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No answers as to why NPR affiliate station removed the interview post-publication
An Eastern Michigan University radio station removed an interview with a rabbi that largely centered on campus antisemitism after a listener complained about a pro-Israel slant in its recent broadcasts, according to public records obtained by The College Fix.
Rabbi Yitz Pierce (pictured) is the program director of the student-centered Jewish Resource Center in Ann Arbor. His interview, which aired on Oct. 30 on WEMU, the university’s NPR affiliate, focused on recent antisemitic incidents in the Ann Arbor area and concerns about Jewish student safety on U.S. campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
The interview appears to have been published and then removed a short time later, although neither the documents nor internet archives show the exact date. The Fix reviewed a transcript of the interview and an email complaint from a listener that was forwarded to university officials, both of which were obtained through open records requests and shared with The Fix.
When The Fix searched online by the station name and the rabbi’s name, Google results show archived references to the interview. However, when The Fix accessed the station’s website, the interview did not appear.
No one at WEMU, including the general manager, the news director, and the host of the interview, responded to multiple requests for comment via email or a phone message left within the past two weeks, asking why the interview was removed, nor did the university Board of Regents, which oversees the station.
University Assistant General Counsel Jordan Miller was forwarded the listener’s email, according to the document reviewed by The Fix. When contacted to ask about the interview being removed, Miller directed The Fix to the university media relations office.
University spokesperson Walter Kraft responded to The College Fix via email, stating: “WEMU operates as an independent news organization. The university doesn’t dictate coverage.”
Meanwhile, Rabbi Pierce told The Fix last week that he was not aware that the interview had been removed.
During the interview, Pierce described an incident that month in which security cameras captured an individual attempting to break into a Jewish community building near the University of Michigan. Pierce told WEMU that the individual kicked the door and repeatedly shouted, “F the Jews! F Israel!” before running away.
He also referenced other recent incidents, including the assault of a University of Michigan student after identifying himself as Jewish and the harassment of two female Jewish students.
Following the broadcast, WEMU received an email from a listener complaining about the rabbi’s interview and the station’s coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, according to the email reviewed by The Fix.
In the email, the listener wrote that the interview “made me feel very poorly as a member of this community who supports Palestinian people and their cause.”
The listener, a self-described donor, objected to what he described as the rabbi’s implication “that the protests are some sort of pre-planned antisemitic attack,” stating that such framing “just escalates tension between Jewish and Muslim folks in Washtenaw County.”
The complaint acknowledged rising antisemitism “due to emboldened bad actors” but also stated “that Islamophobia is also on the rise due to the same thing.”
The listener criticized WEMU’s coverage, writing: “I have not heard from any Pro-Palestinian voices on the local segments and have instead heard a former Israeli Special Forces member and now a Rabbi who believes that to protest at all is to be antisemitic … If you want to voice and platform this kind of rhetoric, be sure to hear from the other side too.”
“This is not about Judaism as a Religion. It is about the genocidal acts of a nation, and calling those actions deplorable,” the listener wrote.
The individual concluded by threatening to stop donating to the station.
When asked about the interview and the complaint, Pierce told The Fix that any explanation he could offer was “necessarily speculative.”
Pierce said his remarks focused on Jewish students’ safety concerns.
“During the interview, I was describing my concern about the escalation from rhetoric into real-world intimidation and violence, grounded primarily in direct experiences affecting our local Jewish community,” Pierce told The Fix last week.
He said the attempted break-in at the University of Michigan Jewish center was the immediate context for the interview. “That incident, rather than protest activity in the abstract, is what prompted the broader discussion,” Pierce said.
The rabbi also noted that recent incidents affecting Jewish students were “genuinely frightening” and these experiences “shape how members of our community perceive risk and safety.”
Addressing concerns about how his comments were interpreted, Pierce said, “My intent was not to suggest that all protest activity is antisemitic, nor that all protesters share violent intent … I explicitly believe that many people involved in demonstrations are well-meaning and motivated by a desire for peace.”
Pierce acknowledged that he referenced protests escalating into confrontation, discussing how there have been instances, including on the University of Michigan campus, where some resulted in arrests, and explained his reasoning for mentioning them.
“My point was that environments charged with extreme rhetoric can sometimes be exploited by individuals acting in bad faith, and that this can increase the risk of violence against vulnerable communities,” Pierce said.
He continued: “Any references I made to organization or funding were intended as general observations about how large-scale movements often develop.” He added, “I should have been clearer in framing those remarks as opinion rather than assertion.”
Pierce concluded by stating that the purpose of the interview was “to give voice to the lived experience of the Jewish community following a violent antisemitic incident.”
“I fully acknowledge that Islamophobia is also real and rising, and I believe strongly that no community should feel unsafe or unheard,” Pierce said.
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