Warshal said some pro-Israel groups raise money by inflaming such controversies with allegations of anti-Semitism. He feels it's his civic duty to criticize Israeli policies with which he disagrees. "I'm glad we have a country of our own," he says. But "the Palestinians have a perfectly legitimate narrative. We came and screwed up their lives."
"HaShem [a Hebrew term religious Jews use for God] will avenge your attack on his people you miserable Arab whore. He will see that you die a torturous death, choking on the smoldering pages of a Koran. Watch your back, you filthy pig. The next note that goes up on a Jewish student's door will be met with extreme violence against you & your whore mother. Don't fuck with HaShem, you vile, ugly bitch."
Monica McGivern
Gabi Aleksinko, Noor Fawzy, and Matthew Schneider say the mock eviction notices were designed to raise awareness about the demolition of Palestinian homes.
Monica McGivern
A copy of the mock eviction notice.
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That death threat, along with other hate mail sent to the club email for Students for Justice in Palestine, was emailed to Fawzy days after the Jewish Journal story appeared.
Fawzy's mother was frightened. So was Schneider's. He wrote an editorial for the Huffington Post explaining why, as a Jewish student, he had become vice president of the board of Students for Justice in Palestine. His mother feared his views made him a target. "You have to think about your future," Schneider remembers his mom saying.
"My parents were scared — pardon my French — shitless," Aleksinko adds.
Fawzy reported the death threats to the FAU police department. The investigation is still open, and case records cannot yet be released to the public, a police official said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Charles Brown, senior vice president for student affairs at FAU, issued a public statement saying officials had found no evidence that Jewish students were targeted by the fliers. "We have spent the last several days meeting with students, staff, and concerned members of our community regarding this incident," he said. "All available evidence indicates that the postings were distributed randomly, without regard to the identity of any person who may have received or viewed them."
On April 23, FAU officials and Hillel leaders held a closed-door meeting. Then they put out another news release saying the eviction notices violated school policy and should not have been approved, but when pressed by New Times, FAU officials did not further specify what school rules were broken. "FAU and Hillel agree that university residence halls must be safe and welcoming environments for students from all walks of life to live, learn, and grow," the statement said. "Part of that environment includes providing students a place of repose, free from unwelcome intrusions. The inappropriate postings conflicted with this mission."
Aleksinko remembers Exelbierd's coming up to members of Students for Justice in Palestine who were sitting outside at a table on campus after the story broke. "I just want you to know, what you did the other day, it really hurt my feelings," Aleksinko remembers her saying.
Aleksinko told Exelbierd she had not been singled out for the fake eviction notice — they fliered randomly in three dorms — and "there is no way in hell we would know where she lived."
Although angered and upset by the allegations of anti-Semitism, the members of Students for Justice in Palestine were happy with the attention the controversy brought to their cause. "It made us famous," Fawzy says. "Now everyone loves us."
Schneider says that school officials "took down our fliers and told us that what we did was wrong." Aleksinko playfully slaps her wrists.
The group members have already printed up new eviction notices and intend to post them this fall.
On the evening of May 22, Rayna Exelbierd squints into the light of an overhead projector in the sanctuary of the Beth Ami synagogue. She's wearing a blue and white dress, a knit sweater, and bright-red lipstick. The projection screen behind her displays a larger-than-life image of the mock eviction notice. She shields her eyes and shifts her feet, smiling at the crowd that fills the pews.
Two months after the protest, some Jewish leaders are not ready to forget. They organized this meeting, around the corner from the FAU campus, to sound an alarm about what they consider a broader campus campaign to destroy Israel.
"This is about the establishment of Israel in the first place," says Rabbi Eli Kavon. "It's about the demonization of Jews."
"This flier included a modern-day blood libel," adds Joseph Sabag, executive director of the Boca chapter of the Zionist Organization of America, referring to the mention of Rachel Corrie. His group drafted letters for audience members to sign, asking FAU officials to "speak out publicly and specifically condemn the anti-Semitic messages of FAU's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter."
On the projection screen, Sabag shows images of FAU protesters holding signs that say, "Israel Breeds Hate" and "Jews Against Apartheid." He includes screen shots of Fawzy's protest activities on Facebook. But the main event of the evening is a film called Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus. Ominous music accompanies clips of disturbing images from across the country: a spray-painted swastika on a Jewish fraternity building, protesters holding signs that call Israel a fascist state, anti-Israel crowds shouting "I love Hitler."
