Technion University’s Offer Amid Campus Anti-Semitic Protests: “Safe Haven for Jewish Academics”

As anti-Israel protests and encampments spread across campuses nationwide, Israel’s leading technological university, Technion, has offered spots to faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduate students, and visiting research scholars who do not feel safe at their current institutions due to hostile rhetoric taking over campus demonstrations. The statement from Senior Executive Vice President Oded Rabinovitch was released on November 11, 2023 but has resurfaced with an altered date of April 26, 2024 as the Technion’s website does not list a corresponding announcement for that date. This development follows an escalation in anti-Jewish sentiments seen at protests since last year when a poll found that 65% of students from leading American Jewish fraternities and sororities felt unsafe on campus, with half hiding their identity out of fear following the terrorist attack in October 2023. Following this event, 73% now report feeling less safe as antisemitic incidents have risen by over 400%, according to an ADL study published last month (April). In a statement made shortly after releasing their offer, Technion President Uri Sivan explained that many Jewish and Israeli students and researchers are facing physical and verbal threats at universities in North America, Europe, and Australia due to the recent wave of anti-Jewish protests. Despite some presidents’ lukewarm responses from these institutions, MIT graduate student Talia Kahn has expressed her belief that this offer will be taken up by many individuals as a result of what she describes as “a Jewish brain drain going on at elite US universities.” She also raised concerns about the future technological innovation in America if some of its most gifted minds are being driven away due to antisemitism.