Mort Klein: Brandeis Faculty Not Zionist Enough

Referring in a Jewish Advocate interview to recent Israel-related controversies at Brandeis University, Mort Klein, Zionist Organization of America president, castigated the school:

…Brandeis has turned its back on its Jewish supporters and has alienated past donors, like himself: “The issue is not being pro-Israel, but they’re bringing and affiliating with people who are anti-Israel,” said Klein. “It’s more imperative on Brandeis to be careful who they hire, honor and affiliate with because they have more credibility as a Jewish-oriented institution.”

He was referring respectively to Khalil Shikaki, Tony Kushner and Jimmy Carter. Mort Klein was a past donor to Brandeis? As a college fundraiser I’m used to blowhards like this boasting of how much money they USED TO GIVE to make a point about how disenchanted they are about one thing or another. Invariably, if you check the record they once gave a $25 gift somewhere along about 1972. So much for their former generosity to the institution under discussion.

Mort would like Yehuda Reinharz to appoint a Committee of Academic Purity before whom every faculty candidate would have to appear. There they would pledge allegiance to the State of Israel and Zionism. Anyone who didn’t feel they could do so would, of course, be out of a job. That’s Jewish academic freedom Klein-style.