CAMBRIDGE — In a seminar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, linguistics professor Michel DeGraff argued that Jews have no connection to Israel and that Israeli textbooks “weaponize trauma of the Holocaust.”
“They grew up with this trauma that made them fear that their existence is in threat, by anyone who doesn’t believe in the superior position of the Jewish people in Israel,” DeGraff said of Israeli youth.
The course’s full title is: “Language and linguistics for decolonization and liberation and for peace and community building from the river to the sea in Palestine and Israel to the mountaintops in Haiti and beyond.” DeGraff’s course was initially rejected by the university’s Linguistics department, citing his lack of qualifications. DeGraff specializes in Haiti and linguistics, not the Middle East. But DeGraff was permitted to teach the course…
