Dozens of professors from the University of Pennsylvania spent a week in Israel after the resignation of their president due to accusations of anti-Semitism. The delegation, particularly from the

university, visited a kibbutz in southern Israel that was attacked by HAMAS on January 7th in January 2024. Following the events of October 7th, psychology professor Michael Kahana joined hundreds of his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, signing an open letter condemning HAMAS and expressing support for Israel and its right to self-defense. However, the professor wanted to do more.

Therefore, Kahana sent an email to the 340 signatories of the letter, which came amid sharp criticism of Penn's response to the Hamas attack on Israel, inviting them on a trip. This week, 39 professors from the University of Pennsylvania, who accepted Kahana's invitation, spent three days traveling through Israel during the first solidarity visit of the Ivy League teachers since the start of the October 7th war and hearings in Congress on anti-Semitism on campuses.

Many, but not all, professors who participated in the trip were Jewish, and some visited Israel for the first time. During their 66-hour visit, they met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and hostage families, according to JTA.

The statement stated that the main direction of the mission was meetings with academic colleagues from major Israeli institutions, including the Hebrew University, Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, and Tel Aviv University, to ensure "a deeper understanding of the issues facing academic circles of war and conflicts on one side and anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments on the other."

The delegation also met with University of Pennsylvania graduates living in Israel and interacted with Israeli officials, including Amir Yaron, the head of the Bank of Israel, who was previously a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Photo by Smallbones, Wikimedia commons.