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Alumni create ‘wanted’ posters, threaten to withhold donations

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jewish Alumni Committee is circulating wanted posters after organizers say anti-Israel protesters harassed a guest speaker and stole pizzas from a recent campus event.

The lecture on Sept. 18 by Shahar Kvatisnky, (pictured) a professor at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, was disrupted by pro-Palestinian students, who also stole nine pizzas as they left the event, according to the MIT Jewish Alumni Committee.

Arthur Carp, co-chair of the committee, told The College Fix over email that the perpetrators were “screaming obscenities at both Prof. Kvinsky and the attendees.”

He said the committee is circulating wanted posters for the three students involved, and is considering offering a reward for their identities.

“We are now having a discussion about the sum we are going to be offering as a reward for their identities,” he said.

“We are also exploring buying an ad in MIT’s student newspaper, The Tech, which will feature the reward in addition to the … Wanted poster,” Carp told The Fix.

An MIT student who attended the event called the pro-Palestine students’ behavior “disgusting.” The student spoke to The Fix via email and asked to remain anonymous.

The Jewish alumni also sent a letter to John DiFava, MIT director of public safety and chief of police, demanding the perpetrators be found and penalized.

“In our opinion, such anti-Semitic behavior is grounds for immediate suspension, and very shortly thereafter, after a disciplinary proceeding, expulsion,” according to the letter, which the committee shared with The Fix.

The committee also told DiFava that it “will not provide a dollar of support to MIT, and will actively discourage ALL alumni, and not just Jewish alumni, from donating.”

Arthur called the demands in the letter “an acid test for MIT’s Administration.”

“By identifying these disruptors / thieves, we will be forcing these issues, and are watching, and will publicize the outcome,” he told The Fix.

Arthur said the committee had not received a response from DiFava yet, but he believes the police chief is serious about upholding the law.

The Fix reached out to Chief John DiFava and MIT’s media relations team multiple times over email for comment, but neither responded.

Arthur also mentioned another pro-Palestinian protest on Sept. 23 on the steps of MIT’s main entrance.

“These steps are not an officially sanctioned location for protests. Instead, this is a direct act of defiance by these students, and should be dealt with accordingly,” he said. “We will be watching MIT Police’s performance, as Chief DiFava is well aware.”

Protesters called Israeli professor ‘murderer,’ ‘seemed indifferent to facts’

Kvatinsky, the guest lecturer, recounted his experience at the event to The Fix over email.

“The audience was a mix of pro-Israel and pro-Hamas students and faculty members,” and “the pro-Hamas students had their faces covered with masks,” he said.

Kvatinsky said the topics of his talk included his time in the Israel Defense Forces, the crimes of Hamas, and the IDF’s strict protocol.

“I discussed the cynical exploitation of civilians by Hamas, describing how they use hospitals, schools, mosques, and universities to hide weapons, dig tunnels, and wage war,” he said.

Kvatinsky said he “explained the IDF’s stringent rules of engagement, which are more restrictive than international law and rigorously enforced, requiring all soldiers to adhere to them carefully.”

The engineering professor mentioned that the moderator “ensured that questions alternated between masked and unmasked individuals, allowing both sides ample time to engage.”

“The pro-Hamas students asked questions like, ‘How do you feel as a murderer?’ and ‘What is your response to claims that IDF soldiers have raped Palestinian women?’’ he said.

“I responded calmly, emphasizing that every decision made by myself and my colleagues during the war was to protect our country and minimize civilian casualties,” he said.

Kvatinsky told The Fix that “some pro-Hamas attendees shifted from questioning to delivering speeches. One student claimed to be offended as a ‘woman of color’ by my denial of the alleged rapes by Israeli soldiers, while disregarding the brutal sexual violence committed on October 7th.”

He then described how students stole many of the pizzas ordered for the guests.

One female student “left the room after her statement, but not before grabbing a few pizza trays on her way out …” he said. “This pattern repeated itself with several other students who gave rehearsed speeches before leaving, all taking pizza as they exited.”

He described this action as “a gesture that, in hindsight, seemed quite symbolic.”

Kvatinsky said he felt troubled by the students’ indifference to his accounts of the conflict.

“What I found most disturbing was that many students at a prestigious university like MIT seemed indifferent to facts and evidence,” he said.

“Despite providing both firsthand accounts and well-documented facts about the conflict, many appeared to be more focused on expressing their ‘unique and independent’ views on a conflict in a region they had never visited,” he said.

Kvatinsky said he was not aware of the MIT Jewish Alumni Committee’s letter, but affirmed his position of support for Israel.

“[T]hey can call me a murderer. At the end of the day, I always obeyed to national and international law, while they are the ones who support terrorists who [intentionally] killed babies, kidnaped elderlies and raped woman, and still hold as hostages 101 Israelis and hundreds of thousands Palestinians,” he said.

MORE: Portland State U. considers divestment after protesters cause $1.23 million in damages

IMAGE: MIT Jewish Alumni Committee

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