Duquesne law professor, Pitt scholar listed on ‘Reverse Canary Mission’ website

But Reverse Canary Mission, Kaufman said, fails at its most fundamental level.

Rona Kaufman isn’t concerned about being listed on the website Reverse Canary Mission.

“If there’s an organization that wants to amplify my voice, I love that. That’s the greatest thing ever,” said Kaufman, an associate professor at Duquesne University’s law school. “Tell people that I am defining anti-Zionism as a hate movement that spreads vicious libel against the Jewish people through the state of Israel, with the purpose of stigmatizing Jews and ultimately justifying and motivating violence, including death against us, and then later denying it.”

That’s probably not the reaction the administrators of the website were aiming for when they listed Kaufman.

Calling itself a “grassroots, volunteer-based community initiative dedicated to collective liberation and justice for all people,” Reverse Canary Mission exposes people whom it perceives to be pro-Israel.

It claims, though, its mission is to highlight “individuals who advocate for the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Kaufman has never advocated for ethnic cleansing or genocide. In fact, most people listed on the website — including a number of Pittsburghers — apparently are on the site because they signed a letter arguing for the right of Israel to defend itself or did not criticize the Jewish state loudly enough. Singer Billie Ellish is listed on the site despite wearing a red hand pin to the 2024 Oscars as part of the Artists4Ceasefire campaign. Rapper Kanye West, who has a long history of antisemitic statements, also is included.

The schizophrenic site even lists Rep. Ilhan Omar, who supports the BDS movement and has called for ending weapon sales and financial support to Israel. Her frequent outbursts against Israel have often led to accusations of antisemitism. But she made the site because she voted in favor of a House resolution that affirmed Israel’s right to exist.

Reverse Canary Mission was launched in response to another controversial website — Canary Mission — which purports to “document individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.”

Both sites include photos of their various subjects and information about what earned them a place on the webpage.

Kaufman’s offense is that she signed the “Scholars of Truth about Genocide” letter written in September, 2025, in response to a letter written by the International Association of Genocide Scholars condemning Israel.

“They accused Israel of genocide and then the group was exposed for not being a group of scholars — anyone could join. It was a $25 membership fee,” Kaufman said. Only 20% of the organization’s members voted on the issue and, of those, only 80% voted in favor of the letter.

While Reverse Canary Mission said the letter signed by Kaufman “attempts to whitewash, sanitise (sic) and legitimise (sic) Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine by distorting law, erasing systemic violence and framing Palestinian resistance as terrorism,” Kaufman said it is Reverse Canary Mission that has the facts wrong.

“We went through what genocide in law means and refuted the argument,” she said.

Pittsburgher Jeffrey Pollock, an attorney, is also listed on the website. Like Kaufman, he caught the administrators’ attention by signing the Scholars of Truth letter. The site also notes Pollock’s past role as the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Zionist Organization of America.

Like Kaufman, he isn’t intimidated by his inclusion.

“I take it as a badge of honor that I made the list,” he said. “If there are dozens of Muslim states, then we can certainly have one country for Jews where they should be able to protect themselves and live safe from holocausts and things like that. So, the fact that I made the list is a surprise, but I guess I deserve it.”

Reverse Canary Mission, Pollock said, is akin to the McCarthyism of the 1950s that sought to scapegoat some Americans.

“I certainly don’t enjoy being on the receiving end,” he said.

Kaufman, who has received death threats over the last two years, said she views the site as an “implicit threat.”

“It’s quite unpleasant to receive those messages, but I guess we live in a world where it only takes a person a second to click on something and say something ugly,” she said.

Jennifer Murtazashvili, professor and founding director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets, also made the list. She apparently is listed because she is a member of the university’s antisemitism working group.

Murtazashvili’s inclusion was amplified on social media by one local virulent anti-Zionist, a social worker whose past X posts have included, “If I say what Israel deserves I will be thrown in prison,” and “I woke up hating Israel even more than I did yesterday.”

“It feels personal,” Murtazashvili said. “They are ‘warning’ people at Pitt about me so clearly; they were tipped off to my inclusion, which is why they’re sharing.”

The Pitt professor has been the target of several antisemitic and anti-Zionist attacks over the last few years.

“This is very personal targeting that I have to involve the campus police in,” she said. “It’s unacceptable.”

The threats, she said, are intended to silence free speech, which, ironically, the creators of the site and those who promote it claim to support. But she refuses to feel less safe.

Murtazashvili isn’t bothered by the existence of the website, or that of the original Canary Mission. Free speech, she said, is a fundamental right in America. Instead, it’s the attempt to harass and intimidate people with which she has an issue.

“I’m a free speech absolutist,” she said, noting she has defended the right of pro-Palestinian speakers to appear on campus. “The worst thing we can do as a Jewish community is silence free speech. In the marketplace of ideas, the more people who support Hamas are able to speak, the public will see that and understand.”

Kaufman agrees with Murtazashvili regarding free speech. But Reverse Canary Mission, Kaufman said, fails at its most fundamental level.

“I thought, ‘My goodness, this is great. The website will be a resource for me to find all the other Zionists out there because we have not compiled our own list of people in academia or politics.’ But it turns out the threshold for being exposed by them is so low it’s not helpful to me.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.