On Monday, May 1, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, regarded as a far-right conservative, anti-Muslim organization, distributed 2,500 copies of a newspaper titled “The Top Ten Jew-Hating Professors in America” on the University of Denver campus, naming Dr. Nader Hashemi, Associate Professor with the Korbel School of International Studies and the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, as No. 8 on a list of ten academics throughout the country.

Dr. Hashemi deplores the newspaper’s depiction of him as “totally and completely false; a distortion of my political views on the Middle East; cherry-picked quotes that seek to portray me as an extremist.” He adds that “the people behind this attack, David Horowitz, is a certifiable facist and extremist, so I don’t take what he has to say seriously.”

Founded in 1988 by writer David Horowitz, the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s (DHFC) mission is to “combat the efforts of the radical left and its Islamist allies to destroy American values.” The organization’s programs focus on K-12 and university education in the United States, having stated “the leftist offensive is most obvious on our nation’s campuses” and that the center “provides strong insight into today’s most pressing issue on its family of websites and in the activist campaigns it wages on campus.”

The Clarion received an official press release from “Stop Campus Jew Hatred,” the arm of the DHFC responsible for the newspaper’s distribution on DU’s campus, which read, “In a stealth campaign to circumvent campus censors and reach students directly, the David Horowitz Freedom Center distributed 2,500 newspapers across the University of Denver campus containing its new report naming the ‘Top Ten Jew-Hating Professors in America.’”

The Clarion has identified Sara Dogan as the author of the newspaper and the report. Dogan is the National Campus Director of the DHFC and has published articles on the center’s affiliate websites.

Alleging DU as a “breeding ground for Jew Hatred,” Dogan wrote, “we call on the universities implicated in this report to put an immediate end to the Jew hatred infecting their campuses and to take action against faculty who continue to promulgate anti-Semitism on campus, creating an unsafe environment for Jewish students. If they should fail to do so, we urge Congress to withhold all federal funding until they eliminate this cancer in their midst.”

In a featured section, she details the reasons for Hashemi landing on the list, including smaller descriptions for the other nine professors named.

“University of Denver Professor Nader Hashemi has engaged in numerous forms of Jew hatred over the course of his academic career,” the section on Hashemi reads. “For his repeated whitewashing of Hamas and anti-Israel terrorism and his blatant promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Professor Hashemi belongs on the list of the worst Jew-hating professors.”

When asked about the potential motives behind the dissemination of this paper, Hashemi argues that “the goal very much is to police the debate on university campuses with respect to the Israel/Palestine conflict…but also I think to intimidate university administrators and get them to reign in faculty who are allegedly responsible for extremist political views that David Horowitz is trying to attribute to people like me.”

Dogan said that their “goal in disseminating these newspapers on DU’s campus is twofold. Firstly, we wish to raise awareness among DU students and faculty about the dramatic and horrifying increase in Jew-hatred both on American campuses and in the United States overall, facts that are covered in our report,” which Dogan authored. 

The leaflet cites a 2023 report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which found there was a 41% increase in antisemitic incidents on American campuses in 2022, and a 36% increase throughout the U.S. at large. It further cites a joint ADL-Hillel study in 2021 finding that nearly a third of Jewish college students experienced antisemitism on campus, with 79% of those having experienced it repeatedly.

“Secondly,” she adds, “we wish to put pressure on the DU administration to confront the anti-Semitism that poisons the DU campus, most notably the comments made by Professor Hashemi whitewashing Palestinian and Hamas violence against Israel and promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories including claiming with zero evidence that the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie was likely instigated by Israeli intelligence agents. Dr. Hashemi holds a position of great influence as the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at DU and we are concerned that his clear animus towards Israel and its Jewish citizens creates a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus.”

When Dogan was pressed to reveal which group was responsible for physically distributing the newspaper on campus, she forwarded The Clarion a response directly from David Horowitz:

“This [is] a bulls*** effort to intimidate us Matthew. Stop pretending you’re a journalist.”

DU Hillel, a prominent on-campus organization for Jewish students, has condemned speculation from Hashemi in the past as part of a joint statement from the ADL, but were critical of DHFC’s action. “Hillel of Colorado (and DU Hillel, a division of Hillel of Colorado) distance ourselves strongly from this leaflet’s message,” said Daniel Bennett, Executive Director of Hillel of Colorado. “Further, Hillel of Colorado’s values stand in opposition to those espoused by Horowitz on his Freedom Center website.”

Hashemi faced international and collective backlash for remarks made in an appearance on The Iran Podcast in August of 2022. When discussing the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, Hashemi offered several explanations as to the timing of the attack. “Is it just a coincidence…or are there nefarious political forces at stake here that are responsible for this attack?” he asked on  the podcast.

An assertion on the leaflet references Hashemi’s suggestion that the assassination attempt could have been a retaliatory act carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but proposed what he believed a more likely explanation; “The other possibility, which I actually think is much more likely, is that this young kid, Hadi Metar, was in communication with someone online who claimed to be a Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps supporter, and lured him into attacking Salman Rushdie … And that so-called person online, claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran could have been a Mossad operative.” Such a speculation would of course implicate Israel and its intelligence agency in the attempt on Rushdie’s life.

While Hashemi’s comments, and DU’s response, led to discourse about the place of academic freedom, the professor later defending himself in an essay, both critics and supporters of Hashemi voiced condemnation of DHFC’s leaflet.

Dean of the Korbel School of International Studies, Fritz Mayer, released a statement on Monday, May 8, saying, “For the record, I and the Korbel School utterly reject [the leaflet’s] slander and not only affirm Professor Hashemi’s right to speak as a matter of academic freedom, but also strongly defend his record. Throughout his career, Nader has been a consistent voice for human rights and against prejudice of all kinds, including, quite clearly, against anti-Semitism.” 

In a meeting with a delegation of students signing a petition criticizing the University of Denver’s actions against Hashemi, Mayer espoused a deep commitment “to a community where all feel free to speak on legitimate matters of policy difference and where we reject pressures from any source to censor such speech.”

Bennet of DU Hillel added, “while we cannot speak to the truth or falsehood of any of the leaflet’s assertions, we do believe that this type of sensationalism and character assassination does nothing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism, and it does serve to distract us from productive conversations and building positive initiatives that safeguard Jews and other marginalized minorities.”

This incident occurred as DU is in the midst of confronting antisemitism. On Feb. 9 and 12, isolated antisemitic acts took place on DU’s campus at Johnson-McFarlane Hall and Nagel Hall, as three students had their mezuzahs taken down and defiled, and one had pork products smeared on their door.

These events yielded a swift and collective response from university administrators, campus safety, the Denver Police and the Jewish community. The disturbing events culminated in a Jewnity Shabbat Hop event on Feb. 17. Co-hosted by Hillel, Chabad and the university, the event featured speeches, songs and candle lighting, as well as a dinner at Hillel and dessert at Chabad, revealing overwhelming solidarity for the Jewish community at DU.

Rabbi Yossi Serebryanski disagreed with DHFC’s assessment of antisemitism on DU’s campus. “Having lived and worked at DU for twenty years and having spent thousands of hours with students, I am comfortable stating that Jewish life is flourishing,” he said. “Antisemitism and denigration of Jewish people is not tolerated on campus. In those rare instances where it does, God forbid, occur, we at Chabad work closely with the university administration, the Title IX office, the ADL and other partners to support students and to ensure the safety of all.”

He further urged a continuity of solidarity with the Jewish community in light of the recent incidents that have consumed DU’s campus. “In my own lived experience as a Chabad rabbi and as one of the most visible Jewish people on campus I have never felt a scintilla of antisemitism. I call upon the entire community to join me in advancing Jewish campus life to ensure that our community remains strong and vibrant. Let us be thoughtful in our condemnations and work closely with all our allies to build a bright Jewish future and a welcoming community for all.”

The anti-Semitic acts further prompted a conversation between Provost Mary Clark and ADL Regional Director Scott Levin held last Thursday, May 4 at the Community Commons. The event, focused around antisemitism in the country, in our communities and on campuses, featured guests representing a myriad of organizations, including Dr. Nader Hashemi. The timing of the distribution of the newspaper resulted in his invitation to attend and speak at the event.

It began with a statement from Provost Clark condemning the distribution of the newspaper, labeling it as a “heinous publication,” and defending Hashemi. “That is not Nader at all,” she said. However, she reiterated the event was “prompted by the anti-Semitic incidents in February.” Despite this assertion, the incident involving the distribution of the newspaper and prior controversy surrounding Hashemi loomed largely over the conversation.

During the discussion, Levin defined antisemitism as a “perception about Jews that is tantamount to Jew Hatred,” which includes harmful rhetoric, physical harm such as vandalism and assault, and a reliance on tropes and conspiracy theories. He attributes the startling rise in antisemitism toward “hate in our society as a whole.” He addresses how economic, social and political turmoil influences people to look for someone or something to blame. “Jews have been a perennial other,” he adds.

Levin stated that while the ADL does not equate anti-Israel rhetoric with antisemitism, he believes it broaches antisemitism when groups and individuals deny the legitimacy of Israel’s existence.

During the Q&A period, the recent incident and Hashemi’s presence that had been looming largely boiled over. After joining the university in condemning the newspaper, a majority of the questions directed at Levin focused on the ADL’s condemnation of Hashemi in the Fall of 2022. Dr. Alan Gilbert, a professor with the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and colleague of Hashemi’s, was in attendance with the audience. He said directly to Levin that he had “mistakenly attacked Hashemi,” that it was a “grave error,” and that he found the ADL’s statement condemning Hashemi “shocking as a Jew.”

Hashemi argued that the real problem in blocking the rise of antisemitism is “falsely accusing people of antisemitism who advocate for Palestinians.” He claimed such false accusations leads to slander and smearing, censorship and limitation of speech and debate, poisons community relations, destroys careers, and ultimately distracts us from the very real problem of rising antisemitism.

He directly called out Mr. Levin as having accused him of antisemitism, saying Levin lobbied the university to issue their statement in an “orchestrated, premeditated effort to silence him,” he said.

Hashemi alleged that the “ADL began with noble intentions, but has become corrupted over the years,” ultimately accusing Levin of playing a role in his “political persecution,” demanding accountability in the form of the ADL Regional Director issuing a public apology.

Levin was provided a brief opportunity to respond, who had now taken a seat with the audience. He defended his statement of condemnation, referencing Hashemi’s unfounded and troubling speculation that the Mossad was behind the stabbing of Salman Rushdie.

Following the event, Levin responded to Hashemi’s accusations. “It is unfortunate that Professor Hashemi did not take the opportunity to speak about the troubling hate that has been targeted against Jewish students and, instead, took the opportunity to use the forum to express his grievances with me, my organization and the University,” he said.

“Professor Hashemi was reported to have claimed on the podcast, without any apparent basis in fact, that the perpetrator of the horrific stabbing of Salman Rushdie had been put up to it by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. Professor Hashemi has a First Amendment right to say whatever he likes but at a time when Jewish students are justifiably concerned about their safety and security, we asked the University to use its own First Amendment right to speak against this and in support of them. … If people are interested, they should read for themselves the statement I and other Jewish communal leaders issued about Professor Hashemi’s provocative speculation.”

The University of Denver has found itself at the center of a nationwide campaign to reach college students directly and put pressure on university administrators to react. Following the controversy surrounding Dr. Hashemi, this latest distribution of newspaper leaflets is part of an established and pervasive pattern of the DHFC’s effort to market its publications and values on college campuses across the U.S.

Michael Finch, President of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, did not respond to a request for comment. Lonny Leitner, distributor of the “Stop Campus Jew Hatred” press release, did not respond to a request for comment. All 9 other professors implicated by the David Horowitz Freedom Center did not respond to requests for comment. The DU Muslim Student Alliance did not respond to a request for comment.