By: Joie-Ting Jing Ng and Nikole Rajgor
Palestinian, Indigenous and Arab students openly condemned a divisive video created by a Hunter graduate professor amidst the 75-year-long apartheid in Gaza, intensified by the Oct.7 Hamas attack on Israel.
In a video uploaded to social media on Oct. 18 titled “Dear Hamas,” Tamy Ben-Tor, an Israeli professor in Hunter’s Master of Fine Arts program, wore a mask portraying the caricature of an Arab man. The video’s existence, originally brought to light by Hunter student group Palestinian Solidarity Alliance (PSA), was taken down from Instagram and is now only available on Ben-Tor’s YouTube channel. The video has since sparked an immense wave of backlash amongst the Hunter community, with some students taking to social media to demand Ben-Tor’s termination as a faculty member.
“I am still on the fence about the massacre of babies, on the one hand, they were colonizing babies, they were Zionist babies, and on the other hand…,” said Ben-Tor in the video. “I’m sure you’ll support our LGBTQ library that we’re building, the women’s rights movement that is offering our full support to you, dear Hamas….brave men who invaded a colony and massacred the ‘innocent’ babies and raped the ‘innocent’ women of that colony.”
The statement follows unverified reports that President Biden had seen photographic evidence of beheaded children from Israeli defense forces. Those claims were later clarified by the White House to have no evidence.
“We have heard from many students, faculty and alumni in the last few days about social media content that is inconsistent with our values as a learning community,” said Hunter interim president Ann Kirschner in an Oct. 27 email regarding the incident. “Simply put, there is no room for Islamophobia, antisemitism or bigotry of any kind at Hunter College.”
“These expressions do not represent Hunter. They reflect personal points of view that, in some cases, demonstrate a lack of compassion for innocent victims of war. And when expressed by faculty, they can have a direct impact on how students feel in our classrooms and on our campus,” Kirschner added.
Kirschner also encouraged students in the email to contact Hunter’s public safety regarding any complaints about hate speech on campus.
Student organizations like the Palestinian Solidarity Alliance, the Bengali Student Association and CUNY for Palestine have collectively come out with statements to investigate the hiring of Ben-Tor while providing increased security measures for Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students.
In an email interview with The Envoy, Ben-Tor said broadcasters like TRT World have re-edited her original video to include pictures of slain Palestinian children, which she said has led to “a racist, violent, vulgar, political propaganda” against her. Ben-Tor also said the actions of the student groups were “violent, racist and dangerous.”
“My original video, ‘Dear Hamas’ is an institutional critique, an artwork, like other artworks I have been known for in the past 20 years,” Ben-Tor said. “This specific video critiques Western academia’s alignment and support of Hamas after Hamas’ massacre in Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas is a self-proclaimed misogynist, Jew-hating, homophobic religious group which is paid to kill.”
Ben-Tor previously dressed as Hitler in a Palestinian keffiyeh in a 2003 video. While Ben-Tor said in an email interview that her work is “satire,” some Jewish students are in ire of her actions.
“I don’t think it’s fair that she mocked what’s going on in Palestine. I just think this teacher in general maybe shouldn’t be in a school society, she should also think about human rights on both sides,” said a junior biology student who identifies as a Zionist and whose full identity remains anonymous for security concerns. “She dressed up as Hitler twice, which is not cool even on both Jewish and Palestinian sides. I think as Zionists we also don’t stand with her beliefs or thoughts, she doesn’t represent us or what it means to be Jewish.”
In an email interview with the secretary of the Palestinian Student Association (PSA), they said the organization is disappointed with Hunter College for “enabling hate speech, blatant Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian sentiment on our campus.”
“Her [Ben-Tors’] recent creation of a video mocking Palestinians and Lenape coupled with the administration’s decision to allow her to continue holding a powerful position on this campus, is a slap in the face to the diverse student body,” the PSA secretary said. They have also requested to remain unnamed for safety concerns.
“If Hunter truly held values of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion they would never have allowed someone with such tropes in their art to take up a position of power on campus.”
Ben-Tor’s video has led some Muslim students at Hunter, particularly those who wear hijabs, to feel more unsafe as Islamophobia increases nationwide. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported 2,171 cases of bias incidents across the U.S. since Oct. 7th.
Laila G., a senior majoring in Media Studies who declined to give her full name for security purposes, also agreed that the video ignited hurt amongst Muslim students, and promoted Islamophobic rhetoric that leads to a fear of experiencing harassment on campus.
“Seeing Tamy’s video made me feel disgusted, but mostly stupefied that someone feels that empowered and comfortable with spreading such rampant hatred without fear of ramification,” she said. “I think Hunter needs to do more to protect its Muslim students, we are tired of having to protect ourselves in the face of hate.”
Ben-Tor’s social media controversy comes in the wake of former Hunter professor and visual artist Shellyne Rodgriuez’s termination in May following a video showing a verbal confrontation between her and an anti-abortion student group on campus. Another video surfaced shortly after of Rodriguez threatening New York Post reporters with a machete after they came to her apartment door without notice to interview her about the video.
Following Ben-Tor’s video and the ensuing reaction, President Kirschner canceled the Nov. 14 on-campus screening of the documentary film Israelism, citing concerns about anti-semitism in the wake of swastikas being spray painted on posters around the campus.
At a senate meeting held shortly after the film’s cancellation, USG President Bassrou Juwara raised the concern of Ben-Tor still being a faculty member. Kirschner said that the administration made arrangements for students to leave Ben-Tor’s class if the video had made them uncomfortable at the same senate meeting for the rescreening of Israelism.
Tami Gold, a film and media professor who was responsible for organizing the Israelism screening, said she does not support the dismissal of Ben-Tor, citing rights to academic freedom.
“The support of diverse speaking has to be defended for everyone. I don’t like what she does, I think it’s grotesque,” said Gold.
“She does things like that not just for Muslims but every group, I think her artwork should really be evaluated by the art community but that does not mean she should be fired. If we could allow her to be fired, they could allow me to be fired.”
The PSA also questioned CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodríguez and the board of trustees on the lack of disciplinary action towards Ben-Tor at a public hearing session on Dec. 4. The organization’s speaker noted the difference in treatment towards Fatima Mousa Mohammed, a CUNY School of Law graduate, whose commencement speech criticizing Israel and the NYPD was labeled as hate speech by the chancellor.
Defamation trucks sent by the organization Accuracy in Media have also circled the city, exposing the identities of CUNY students and faculty for critical views towards Israel. Kirschner in another email said the administration will be adding resources for those who have been defamed, calling the actions “a violation of privacy and smacks of intimidation and harassment.”
“It strikes at the heart of one of the college’s core missions: to analyze and synthesize diverse points of view fearlessly,” Kirschner said.
The Envoy 
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