The City University of New York (CUNY), the largest public university in the United States, will give credits to students who come to the screening of the Jordanian film "Farha" at the end of this month, a fiction film based on the Palestinian narrative of the war for Israel's independence that they call the “Nakba” or "tragedy" that many critics have said bears a strong resemblance to the Diary of Anne Frank, the true story of a Jewish girl hiding in Amsterdam during the Holocaust. In the Jordanian made film, soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces are seen brutally executing a family, including a baby.
Jewish and Israeli students and faculty at the established university, which is funded by American taxpayers' money, were surprised to receive an invitation earlier this week to an event as part of the "Palestinian Solidarity" series of the "Center for Justice and Social Equality" on the Manhattan campus. The celebratory screening of the film chosen to represent Jordan in the race for the Foreign Film Oscar has received media coverage in Israel and around the world after ministers and politicians spoke out against it and against Netflix choosing to broadcast it in Israel.
The same Farha that claims to be "based on true events" by a writer/director who admits having created the story?
— Arthur Normanson 🚒💦🔥 (@artstop) March 17, 2023
That's absolute agitprop. It should not be allowed.
Students who attend the screening will receive college credit towards their degree as part of a program of educational activities outside the classroom. "We will end our 'Palestinian Solidarity' series with a film," the invitation reads. "Join us as we educate ourselves about the Palestinian struggle by watching the film Farha, which depicts the Palestinian diaspora through the perspective of a 14-year-old girl."
CUNY's "Palestinian Solidarity" series also includes an exhibit on display through April 3 with a "Visual Timeline of Occupied Palestinian Land"; posters and graphics depicting Palestinian history and "the longest military occupation in history," according to the event's official announcement. The exhibition presents the history of the conflict in a one-sided way and in fact, states that "there is no conflict - what is happening in Palestine is a colonialist settlement, military occupation, land theft, and ethnic cleansing."
VIDEO of the antisemitic display that now adorns @bmcc_cuny's hallways, sponsored by BMCC. Thank you to the courageous person who provided this to us. You can really get a sense of how prominent it is. pic.twitter.com/D16OzOVvH2
— SAFE CUNY (@SAFECUNY) March 16, 2023
"The word 'conflict' implies that there are two equal sides, which is not the case." The timeline describes historical events, including the intifadas and the death of the journalist Shirin Abu Akleh, but does not mention the hundreds terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians or even any of the pre-state of Israel massacres against Jewish communities that were committed by Arabs. In fact, the exhibit portrays the Palestinian people as passifist victims that have been perpetually taken advantage of by a white, colonial power.
A Jewish lecturer at CUNY said that "it is alarming that a systematic and clear smear campaign is taking place here, a campaign that is also taking place on more and more American university and college campuses. Somehow it has become 'okay' to present the Palestinians' side of the story, and not allow any other side to speak."
@SAFECUNY @CUNY to give credit to students for attending anti-Israel film as part of Palestine Solidarity monthhttps://t.co/I8t1E0eLmt
— Andrew Pessin (@AndrewPessin) March 18, 2023
According to the Jewish Agency, the number of antisemitic cases on campuses in the United States increased by almost 50% in the past year, from 160 incidents in the same period last year to 230 today.
