Two Pennsylvania lawmakers are questioning officials at a state-supported university after a professor publicly called for the destruction of Israel.
In a letter Wednesday to the president of Lincoln University, state Sens. Daylin Leach and Anthony Williams ask if the professor is expressing anti-Semitic views on campus.
Video of a Sept. 3 rally in Washington, D.C., shows tenured literature professor Kaukab Siddique saying Israel must be destroyed, if possible by peaceful means.
"We must stand united to defeat, to destroy, to dismantle Israel--if possible by peaceful means," Kaukab Siddique said. "Perhaps, like Saladin, we will give them enough food and water to travel back to the lands from where they came to occupy other people."
"For the Jews, I would say see what could happen to you if the Muslims wake up," Siddique warned. "And I say to the Muslims, dear brothers and sisters, unite and rise up against this hydra-headed monster which calls itself Zionism."
Following an outrage sparked by his comments, Siddique told The Philadelphia Inquirer "I am against Israel - not against Jews."
A statement from Lincoln says officials are unaware of Siddique's offensive views being expressed on campus.
Lincoln is a historically black university of about 2,000 students about 45 miles (70 kilometers) outside Philadelphia.
Siddique is an associate professor of English at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
