• Hebrew University Rector “strongly denounces” message as “completely unacceptable”

A lecturer who teaches at Hebrew University responded to a recent PMW report with the following curse sent by email:

“You do not deserve to be counted as human beings, as part of mankind. If there existed a place like hell, I would have wished you to burn in hell.”

The curse was sent to Palestinian Media Watch by Dr. Maya Rosenfeld from her Hebrew University email address.

Rosenfeld cursed PMW in response to PMW’s exposure of the PA’s hypocritical behavior,  which causes significant suffering to the Palestinian population by prohibiting them normalization with Israel. Yet the PA permits its top official Saeb Erekat to receive medical treatment by Israeli doctors in an Israeli hospital, while the same has been denied ordinary Palestinians because it is “normalization.”

While everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions, no one should be spewing out evil hate speech and curses at people they disagree with.

It is unclear whether Rosenfeld’s curse was meant only for PMW’s senior analyst Nan Jacques Zilberdik who wrote the report, or whether Rosenfeld wishes for the entire PMW staff to “burn in hell,” (- of course only if hell existed, as Rosenfeld pointed out.)

While Rosenfeld’s curse directed at PMW is horrifying, it is all the more disturbing if this behavior is reflective of Rosenfeld’s treatment of students who express opinions different from hers in the classroom. If so, this is a tragic environment for the Hebrew University.

PMW notified the university of Rosenfeld’s curse of PMW and received the following response from Prof. Barak Median, Rector of the Hebrew University:

Dear Mr. Marcus and Mrs. Zilberdik,

Thanks for bringing this matter to our attention.

We strongly denounce the message sent by Dr. Rosenfeld to Mrs. Zilberdik. It is completely unacceptable to use such a language.

Needless to say, the message does not represent in any way the Hebrew University, and it stands in contradiction to our policy and what we stand for.

Dr. Rosenfeld is an adjunct teacher at the Hebrew University, and she used the HUJI email address as a private person. We are inquiring into this matter and we will respond according to the results of our inquiry.

Best, Barak Medina, Rector

PMW also contacted Rosenfeld, asking for her response. At the time of writing PMW has not received any response from Rosenfeld.

Rosenfeld’s curse was in response to PMW’s report PA’s “Animal Farm”: No to normalization for regular Palestinians; Yes to normalization for PA leaders who need treatment in Israeli hospitals.

Reprinted with author’s permission from Palestinian Media Watch