Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Philadelphia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A statement by faculty members at Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) condemning Israel as a state based on “Jewish Supremacy” drew sharp responses this week from alumni and other faculty, as well as local Jewish groups.

On Tuesday, 24 professors at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania liberal arts college published a Statement in Solidarity with Palestine in the campus’ College Reporter newspaper.

“The brutal system that controls Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is ideologically founded upon Jewish supremacy, rules over the lives of Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel alike, and is practically committed to territorial theft from Palestinians who continue to resist physical removal and existential erasure,” it said.

It also rejected what it termed the “‘two-sides’ and ‘evenhandedness’ narrative that ignores and conceals the meaningful differences between Israel — one of the most heavily militarized states in the world that receives $3.8 billion in military aid annually from the United States — and a Palestinian population resisting occupation and oppression.”

Responding to the statement on Twitter, Franklin & Marshall College said the opinions of the signing faculty did not represent the views of the college or F&M faculty as a whole.

By Friday, the “Solidarity” statement had prompted a series of rebuttals. Eleven faculty members — including Amy Zylberman, Acting Director of the Klehr Center for Jewish Life — called the statement “hyper-simplistic and misguided” in a response published in the College Reporter. 

“We strongly reject the use of the libelous term ‘Jewish supremacy,'” they wrote, calling for “greater efforts to build bridges between Arabs, Jews, and other affected parties that are based on respect and dignity and not on highly politicized and/or inaccurate historical narratives.”

In a separate “Alumni Response,” 98 former students also took issue with casting Israel as a “brutal apartheid system” built on Jewish supremacy.

“It mimics antisemitic tropes that Jews are conniving, manipulative, and power hungry, while simultaneously implying that any attempt of self-determination is an assertion of supremacy,” the alumni letter said. “We have seen time and time again the results of denying Jews the right to self-determination, and we should be cautious when advocating a return to that era.”

In a follow-up clarification to their earlier statement, published Friday, the original signatories pointed to the use of the “Jewish supremacy” terminology by the Israeli NGO B’tselem, and said they “deny any connection with or support for” any antisemitic views associated with that phrase.

“However, we also reject the claim that any criticism of Israeli government policy automatically equates with antisemitism,” the group wrote.

The Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia praised the F&M Alumni Response on Twitter, calling it a “clear and effective rebuttal to a recent anti-Israel letter” that was “filled with deeply concerning anti-Israel rhetoric, some rooted in #antisemitism.”

College leadership should “protect Jewish and pro-Israel students from being academically penalized by these faculty & must ensure that climate on campus remains welcoming + inclusive of all,” the group said.