The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has called off a scheduled talk by the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after more than 1,000 people signed an online petition accusing the controversial speaker of having a “one-sided pro-Israeli bias” and spreading divisive views and “hate speech”.
HKU’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures website showed that the one-hour talk, “The Dangers of Antisemitism and Online Hate Speech”, by Jonathan Greenblatt was officially cancelled just hours before he was scheduled to speak on Tuesday morning.
The petition against the CEO of the New York-based NGO urged the university to “withdraw its invitation for [Greenblatt’s] dividing views, one sided pro-Israeli bias and hate speech”. Nearly 1,100 people had signed the petition as of 1pm on Tuesday.
The university’s faculty of arts confirmed that the event was cancelled but did not respond to the Post’s inquiry about whether the change was in response to the online petition.
Local media reported that a few people staged a protest outside the venue before they learned that the talk was cancelled. A campus security guard contacted police over the small-scale protest.
The ADL, which Greenblatt has led since 2015, was founded to combat antisemitism and other forms of bigotry and discrimination.
The online petition said about 100 social justice and civil rights groups had signed an open letter urging other organisations not to work with the ADL since 2021.
