Flap over speaker for Palestinian rights

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School has rescinded an offer for an advocate of Palestinian rights to speak at the school after he received death threats and the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester expressed concerns.

The Rev. Graylan Hagler is now slated to speak at the German House in Rochester at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Elaine Johnson, who is a convener for one of the local sponsoring groups, Christians Witnessing for Palestine, said that she holds no animosity toward Colgate Rochester for its decision but said: "There is a pattern of pressuring venues which will be hosting Palestinian rights supporters to cancel events."

Patti Munter, a co-founder of Roc4Israel, applauded Colgate Rochester's decision. "We were instrumental to what happened," said Munter. She said that the local group, which defends Israel, sent a flier about Hagler to about 500 local households.

Meanwhile, four University of Rochester groups got approval for Hagler to speak about "Connecting the Dots: Ferguson to Palestine."

"It is scheduled," said UR spokeswoman Sara Miller. The talk will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday in the Gowen Room of Wilson Commons on UR's River Campus. The event is free, open to the general public and UR's Public Safety will be at the event.

Shurouq Hijazi, 21, a senior majoring in electrical and computer engineering, said that Hagler's message deserves to be heard.

"This is a discussion that should happen on campus," said Hijazi, who is on the board of the Student Association for the Development of Arab Cultural Awareness, one of the groups bringing Hagler to UR. The local group, she said, would begin putting up fliers Tuesday afternoon.

In explaining the divinity school's position, Colgate Rochester President Marvin McMickle issued a statement to students at the divinity school on Tuesday, saying that many of them were aware of the lecture by Hagler sponsored by Witnessing for Palestine.

But, McMickle went on to say,"after certain concerning facts came to light and after consultation with other members" of the divinity school's administration, he notified Witnessing for Palestine that "we are no longer prepared to allow this lecture to take place" on campus.

Death threats made to Hagler also became an issue.

"When we heard about the threats, we stated the need for additional security and we would not provide it," said Thomas McDade Clay, vice president for institutional advancement at Colgate Rochester. And he said the decision to cancel was made on Friday, after it appeared that Witnessing for Palestine would not provide funds for security.

McMickle's statement notes that the divinity school "has been supportive of Palestinian people and publicly critical of the ways by which the State of Israel suppresses the legitimate rights of Palestine,"

But in the case of other speakers, the divinity school either knew the invited speakers or was familiar with their messages,

"Sadly, in this case neither we nor Christians Witnessing for Palestine did an adequate job of vetting and reviewing the particular speaker's message and recent history," said McMickle's statement.

He also said the fact that Hagler's lecture "coincides with Yom Kippur further convinced us of the appropriateness of our decision."

Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Tuesday and ends at nightfall Wednesday.

Hagler, 61, in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he is senior minister of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, expressed disappointment with McMickle's decision.

"I think the reason they canceled was that there was a lot of pressure on them," said Hagler, adding that principles of academic freedom are at stake.

And Hagler said that he never asked for police security. Whatever protection might be needed would presumably be provided by a group from the "faith community" at the German House. Rochester police are also being notified of the threats that have been made against Hagler, said Johnson.

Hagler said that he received an email from a "Bob," who said that he wanted to spit at him if he came to Rochester.

He also received two death threats by telephone last week. The callers did not identify themselves by name.

Larry Fine, who is executive director of the local Jewish Federation, said that last Friday an email was sent to McMickle expressing the group's concerns about Hagler.

"We did not specifically ask for this to be canceled," he said.

Fine noted that the concerns about Hagler are part of ongoing conversations with the divinity school about having a more balanced presentation of speakers.

Witnessing for Palestine was until last Saturday listed on the Colgate Rochester website as co-sponsoring the event with the divinity school. McDade Clay said that even though it was posted that way, the divinity school was not a co-sponsor but rather agreed to host it.

Witnessing for Palestine has now teamed up with the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace in sponsoring Hagler's speech at the German House.

Roc4Israel posted on its Facebook site last week a call for "Wake Up, Rochester" and listed links about Hagler.

In one video, he refers to "pimply-faced white boys in Israeli uniforms," which Hagler said was his description of Israeli soldiers asking for his identification when he was visiting the West Bank city of Hebron.

Another listing quotes Hagler in 2002 saying:" I am so glad that the silence is over, and just like the days in the anti-apartheid movement, we're going to stand up together until we dismantle the State of Israel."'

Among the other listings is Hagler and other U.S activists meeting with then-Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Hagler said that he does not believe that a two-state solution — Israel and a Palestinian state — is possible at this time, but seeks "a truly unbiased society" in the Middle East.

His long history of activism includes serving on the Steering and Administrative Committee of United for Peace and Justice, a national group promoting peace.

Hagler is also former development director of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America and is executive director of Faith Strategies, which he founded in 2012.

On Monday, The York Times quoted Hagler, who appeared at a news conference organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemning GOP candidate Ben Carson's assertion that followers of Islam are not fit to serve as president.

After Colgate Rochester decided against Hagler appearing at the divinity school, some of the members of Henrietta United Church of Christ agreed to let Hagler speak at the church, said the Rev. David Inglis, pastor of that congregation.

The church is of the same denomination as Hagler's and made the offer after being contacted by David Gaeski, minister of the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Organizers of Hagler's appearance opted for the German House because it's in the city, but Inglis said "We'll host the event if needed."

JGOODMAN@Gannett