{"id":102214,"date":"2023-02-17T17:05:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=102214"},"modified":"2023-02-17T08:50:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T06:50:44","slug":"23-05-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=102214","title":{"rendered":"Rabbi arrested, banned from Cleveland universities over anti-Palestinian activism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Rabbi arrested, banned from Cleveland universities over anti-Palestinian activism<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

ANDREW LAPIN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbi Alexander Popivker accused of harassing students; video appears to show him draw swastika on Muslim headscarf and say, \u2018Palestinians and Nazis are the same thing\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

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\nRabbi Alexander Popivker (right) with his wife, Sarah, mounting a pro-Israel display on the campus of Cleveland State University. (Courtesy of Alex Popivker via JTA)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

JTA<\/strong> \u2013 For days, students and police at Cleveland State University had been trying to figure out who stole a banner belonging to a campus Palestinian rights group.<\/span><\/p>\n

The banner, which belonged to the student group Palestinian Human Rights Organization, read \u201cCSU Solidarity for Palestinian Rights\u201d and was illustrated with an outline of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip collectively emblazoned in the Palestinian flag. A dove holding an olive branch appeared on top of the image.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, on January 19, police charged their top suspect: a local Orthodox rabbi, whose presence on campus had become all too familiar. A few days later the man confessed to the theft on Instagram, announcing that he had stolen the banner from the school\u2019s student center \u201cas an act of civil disobedience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis incitement to annihilation of Israel should have never been permitted at CSU,\u201d Rabbi Alexander Popivker, a 46-year-old Cleveland Heights resident whose neighborhood is six miles from the school, wrote on social media accompanied by a picture of the flag he stole.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was far from Popivker\u2019s only recent run-in with local university students.<\/span><\/p>\n

A handyman and part-time rabbi for a Russian-speaking Jewish community, Popivker has become known around town as a vigilant and omnipresent pro-Israel advocate. He can often be spotted counter-protesting at local pro-Palestinian demonstrations, or putting on displays of his own, with his wife Sarah on hand filming every contentious encounter. Popivker claimed to be a former Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Naples, Italy, but a representative for the Chabad movement told JTA they had no record of him ever representing the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

University of California Berkeley junior Adah Forer speaks to a student in front of a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus. (Courtesy)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

One major theme of his protests, and his worldview, as he explained to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: \u201cPalestinians and Nazis are the same thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the last year, Popivker had been making weekly trips to Cleveland State, occasionally accompanied by other students or community members, to give public demonstrations that elaborate on that idea \u2014 sometimes with the aid of swastika-emblazoned props. In the early going, the university provided him with police protection and said his visits to campus were protected by free speech laws.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he also sought out students online and in person whom he deemed to be \u201cbrainwashed\u201d by anti-Zionist messaging. One such online campaign against a law student prompted the student to file an order of protection against Popivker last fall, an order supported by a prominent Jewish dean at the university. Popivker promptly violated the order by returning to campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

In late January, university authorities had enough. They arrested Popivker and, following a hearing, declared him persona non grata on campus, banning him from the university grounds for at least two years. Popivker has also been banned from nearby Case Western Reserve University, where he had advocated before focusing on Cleveland State.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of a nationwide university climate in which pro-Israel advocates claim Jewish students face regular antisemitic harassment for their real or perceived Zionist beliefs, here was a documented case of the opposite: a Jew and outspoken Zionist, who has no affiliation with the schools at which he advocates, accused of harassing anyone he perceived as a threat to Israel, including students who had never sought him out directly.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has spoken out numerous times against Popivker and praised university police for arresting him; a petition the group backed, labeled \u201cStop harassment on campus\u201d and mentioning Popivker by name, has garnered close to 700 signatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish groups, including civil rights groups, have been less forthcoming about the situation. Hillel International declined to comment on this story, and the directors of Cleveland\u2019s regional American Jewish Committee and Jewish Community Relations Council offices did not return requests for comment. Jewish on Campus, a nationwide university antisemitism watchdog group that tracks what it defines as anti-Zionist social media harassment of Jewish students, also did not return a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jared Isaacson, the executive director of Cleveland Hillel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the center was \u201cnot very familiar with this story.\u201d Cleveland Hillel coordinates Jewish student life at a consortium of Jewish universities including Cleveland State and Case Western, where its student center is located, as well as at least one other school where Popivker has made his presence on campus known in some form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students and supporters march across campus during a protest in support of Palestine after a Northeastern University student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine in Boston, March 18, 2014. (AP Photo\/Stephan Savoia)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But, Isaacson said, \u201cCleveland Hillel is deeply committed to countering antisemitism and hate in all forms, and we believe that no student \u2014 Jewish or otherwise \u2014 should ever feel threatened or intimidated because of their identity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Popivker says he has support from the New York-based Lawfare Project, which bills itself as an \u201cinternational pro-Israel litigation fund.\u201d He told JTA that the organization \u201cis watching over my cases and providing guidance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement, the Lawfare Project called Popivker \u201ca Jewish civil rights activist\u201d but did not confirm that it is backing him, saying only that the group is \u201ccurrently reviewing the matter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The group, which frequently files lawsuits on behalf of students who allege antisemitism on their campuses, said in a statement to JTA that the order of protection was a \u201cdouble standard\u201d that \u201cshould be alarming to anyone who cares about the fight against Jew-hatred.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawfare recently settled a multi-year lawsuit with San Francisco State University over student reports of antisemitic harassment on campus stemming from anti-Zionist activists disrupting an event featuring the mayor of Jerusalem. The settlement compelled the university to hire a coordinator of Jewish student life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Popivker will have his work cut out for him if he fights the charges. He had exhibited \u201cbehavior detrimental to the university community\u201d by stealing the Palestinian banner and separately affixing an Israeli flag to university property, Matthew Kibbon, Cleveland State\u2019s associate vice president of facility services, wrote in the university\u2019s decision declaring him persona non grata.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rabbi \u201cwas not banned for the content of his speech, but how he chose to exercise it,\u201d a Cleveland State spokesperson told JTA in a statement. The university also provided JTA a list of recent campus police interactions with him, including the initial January 11 report of the banner\u2019s theft; Popivker\u2019s visit to campus on January 18, during which police advised him that the student\u2019s order of protection did not permit him to be there; and his return visit on January 25, during which he was arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

From Popivker\u2019s perspective, he is simply speaking out on Israel\u2019s behalf for a campus that has a large pro-Palestinian activist presence but few Jewish students. (There are fewer than 200 Jewish undergraduates on Cleveland State\u2019s campus out of 11,784 students, according to Hillel International.) His goal is to educate, he says, informed by his status as a Jewish refugee from the Soviet Union. And he believes he is being targeted by local pro-Palestinian activists, who, he said, have gone after his kippah and Israeli flags.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never attacked anyone. I never raised my hand up to anyone,\u201d he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, saying that he was motivated by civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. \u201cI\u2019m going to a public university. I\u2019m staying in the free speech zone. And I raise awareness about what\u2019s going on. There\u2019s a bunch of students that have become my friends that come to study with me regularly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those students, senior Tyler Jarosz, told JTA he became friends with Popivker after seeing him visiting campus to advocate for Israel. Not knowing much about Jews or Israel himself \u2014 \u201cI thought Israel was a very peaceful state,\u201d Jarosz said \u2014 the student was taken with Popivker\u2019s demonstrations and said he learned a great deal from them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t just lecture me like a teacher would,\u201d Jarosz said. \u201cHe was actually very engaging. He asked questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jarosz said he never witnessed the rabbi harassing anyone on campus, and said he always tried to engage people in peaceful dialogue, despite what he described as harassment directed at him by some Muslim students. He recalled one Popivker visit to campus for Israel\u2019s independence day, when the rabbi was offering falafel to students, and said he witnessed one student throw the falafel back at him and threaten to \u201crape\u201d him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other students tell a different story. One campus paper, the Cauldron, reported that the rabbi has targeted visibly Muslim and Arab students on campus, demanding to know their views on Israel. Popivker \u201cmakes me wary of coming into campus,\u201d a student member of the Palestinian Human Rights Organization group told the Cauldron. \u201cI\u2019m forced to be on constant edge and take the longer way to class in order to avoid him.\u201d Another student told a different campus newspaper, \u201cIt\u2019s almost as though he deliberately looks for Palestinian individuals just to target them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The chair of the law school\u2019s National Lawyers Guild student chapter told the Cleveland Jewish News that their group\u2019s efforts to engage Popivker in reasonable dialogue failed when he began using \u201cracial slurs and insulting language.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In images from one Popivker demonstration, the rabbi can be seen drawing a swastika with a Sharpie marker on what the Cauldron reported was a keffiyeh, a scarf worn by Arabic men, but which Popivker told JTA was a Palestinian scarf with no spiritual significance. He has also yelled phrases including \u201cPalestinians are Nazis\u201d and \u201cPalestinians are the KKK,\u201d and constructed a stage with images further linking Palestinians to Naziism, according to reports. Popivker\u2019s own Instagram videos show him approaching groups of students to argue about Israel as he films them, calling some of them \u201cterrorists\u201d when they go after his flags. One of his video captions mentions \u201ca Middle Eastern-looking student.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A swastika Alexander Popivker drew on a Palestinian scarf (alleged by some students to be a keffiyeh, or ritual Muslim prayer scarf) while mounting a pro-Israel demonstration on the campus of Cleveland State University. Popivker then shared the image to his Instagram, February 3, 2023. (Screenshot)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Cleveland State increased its safety protocols as a result of Popivker\u2019s activities, locking some additional entrances around campus. But much of his activities have been online, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last fall Popivker trained his attention on a law student who was involved with campus Palestinian rights groups and had made some anti-Israel posts online, including sharing an image of a child whom pro-Palestinian groups claimed had been a victim of an Israeli bombing, and sharing a socialist group\u2019s post quoting, \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Documents show that Popivker emailed and called the student\u2019s employer and law school seeking to have her disciplined for her beliefs, writing among other things that she was a \u201cmouthpiece of terrorism and racism against Jews.\u201d He also made Instagram posts targeting her. In response, the student filed for and received the order of protection against him, which Popivker later claimed was unwarranted because he had never met the student in person.<\/span><\/p>\n

In its statement to JTA, the Lawfare Project homed in on this sequence of events, saying that Popivker\u2019s decision to email the student\u2019s school and employer about what he believed to be antisemitic social media posts was \u201ca tool routinely used by civil rights activists to fight discrimination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Popivker asked Jarosz to send a letter attesting to his character for the order of protection hearing, which he did. \u201cAlex understands and respects everybody of every background that he comes across,\u201d the student wrote in his letter. \u201cI have personally witnessed the demonization they have done of him.\u201d Speaking to JTA weeks later, Jarosz said the court case was \u201cbogus,\u201d but said he was unaware of the emails, social media records and phone transcripts reviewed by JTA showing that Popivker had contacted the student\u2019s employer and school.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the order of protection hearing, a transcript of which Popivker sent to JTA, a key witness who advocated for the restriction was law school dean Lee Fisher, a former attorney general and lieutenant governor of Ohio. Fisher is Jewish.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe share a hatred of antisemitism,\u201d Fisher told Popivker during the hearing, according to the transcript. The dean also identified himself as \u201cpro-Israel, very much so.\u201d But Fisher made clear he was critical of Popivker\u2019s activities on campus. Asked by Popivker about a specific social media post the student had made, Fisher responded, \u201cEven if she made a mistake by posting it, it did not warrant the kind of reaction I believe that you had.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fisher had also met with Popivker previously, in a session mediated by a local rabbi who was a friend of Popivker. \u201cI told him that I was concerned for the health and safety of our students,\u201d the dean said during the hearing. He had implored Popivker to stop his campus activities, but the rabbi refused.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the initial order of protection, which Popivker said had already effectively banned him from campus, that the rabbi says he truly opposes. He saw it as evidence that \u201cthey were basically working together with Palestinians\u201d to \u201ccover up the fact that they have an antisemitic group that openly propagates a destruction of Israel.\u201d Popivker visited campus several times after receiving the order of protection but was permitted to stay with only a warning from campus police, Jarosz recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

This state of affairs lasted until the rabbi stole the Palestinian student group banner to, he said, \u201cshine a light on this antisemitism.\u201d Popivker described to JTA how he entered the student building, walked up to the third floor where he knew the banner was, and used scissors to remove it and take it with him: \u201cClip, clip, clip.\u201d He was subsequently thrown in jail \u2014 his second such stint in Cleveland for pro-Israel activities, he said, criticizing local law enforcement for not providing him with kosher food while he was behind bars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of campus, Popivker is active in other areas. Last year, he organized a GoFundMe to support the family of a former classmate of his who was killed by an Islamic State supporter in a terrorist attack in Beersheba, Israel. He also applied to fill a January vacancy on the Cleveland Heights city council, but later withdrew his application.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Popivker may preach nonviolence, his social media activity points to more radical ideologies, as well. On Instagram, he has shared an image of the flag of the Jewish Defense League, an extremist Jewish group that advocates violence against enemies of Jews, founded by convicted terrorist Rabbi Meir Kahane, as well as an image with a logo of Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Israeli group that has in the past been accused of inciting violence against Israeli human rights groups. Popivker told JTA he is not a member of either group, but that \u201cif I think it\u2019s aligned with what I believe in, I\u2019ll share it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Popivker says that, for now, he\u2019s done with his brand of \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d and won\u2019t be making his weekly visits to Cleveland State\u2019s campus. \u201cI do have five wonderful boys and a loving wife, and as much as Cuyahoga [County\u2019s] jail is an educational experience in life in many ways, I do not want to go there every week,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, days after his arrest and campus ban, Popivker posted a photo of himself with an Israeli flag to social media \u2014 this time outside a casino a mile away from campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbi arrested, banned from Cleveland universities over anti-Palestinian activism ANDREW LAPIN Rabbi Alexander Popivker accused of harassing students; video appears to show him draw swastika on Muslim headscarf and say, \u2018Palestinians and Nazis are the same thing\u2019 . Rabbi Alexander Popivker (right) with his wife, Sarah, mounting a pro-Israel display on the campus of Cleveland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102214"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102233,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102214\/revisions\/102233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}