Episode 489 Promo - Tentative Hope (w/ Maura Finkelstein)

Maura Finkelstein reveals the institutional pressures that led to her firing for pro-Palestine speech, highlighting the powerful role of Hillel International on college campuses.

Hillel, originally a Jewish cultural and religious organization, has increasingly aligned with Israeli government interests and Zionist ideology, training students to surveil faculty and peers to suppress pro-Palestine speech.

On Maura's campus, Hillel staff and a former Israeli soldier collaborating with students surveilled her social media, encouraging complaints that culminated in her termination after she reposted a Palestinian poet's anti-Zionism message.

She exposes the existence of the Israel Leadership Network, an Israeli government-supported student organization training campus representatives to promote Israeli interests, paralleling false claims about Hamas support networks.

Maura emphasizes the conflict of interest as Hillel is a major donor to the college, illustrating how institutional power and censorship tactics intertwine to stifle academic freedom.

• Hillel International once served as a Jewish cultural and religious center but shifted to align strongly with Zionist ideals since 1980.
• Students and staff associated with Hillel on Maura Finkelstein's campus actively surveilled her speech and social media, filing complaints to censor pro-Palestine views.

• Criticism of Israel or Zionism often triggers accusations of antisemitism to silence dissent.
• This mechanism enables a network of students trained to surveil and shut down conversations about Palestine on campuses.