The Hillel organization at Princeton University, which invited Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely to lecture to students, abruptly canceled the lecture at the last minute.
The lecture, which was supposed to take place on Monday, was canceled without justification in the morning, hours before it was to take place, following pressure by the Alliance of Jewish Progressives.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely sent a sharply worded letter to the organization that canceled the lecture, but has decided to give the lecture despite the cancellation. Chabad House will host Hotovely in Princeton instead.
Hotovely said that “the cancellation of my lecture at Princeton attests to a deep and profound crisis of values. A liberal dictatorship is being conducted that actually prevents American students from hearing an official representative of the Israeli government.”
“The reality in which a variety of opinions is not permitted to be heard on campus is a fatal blow to academic freedom and a violation of freedom of thought. Instead of giving the young American an opportunity to hear a variety of opinions, a narrow mindset prevents him from doing so,” added the deputy minister.
Hotovely is currently on a tour of prestigious U.S. university campuses for the purpose of fighting anti-Israel propaganda and the spreading of lies about the State of Israel.
She has already lectured at Columbia University, and is scheduled to speak at New York University on Tuesday.
“I call on all MKs, past and present, left and right, not to accept any invitation to speak at that Hillel,” he told The Times of Israel….“We argue that we have to boycott the boycotters, that there’s a price to be paid for people boycotting Israel. And the same things holds true for Hillels at universities or universities themselves.”
How does one make a mistaken cancellation? Cancellations are made by people, not robots.
I believe that Hillel, as an organization, was not trying to silence the Israeli representative. I do think, however, that they were trying to avoid a confrontation with the pro BDS, progressive students. (Personally I view these students and others of their ilk as ” regressive/repressive”, not progressive.)
In any case, the heads of Princeton Hillel made a bad choice, more people than they had anticipated found out about it, and now they have to face the music. Tough.
Head of Princeton University Hillel says cancellation of Deputy FM’s speech was a mistake, Hillel was not seeking to ‘silence’ Hotove
From my experience Hillel is ineffective on campus. For instance, during the slanderous BDS apartheid week this year at UCLA, a huge apartheid wall of lies was erected by SJP. What did Hillel do? They sat at a little table and handed out cookies and brochures. Not one Hillel member counter protested the lies and distortions being diseminated. In addition they scheduled a pro Israel speaker and barely publicized it. Hillel needs new leadership and most of all, a backbone.
love your comment. every line reflects calm, collected incontrovertible thinking. nobody is saying that hillel is a bad organization. what’s being said is that they made a bad choice when they cancelled a scheduled speaker simply because she doesn’t reflect the thinking of some of their “progressive” students. (they should have thought about that before scheduling her apppearance if they find her so offensive.) chabad on campus viewed the cancellation as offensive and sought to rectify the situation. had chabad done something that this hillel fan didn’t like and hillel stepped in to rectify the situation #3 would be singing… Read more »
To all those who got all offended on behalf of Hillel and defended it so: Why did they cancel her? What did she do to deserve to be cancelled?
(Hint: The answer is by being too pro-Isreal)
Title is correct
You don’t have to agree with speaker’s position or point of view
However to censor free open debate in a university setting is dispicable
Especially places of learning have to open to the flow of diverse ideas
Voltaire and all that !!!
Typo sorry
Government
#1 That is like saying that if a Jihadist attacks someone shouting Allahu Ackbar, that it was just “some guy who had an argument with some other person”. Try and play it down all you want, but most of us see the underlying reason and the left wing politics, behind it. #2 You should read the post by #10 to see why you are wrong. #3 This is not about ‘diversity’, you are making a strawman argument. It’s about a supposedly Jewish organization, giving into liberal pressure groups, that are clearly, anti Jewish. It’s also not about (constitutionally protected) ‘freedom… Read more »
You sound angry, but your anger is misdirected. It should be directed at Hillel at Princeton, for caving in to anti-Israel pressure by the same people who advocate for BDS. This cancellation is shameful, harmful and disgusting. Its a poor reflection of Hillel’s values and its esteem for basic democracy. In other words, its a huge fail on Hillel’s part. Hillel has done a monumental job for Judaism and Israel. However, if this Princeton event is a harbinger of things to come, it is bad news for Hillel on many levels. If Hillel bends against its own raison d’etre and… Read more »
First Amendment only applies to givenernment not to private
Let’s all not over dramatize in either direction. 1. It is a story that hillel at Princeton canceled a right winger. 2. It is not indicative of hillel all over the world, which does a lot of Israel advocacy 3. I think we should settle down about chabads diversity of opinions, And freedom of speech. We would never invite someone we (Torah) don’t agree with and theres no first amendment right at a jewish organization. If you want to highlight the disrespect of the love chapter towards a Knesset member and by extension Israel by canceling last minute, great. There… Read more »
Chabad inviting leaders of the zionist state to speak about the State? oy vey.. since when is chabad Zionist and mixing into politics.
“Hillel spends millions of dollars and millions of hours teaching israel advocacy to the next generation of young Jews. They are an amazing organization.”
Partying in Tel Aviv doesn’t help Judaism, and it doesn’t help Israel. Neither does cancelling center-right speakers. Now, davening and Shabbos meals, that helps Judaism and Israel. You’re got your priorities backwards, my good friend.
Really? Have you just been smoking or what? You unfortunately remind me of the MO of HRC, and that is make statements with a sincere face as if they are factual i.e. lie lie lie and maybe people will believe you, but no, it all at the end becomes known for what it truly is…..
There is no organization in the world more pro Israel than Chabad. Chabad has always been loyal to the integrity of Israel’s borders and refusing to justify even relinquishing an inch away of our land to the nearby enemy states or peoples. Nothing can be more pro Israel than perpetuating Judaism because Israel and Judaism are joined by the hip, and Judaism is something Chabad tends to champion above all else. Having a blue and white flag in a building lobby is cheap easy pride, ironically something that you see less and less of at Hillel. Having a Kippa on… Read more »
How can someone or some Group call oneself liberal when behaves like an alt-left fundamentalist? Thís is a very dangerous cognitive plague!
Do your research.
I give you the benefit of the doubt because I am assuming you do not have your facts straight.
I daven to Hashem that He will give you clarity.
Not everything has to be looked at as competition the head of Hillel said that chabad is not a competition to them but because of the rebbe that’s why he’s still involved than definitely we don’t have to look at them as competitors
we should let an actual israeli, MK Hatovely, be the judge of that.
THis is hilarious. Hillel does more pro Israel work on a single day than Chabad does all year. Please. Hillel spends millions of dollars and millions of hours teaching israel advocacy to the next generation of young Jews. They are an amazing organization.
When an Israeli speaker is canceled on any campus for political reasons it IS in fact newsworthy. Once the news is being reported they are then expected to provide the details.
reading the article one sees that the quotes are from the speaker whose lecture was cancelled. Hillel may certainly provide services for students,but if,as you say, a majority was not interested, why could they not have allowed a minority to attend? Chabad,or any other organization, is free to invite any speaker, and a speaker can select where they will speak. Common decency would normally prevent the cancelling of a speech the same day…but then, ” The Alliance of Jewish Progressives” seems not to be concerned about decency,as long as they prevent Israel’s voice from being heard. Democracy? Freedom of Speech?
To Obnoxious: You are ignorant and biased. Would an LGBT speaker likely have been dis-invited – not on your life! At least recognize how freedom of speech is being trampled by the likes of you.
Those Hillel students should be ashamed. They would scream if their chosen speakers were bullied into cancelling. Glad Chabad supports the rights of the students to hear differing points of view.
Are you living in fantasy land or are you still in yesteryear? The Hillel you are trying to portray is unfortunately an historical event. Today, Hillel on campus has less and less to do with Judaism and more to do with politics. In fact, I know of two Hillel organization at two separate universities that serve non kosher food! And do not even have anything that even resembles prayer on Rosh Hashanah !!!!! Painfully to hear, yes, but it is factual nonetheless. So yes, it is a worthy story to note, that Chabad on Campus which is truly a home… Read more »
Yes we do. And this is definitely article worthy. This is just stating facts here, if you have a problem with these facts it just goes to show how wrong hillel was here otherwise you wld have no problem with these facts being made known. You must be another one of the liberal self hating Jews for your comment. The obnoxious one here is not Chabad for stepping in, but hillel for canceling last min bc of some liberal minds who wont let others hear anything pro Israel. Shame on people like you who have such open minded brains that… Read more »
The article is right on target. It is clearly shameful that Hillel at Princeton cancelled a lecture by an Israeli government official at the last minute because it caved to liberal pressure. This is black day for Princeton, Hillel and freedom of speech. I am sorry for college students going through the system today. B”H for Chabad and kol hakavod for stepping in…again.
What is really obnoxious is that Hillel caved in to pressure from some left wing J street students and refused to allow a member of Knesset to speak.
Sorry you feel that way. Hillel caved to undemocratic values. Yechi Adoneinu!
They should not have organized a lecture if the students associated with them weren’t interested.
With ivory tower friends like these, Israel certainly doesn’t need enemies. Shame on Hillel.
Must Chabad make an underdog of everyone that does not have explicitly parallel values? Really? Hillel is a fantastic organization that lives to serve its students. Maybe their majority population wasn’t interested. So what? Is this really article worthy? Shameful how Hillel is portrayed here.
at least we will not give in to liberal pressure
BS”D Cowards not a Jewish organization in my opinion