of whom dropped the course in protest. Robinson called charges of anti-Semitism "the most absurd, baseless argument. That's like saying if I condemn the US government for the invasion of Iraq, I'm anti-American." The school has launched an investigation.
(More UC Santa Barbara stories.)

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