Yale dining hall label showing ‘Israeli’ removed from couscous dish that uses Israeli couscous. Photo: X/Twitter

Yale University has walked back a decision to remove the word “Israeli” from the label of an Israeli couscous salad dish served in the school’s dining hall.

Israeli couscous, called ptitim in Hebrew, is a toasted pasta ingredient that was created in Israel in the 1950s during a rice shortage. It is said that David Ben-Gurion — Israel’s first prime minister — personally requested its creation, which led to its being called “Ben-Gurion’s rice.”

Yale’s dining hall had served “Israeli Couscous Salad with Spinach and Tomatoes,” but this week photos emerged online showing “Israeli” deleted from the title.

“Here’s the before/after, so that no one is misled,” Yale University student Sahar Tartak wrote on X/Twitter. “The change was made, then undone upon outreach from Jewish students. Dining administrators emailed me this: ‘Considering it is the main ingredient, it is appropriate to remain in the title, and we will correct this oversight.'”

Here’s the before/after, so that no one is misled. The change was made, then undone upon outreach from Jewish students. Dining administrators emailed me this: “Considering it is the main ingredient, it is appropriate to remain in the title, and we will correct this oversight.” https://t.co/ZInORL7XJC pic.twitter.com/oqWdn6bpZq

— Sahar Tartak🇮🇱 (@sahar_tartak) December 12, 2023

Tartak made headlines earlier in the fall for writing a column that Yale’s flagship newspaper censored by removing what it called “unsubstantiated claims” of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas raping and beheading Israelis during its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. The Yale Daily News later apologized for discrediting widely documents incidents of brutality, including rape and other sexual violence, perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against Israelis.

Asked about the dining hall label change, a university spokesperson suggested to Newsweek that associating dishes with a country or ethnicity had become enmeshed in campus identity politics.

“Authenticity of the food and naming of the recipes have been a concern brought to us by students in the past,” the spokesperson said. “There were times that they felt our food did not ‘authentically’ represent the country or ethnicity referenced in the name.”

The spokesperson added that “Israeli” would be placed back in the title, saying, “In this case, Israeli Couscous is indeed an actual ingredient and is explicitly listed on the ingredient list. Considering it is the main ingredient, it is appropriate to remain in the title, and we will correct this oversight.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.