American political commentator Shabbos Kestenbaum visited the Levan Center on Oct. 14 to discuss with students, staff, and community members how to combat antisemitism. The speech was predominantly focused on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.
Kestenbaum gained notoriety in his lawsuit against Harvard University, where he made the claim that the university failed to protect its Jewish students against antisemitism. He has also stood before Congress echoing the same sentiments about antisemitism on college campuses. He also made appearances on Fox News and Newsmax and has collaborated with the conservative media nonprofit PragerU. Students may also recognize him from his appearance on popular YouTube channel Jubilee.
Kestenbaum kicked off the talk with a retrospective on his past experiences, in which he felt his college, Harvard University, treated him unfairly. He recounted an experience in which he was selected for a program to visit Palestine, but his college barred him from the trip before it began.
Another instance was when a professor of his, in a class discussing the history between Israel and Palestine, said, “We will not read, we will not discuss any texts if they were written by Israelis.” Kestenbaum continued, calling this decision “authoritarian.”
“Why do we care about Harvard and Columbia, Yale, UCLA, and all of these other morally bankrupt institutions?” stated Kestenbaum. “It’s because these are institutions of higher learning that purport to train the next generation of American leaders.”
He also stated, “If these are America’s future judges and jurors… future authors of the books our kids are going to read, then pardon my French, but America is F*****”.
After the speech concluded Kestenbaum allotted some time for audience questions. One audience member, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, asked Kestenbaum if Israel had any part in escalating the current conflict. Kestenbaum stated that he rejected the premise of the question while admitting that there have been casualties of innocent Palestinian civilians, but he still placed blame on Hamas for invading Israel. The attendee indicated that he didn’t feel his question was answered.
When the Rip asked how to combat antisemitism at Bakersfield College campus, Kestenbaum said, “I think Bakersfield College should combat bigotry and discrimination by simply enforcing the laws already on the books especially as a state school or a school funded by state taxpayer money; there are rigorous rules as to how you treat students of any faith of any sexual orientation of any race you can not have carve outs.”