A Jewish NYU professor tore into anti-Israel student protesters, calling out the “double standard” that allows them to spread antisemitism when hate spread about other groups would never be tolerated.
“I can tell you, if I went into the NYU square with a white hood on and said, ‘Lynch the blacks or burn the gays,’ my ID would be shut off by that night,” Scott Galloway, an NYU Stern School of Business professor, told MSNBC on Tuesday.
“I would never work in academia again,” he added. “There would be no need for the words ‘context’ or ‘nuance,’ I wouldn’t be protected by the First Amendment or free speech.”
His commentary comes as anti-Israel protests roil on at NYU and other college campuses in both the Big Apple and across the nation, disrupting classes with clashes between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel students and leading to the arrests of over 130 NYU students Monday.
Galloway attributed this tolerance for antisemitism to several things — including students being too easily “manipulated” by anti-Israel content on TikTok.
“If you look at TikTok there are 52 videos that are that are pro-Hamas or pro-Palestine for every one served on Israel,” he said.
“I think that we are being manipulated. I think Americans are easier fooled and they’ve been fooled.”
Galloway said he also thinks students on campus are incorrectly conflating the civil rights movement with the ongoing war in Gaza.
He noted students may have “digressed” because of a theory promoted by NYU professors that “the easiest way to identify oppressors is how white and how rich they are.”
“Fairly or unfairly, Israel is seen as ground zero for whiteness and how wealthy they are,” he added.
Protests at NYU this week have echoed a wave of protests across the city and nation, with college campuses becoming hotbeds of antisemitic protests since Hamas terrorists launched their sneak attack on Israel Oct. 7 and the Jewish state’s ongoing military response.
Videos of this week’s protests show demonstrators holding bright flares over their heads while marching toward One Police Plaza while others waved flags, banged drums and chanted, “Gaza.”
Other clips show NYPD officers in riot gear monitoring protesters who chant, “We will free Palestine, within our lifetime.” Protesters are demanding the college divest from weapons manufacturers and end the school’s relationship with Tel Aviv University.
By late Monday, 133 protesters had been arrested as the NYU camp was broken up, with some of those busted also part of the march, the NYPD said Tuesday.
Over 100 have also been arrested at Columbia University, where classes were moved online Monday over safety fears for students on the Manhattan campus.
A prominent rabbi at the Ivy League school urged Columbia and Barnard students to stay home — and university officials told them they could take classes online — as antisemitism rises on campus.