ADL Praises Kent State President For Clear Statement Rejecting Faculty Member’s Anti-Israel Outburst

Date: October 28, 2011

Cleveland, OH, October 28, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today praised the president of Kent State University for his clear statement condemning the behavior of a professor who interrupted a speech by a guest lecturer, a former Israeli government official, with the cry “Death to Israel!”

Kent State President Lester A. Lefton called the behavior of the professor, Julio Pino, “deeply troubling,” adding that his interruption of the lecture by Ishmael Khaldi, former deputy consul general at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco, was “reprehensible, and an embarrassment to our university.”

 “We welcome President Lefton’s clear condemnation of Professor Julio Pino’s deplorable conduct,” said Nina Sundell, ADL Ohio Regional Director.  “Statements such as ‘Death to Israel’ extend beyond legitimate political discourse.  When the statement is shouted by a university professor at a university student organization event on campus, it is even more harmful.”

In his October 25 lecture at Kent State University, Mr. Khaldi spoke about his experiences as a Bedouin and an Israeli civilian, and other issues involving the Middle East.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.