Victory at Emory: Antisemitic scholar out following AIM activism
July 11, 2024
Isam Vaid has resigned from Emory. We’ll take that as a victory for our activism here at Accuracy in Media because we think it’s probably more accurate to say that Isam Vaid has taken the opportunity to resign from Emory.
The first draft of the press report said:
Emory University suspended a Muslim religious life scholar amid a review into comments he allegedly made that turned him into a target of a conservative watchdog group.
The second and updated version said:
Emory University’s Muslim religious life scholar resigned Wednesday, a departure he said he planned in advance of being suspended while the school reviews comments he allegedly made that turned him into a target of a conservative watchdog group.
Well, yes, we do think this is one of those cases where “resigned” is something that happens to someone, not an act by them.
As to why we think this is a victory it’s because activism, even protest, does work. For it really was only yesterday that we were there at Emory highlighting the vile antisemitism of this Muslim “scholar”.
“Today at Emory University, we’re shining a spotlight on a deeply troubling issue: the fact that this institution has a pro-Hamas antisemite on its payroll. This is not just an oversight—it’s an outrage, especially considering that Emory’s student body is 20% Jewish.”
The issue is not that someone is a Muslim scholar, nor even a scholar of Islam. It’s that what the man actually said about Jews and Judaism was the most vile antisemitism:
…says specifically “the one tribe of Israel, the Yehuda, is the one causing all the trouble on Earth,…chaos on Earth”
At this point it’s obvious that the man’s got to go.
This isn’t a total victory, of course. It should have been obvious to Emory long ago that they couldn’t continue to employ someone who teaches this sort of vileness. But they didn’t and too much of American academia is still infested with these attitudes. So, for us, it’s a victory but a partial one – the fight goes on.
Think on it – why do we want anyone, on any campus in America, teaching this sort of hatred? And if college authorities won’t stop it unbidden then we’re going to have to continue to remind them, aren’t we? If the educational bureaucracy had either good sense or a conscience then our work would be done. It doesn’t – neither – and therefore the struggle continues.