The satirical student publication targeting a Jewish student and falsely claiming he had authored an op-ed entitled “What About All the Good Things Hitler Did?” is merely the latest in a series of problems that Jewish and pro-Israel students have faced at Rutgers University (“Rutgers Under Bias Fire,” April 15, 2012). Jewish students have been threatened, harassed and discriminated against on campus, and the university has largely ignored these problems.

Consider how Rutgers responded to a campus program sponsored by an anti-Israel student group called BAKA. The program, entitled “Never Again for Anyone,” absurdly and offensively equated the Nazis’ genocide against the Jews with Israel’s defensive polices toward the Palestinians. The program’s content aside, the admissions policy discriminated against Jews and supporters of Israel. BAKA was never held accountable by Rutgers.

Rutgers knows about all these anti-Semitic incidents, but its response has been abysmal. When Jewish students complained, officials refused to even listen. Instead, the Jewish students were treated to a lecture about Islamophobia. They were made to feel like the aggressors, even though they had been victimized.

When speakers and programs demonize Jews or Israel, university leadership must publicly condemn them as anti-Semitic, and also condemn the perpetrators. In addition, Rutgers should enforce its own policies, so that when Jewish students are threatened or discriminated against, the wrongdoers are held accountable.

Rutgers needs to educate its staff and students about the meaning and effect of anti-Semitism, and finally recognize that it’s a problem on campus that the university is committed to remedying.

Mark Twain famously distrusted statistics. This was due to their malleability. Ask the question the right way, and you can claim a mandate for anything.

In contemporary society, statistics are often used to provide “unbiased evidence” for our pre-existing viewpoints. This is not to say that statistics tell us nothing useful. I believe they tell us much that is useful. Statistics, however, are most illuminating if you look more intently at the numbers that challenge rather than simply confirm your assumptions.

As we ready ourselves for Israel’s upcoming birthday celebration and reflect on the last 64 years, we cannot help but swell with pride at our country’s many accomplishments.

In what seems like no time at all, the State of Israel has become a world leader in scientific research and technological development in fields ranging from medicine to green technology. Over the last several decades, there has been a constant stream of citations and awards recognizing the contributions of our country’s academics, leaders, and institutions. In addition, Israel is known as an international hub for innovation and a trailblazer in virtually every discipline — from economics to political science to biotechnology.

Imagine if the NAACP responded with skepticism to the passage of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and urged African Americans to exercise their civil rights cautiously under this law. Title VI was landmark legislation when it was passed in 1964 to remedy racial and ethnic discrimination in programs receiving federal funding.

In fact, the NAACP fought for Title VI’s passage and vigorously seeks to enforce it to uphold the right of African Americans to be free from discrimination.

A well-known D.C. maxim advises that any economic stimulus must be timely, targeted, and temporary. So as legislators begin drafting the 2012 Farm Bill, why are some proposing to cut a program that responds in direct relation to need, supports recipients for an average of just nine months, boasts an extremely low payment error rate and in the process generates $1.79 for every $1 spent?

In the case of SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps — it is because we have let a politically devised gross mischaracterization define how most people understand the program.

As Israel approaches its 64th birthday this Thursday, we who live in the diaspora ought to give serious thought to what that actually means for us.

We conclude each Passover seder by proclaiming “Next year in Jerusalem.” many of us may even sing those words at birthday celebrations this week honoring the Jewish state. We say them and we sing them — but do we mean them? Do we intend to make aliyah — to disrupt our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, and move to a land far away?

The Jewish Standard can always be counted on for conveying information on Jewish events. That is why it is very disappointing that you have not reported on the scandal that is occurring with this year’s Israeli Day Parade. For the past several weeks, it has been known that extremist anti-Israel organizations are being allowed to march in the “Celebrate Israel Parade” on June 3 in Manhattan. These groups — including such as the New Israel Fund, B’Tselem, Partners for Progressive Israel and Rabbis for Human Rights — promote the boycott of Israeli products produced over the so-called “Green Line.” B’Tselem has publicly called for “effective sanctions” against Israel and has also been featured in videos that were shown at “Israel Apartheid 2012” events being held at universities and colleges worldwide.

Answers should be demanded of parade organizers as to why this is happening. All of the positive things that this parade accomplishes will be compromised by the presence of such organizations.

I hope that the Jewish Standard’s readers will demand that parade organizers reverse their decisions. If they do not, then people should donate their hard-earned money to organizations that actually promote Israel.

The Jewish Standard responds: E-mail boxes throughout the country are being filled with Spam-like messages regarding the inclusion of such groups in the annual Israel parade in Manhattan. Actually, it is the New Israel Fund that is participating, as it did last year, and other groups are marching under its banner, as they did last year. These are not “anti-Israel” groups, but they do oppose Israel’s continued presence on the west bank. Last year, in a letter to the editor of the New York Jewish Week, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and Blu Greenberg wrote that the inclusion of such groups in the parade “make clear that the tent of our pro-Israel community is wide enough to encompass many groups striving to make Israel even more democratic and pluralist than it is. Their statement also signals to those on the left that they are welcome and needed in the total effort to uphold Israel; and it signals to those on the right the folly of excluding any group that has such strong Zionist feelings.” We second their sentiments.

Here in Israel, we feel that the American Jewish Community can help in ending Jonathan Pollard’s outdated prison sentence, for a crime for which he alread has paid for dearly. Leaving him one more day in jail, especially as his health worsens, is a slow cruel, death beyond the realm of justice.

In the working of the American justice system, all other prison sentences handed out to people who perpetrated similar or worse breaches of national security ended with the offenders out of jail in considerably less time than Pollard has already spent. The U.S. administration cannot justify keeping Pollard incarcerated forever.

Key figures in U.S. political life, including former attorneys-general, have advocated for Pollard’s release. As Jews, we are commanded to have “one law for you and for the stranger within your gates.” As such, we are obligated to stand for equal justice under the law for all citizens of the United States, which itself subscribes to this principle.

As the presidential election nears, the Jewish community must unite on this issue, using its political potential to demand Pollard’s release. Then, we may say, “And the people redeemed Jonathan and he did not die” (1 Samuel 14:45).