Absurdity: Jewish Professor Who Claimed Israel Commits Genocide to Be Compensated $250,000

The Center for Constitutional Rights in the US announced that Prof. Raz Segal, an Israeli-American Holocaust and genocide scholar, will be compensated by the University of Minnesota with about $250,000. Segal, whose appointment to head an academic center for the study of the Holocaust and genocide was canceled after he sparked public controversy by claiming that Israel commits genocide in Gaza, will be compensated as part of a settlement reached with the university administration. Initially, the university stood behind the selection, but only five days after the position was offered to him, its interim president, Jeff Ettinger, withdrew the offer. The cancellation came after heavy pressure from Jewish groups and donors. Within two days of his appointment, two professors resigned from the advisory board, and one of them, Bruno Chaouat, attacked Segal. The JCRC organization accused him of holding "extreme" positions. The Center for Constitutional Rights obtained internal documents through a freedom of information request, revealing pressures on the university administration. Donors wrote to Ettinger that Segal used "offensive imagery toward Jews" and warned that fundraising "would stop completely." A draft response stated that the university does not apply "political litmus tests," but the sentence was omitted after a warning that a firm defense "could be dangerous." Segal did not retract his position, repeatedly calling what is happening in Gaza "genocide," and presented the affair as an attempt to silence him. He emphasized that he is Jewish, a grandson of four Holocaust survivors, and that the university's decision exposed its "intellectual and moral bankruptcy."