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Palestinian Lecturer Who Led Auschwitz Trip Quits after Backlash

(Times of Israel) Yifa Yaakov - Al-Quds University Professor Mohammed Dajani, who served as head of the university's Department of American Studies - and who led a delegation of Palestinians to the Auschwitz concentration camp - has resigned following weeks of pressure and threats. In March, Dajani led a delegation of 30 Palestinian students to Auschwitz-Birkenau, guided by two Jewish Holocaust survivors. Dajani was praised in Israel and the West for taking the trip to the former Nazi death camp in Poland, but was condemned by Palestinians, who called him a traitor. According to Ha'aretz, Dajani had hoped the university would reject his resignation, sending a "clear and loud message" to "the Palestinian community" that "the university supports academic freedom and considers my trip as an educational journey in search of knowledge." However, the university accepted his resignation on June 1. "My letter of resignation from Al-Quds University was a kind of litmus test to see whether the university administration supports academic freedom and freedom of action and of expression as they claim or not."
2014-06-10 00:00:00
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