Ross Glick is Director of Betar US
We find it outrageous that Pittsburgh police have questioned Jewish students at University of Pittsburgh in response to complaints by Students for Justice In Palestine (SJP) activists regarding a Betar executive recruiting trip to campus. SJP – an organization Columbia Professor Shai Davidai has called Hitler Youth - claimed that beepers which are purchased on Amazon represent bomb threats.
Following the police questioning, Betar has been suspended from Meta platforms. SJP, an organization which praises October 7th and calls for a global intidada has accused Betar of “bomb” threats because of harmless beepers.
Shameful and scary that the police, University and Meta, in the interest of political correctness respond to this absurdity. Jews standing up for themselves aren’t the problem, those foreign entities on campus and in America are. In Pittsburgh like on many other campuses, Jews are under attack. On what grounds are police removing Jewish students from their classes and sending legal notices to Meta because of SJP complains?
Antisemitic – and terrifying – that an SJP complaint can spark a police investigation and Meta suspension. Pittsburgh Police need to investigate jihadis and those praising illegal terror organizations, not Zionists who hand out mock beepers to faux terrorists. Has anyone ever heard of a SJP student being removed from class to be questioned about their families?
Betar is the 100 year old movement of Zeev Jabotinsky and we have long stood up for Jewish rights.
Active in 20 cities worldwide, our activists recently confronted antisemite Ilhan Omar in Congress, and have repeatedly presented mock beepers as a symbol to Jew haters throughout the US. The head of Betar Milwaukee is currently facing 3 years in jail for destroying a Nazi mural.
Internationally, Betar activists have been present in Amsterdam and France standing to protect the community and advocate for Zionism.
For Meta to disable Zionist accounts in the midst of a war against the Jewish people is unjustifiable. SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) and many others openly call for an Intifada and to Free Palestine. Zionists can’t show our soldiers without being disabled from major platforms.
There is a sick double standard which exists where Hamas supporters use Instagram to push attacks on Jews in the streets, SJP and other pro Hamas organizations push messaging of illegal terror organizations - and Jews are banned.
We are also very concerned in Europe about people being arrested for saying Palestinian flags don’t belong in the streets, and a London arrest for a Jew calling a radical leftist a Kapo.
Jews and Israel are the victims in this war, and we have the right to speak up. This is simply two-tier policing online. One set of rules for Jews and another for everyone else. The pro-Hamas groups also mass complain and have the ability to register many more complaints than Zionists do. Every single Zionist account on Instagram sees censorship and shadow banning.
Yosef Haddad was banned this week, Eylon Levy was banned at start of the war, and sadly now we have suspensions for these vital organizations.
We plead for anyone to help us to please do so. Write and fight the injustice.