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May 5, 2024
Key Takeaways:
- It's been 212 days since October 7, 2023, when, on Simchat Torah, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and murdered 1,200 people (including 44 Americans). More Jews were murdered on that day than on any day since the Holocaust. Hamas wounded 3,300 and took 240 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and unspeakable, undeniable sexual violence; 133 hostages, half probably dead, some raped and possibly pregnant, remain captive in Gaza today.
- We need to do much better in separating truth from fiction regarding campus unrest. We don't help by rushing to believe rumors and failing to keep this serious issue in perspective. At the same time, we must not and cannot ignore the undeniable antisemitism that has occurred.
- Antisemitism in the U.S. will get worse if Donald Trump becomes president and Israel's safety and security will be imperiled. We cannot forget that we are not voting for university president in November. We are voting for President of the United States, and that choice is more consequential and deserves more of our time than anything happening on campus.
- In a fit of childish pique, several Jewish organizations withdrew from a White House meeting on antisemitism because they didn't like some of the other Jewish organizations invited to the meeting.
- Urge House Republicans to allow a vote on the Countering Antisemitism Act, which--unlike the misguided, misnomered Antisemitism Awareness Act, will meaningfully fight antisemitism.
Read to the end for corrections, what you may have missed last week, fun stuff, and upcoming events.
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Hi Steve,
I pride myself on providing independent, fact-based analysis rather than providing nothing more than a clip service. Jay Michaelson posted two articles last week that tempted me to share them with you and take the week off. I managed to resist the temptation to take the week off but you could not do better than to read these two articles if you want to understand the college protests.
First (they should be read in order), read Can American Jews step back from the brink of conspiratorial paranoia? Using the false story about a stabbing at Yale that was neither a stabbing nor an antisemitic incident as a starting point, Michaelson calls out the widespread overreaction to, and misrepresentation of, the campus anti-Israel protests.
After you read that article, read his article-length caveat: "The protesters are also to blame. They have used extreme and counterproductive tactics, tolerated and even partnered with murderous zealots, and taken the most extreme possible positions on the future of Israel/Palestine, undermining the work of peace activists and, ultimately, harming the population they mean to help."
I'll add four additional observations: First, every campus is different and on any campus different Jewish students experience the same events differently. Some, but not all, students are protesting peacefully for peaceful solutions (including one-state solutions).
Second, if protests that involve violence, preventing other students from using campus spaces or buildings, or bullying or harassing other students is a university "tradition" on some campuses, then those universities need to rethink their traditions. Open, inclusive discussion and debate conducted with kindness and open minds might be a better tradition than shouting others down and shunning others because of their beliefs.
Third, many of the protesters are not students. In at least three universities, a majority of those arrested were not students. Knowing that the person shouting antisemitic slogans is not a student probably does not make victims of the slurs feel any better, and violence committed by non-students is still violence, but a more accurate understanding of the problem will help us solve the problem.
Finally, we have an election in 183 days. The presidents of these universities will not be on your ballot. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will. Imagine if Mr. "very good people on both sides" was president now. Imagine if the man who incited an antisemitic, insurrectionist riot on January 6 far worse than anything we've seen on any campus was president. President Biden saved thousands of Israeli lives when Iran flooded Israel with missiles through the coordinated defense he organized. U.S. and allied forces shot down missiles that could have leveled entire neighborhoods. Imagine if Mr. "America First" was president.
President Biden is providing moral clarity. On May 2, President Biden said, "Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest." Regarding antisemitism on college campuses, Biden said, “There should be no place on any campus, no place in America, for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students.”
But do the protests work? When asked if the pro-Palestinian protests had forced him to reconsider any of the policies with regard to the region, Biden said "no."
Nicholas Kristof urged the protesters to reconsider their tactics if their goal is to help Palestinians. He reminds them of the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s: "Students who protested then were right on the merits: The war was unwinnable and conducted in ways that were reckless and immoral. Yet those students didn’t shorten that terrible war; instead, they probably prolonged it. Leftist activists in 1968 didn’t achieve their goal of electing the peace candidate Gene McCarthy; rather, the turmoil and more violent protests helped elect Richard Nixon, who pledged to restore order — and then dragged the war out and expanded it to Cambodia."
His entire column is worth reading, including his observation that "protesters have demands including divestment and cutting off ties with Israel. But ending relations with Israel doesn’t help Gazans, and, on the contrary, it’s useful for universities to have exchanges with a broad range of places, including those whose policies we disagree with" (he goes on to explain why divestment won't hurt Netanyahu or help Gazans).
Many of us feel alienated from these campus protests--including some of the pro-Israel protests and counter-protests--because they fail to acknowledge the humanity of the other side. Where are the protests with Israeli and Palestinian flags? Where are the protests calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid for Palestinians and release of all hostages and condemnation of Hamas? Where are the protests acknowledging that Gaza is on the brink of famine, that children in Gaza have been killed and maimed, and the horrific sexual violence that occurred on October 7 and the 1,200 slaughtered that day?
Where are the protests acknowledging that Jews and Palestinians have legitimate claims on the same land, that millions of Jews and Palestinians are not leaving, and that while neither side has to give up their narrative, both sides have to give up their claims on some land that they think is rightfully theirs?
Why must these truths be contradictory? They are not. We can firmly back Zionism, Israel's safety and security, and our opposition to antisemitism in all forms consistent with all of this--we can make a good argument that our love for Israel is complementary to all of this. I know that none of this makes for catchy slogans. But is it too much to ask for, especially in universities dedicated to dialogue and learning from one another?
Debating Zionism is like debating the American Revolution. Justly or unjustly created, Israel is here. If you don't expect millions of Palestinians to let bygones be bygones and give up their national aspirations, how can you expect millions of Jews born in Israel with their own sense of history to give up theirs? It doesn't work that way. Ever. Jews won't give up their state for a binational state and they, like the Palestinians, are not leaving.
Hamas and the extremists in Netanyahu's coalition don't want a two-state solution but for the rest of us, a two-state solution is the best, most realistic solution (those advocating for one democratic state are not antisemitic for doing so, and in theory such a state could be a Jewish homeland and consistent with the aims of Zionism--the issue is whether either side would accept it and how it would work in practice).
To those on the right arguing a maximalist position in opposition to a two-state solution and that the Jewish history in the land is longer than the Palestinian history in the land, I would urge you to remember the words of Daniel Seidemann: "It is regrettable that when opponents of dividing [the land] say mine is longer than yours, they mean history.”
The answer is empathy and compassion. Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, an Israeli peace activist who graduated from Columbia, writes "I too question the Zionist project. I grew up on the Zionist narrative. But when I discovered I had been told only part of the story, my answer was not to believe the Palestinian narrative over the Zionist one — because it, too, is only part of the story. The answer is to acknowledge both stories and both people’s suffering and try to find a way to hold it all and everyone’s humanity.
"My ideal is for us to all live in peace and dignity on this land from the River to the Sea. That means two states, with perhaps down the line more open borders and cooperation — if we do the work to reconcile and heal. That is what my Zionism is about. Not Jewish supremacy or theocracy or even having a Jewish state; it is about having a safe place for Jews to live. But not at the expense of another nation. And so, my vision for this place would have to be safe for everyone."
If you are a university administrator, consider this advice from the Washington Post on how to confront antisemitism, deal with protests, and respect free speech and this advice from David French: Universities should "declare unequivocally that they will protect free speech, respect peaceful civil disobedience and uphold the rule of law by protecting the campus community from violence and chaos. Universities should not protect students from hurtful ideas, but they must protect their ability to peacefully live and learn."
How not to fight antisemitism: In a fit of childish pique, several Jewish organizations withdrew from a White House meeting on antisemitism because they didn't like some of the other Jewish organizations invited to the meeting. Imagine disrespecting the White House like that--you ask for a meeting, you get a meeting, and then you back out of the meeting because some of the invitees define "antisemitism" better than you do.
Welcome antisemites and bigots like Christians United for Israel to your rallies? Sure. Why not? We need all the allies we can get. But Jewish organizations to your left at a meeting on how to fight antisemitism? That's where you draw the line. Joel Braunold summarized the absurdity of what happened on Friday in one tweet.
Last week, the House passed the misguided, misnomered Antisemitism Awareness Act. Alan Solow explains that the Antisemitism Awareness Act's "claim to helping combat the disturbing surge in anti-Jewish incidents across the United States is, upon closer examination, little more than a symbolic gesture that could actually weaken the fight against this bigotry."
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said on May 2, "this legislation threatens freedom of speech, one of our most cherished values, while doing nothing to combat antisemitism." At best, as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said, "it seems unlikely that this meaningless ‘gotcha’ legislation can help much—but neither can it hurt much." If that's the best we can hope for, it does not deserve time in the Senate. If House Republicans care about fighting antisemitism, they should call the Countering Antisemitism Act to the floor for a vote.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter, I wrote "October 7, 2013" when I meant "October 7, 2023."
In Case You Missed It:
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50 Completely True Things, by Mo Husseini(although he includes one thing whose truth I question). But what a list; this deserves to go viral.
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Greg Sargent is right: If Republicans hold hearings on campus unrest, Democrats should use the opportunity to highlight that within the GOP antisemitism has been mainstreamed at the highest levels and that Trump and "the complicit GOP are the party that brought us the most serious outbreak of U.S. political violence in recent memory."
- David Schraub explains why the college antisemitism monitors called for in the proposed COLUMBIA Act (yes, someone spent taxpayer-funded time coming up with an acronym that spells "Columbia") are a bad idea.
Tweet of the Week. Amy Spitalnick.
Twitter Thread of the Week. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
Video Clip of the Week. Norm Macdonald on Jay Leno.
Music Videos of the Week. The Beatles Revolution. This was recorded in 1968. Just for fun, look at the same band, same singing arrangement, same positions on stage, five years earlier.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved 2022 and 2023 Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder. If someone forwarded this to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism and on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
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