Shabbat shalom. And welcome to this early edition of the JNR. Since I will be in New York City this weekend for some culchah, I wanted to get this week’s posting out before we hit the road.
It’s been a tough week for Jews. We are now in day 21 since Black Shabbat, when the Evil Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1400 innocent Jews. Breaking a long held protocol, Israel called a press conference to share with the international media the evidence of rape, kidnapping and mass murder perpetrated by these Evil people. Israel did this in order to combat the lies and misinformation being circulated by Hamas and pro-Palestinians around the globe. In addition to gut-wrenching videos and photographs of the baby killing brutality, the Israeli’s shared a recording of a phone call from one of the young Hamas murderers to his parents where he told them he had personally murdered 10 Jews with his own hands. His parents, presumably two of the Gaza “innocent citizens”, congratulated him. As shocking as this may sound to normal humans/parents, it pales in comparison to the shock and disgust I am feeling about what is happening on our college campuses around the country.
I graduated from UMass Amherst back in 1979. Before I became an editor of our student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, I was a reporter and covered Student Government and the general political happenings on campus. I distinctly remember there being not one, but three Marxist/Leninist student groups on campus, one of which sponsored, a “Death to the Shah Bake sale”, with signage and cupcakes for sale in order to raise money to assassinate the Shah of Iran, who was pretty much a dickhead. I bring this up not as an analogy to anything related to Hamas and Israel, but as an example and recognition that kids, and they are kids, will do silly and stupid things in College. It is, after all, an environment for exploration, learning, and taking risks. But, and this is a big but, the level of idiocy and naive stupidity has reached levels that go way beyond silly, and are now creating “unsafe” spaces for Jews on campus and are creating an atmosphere that breeds anti-semitism and potential violence.
This rash of anti-Israel activity, particularly on the Ivy League campuses, was the inspiration behind Conor Friedersdorf’s piece in the Atlantic this week, “Students for Pogroms in Israel” with the subtitle, By excusing murder and kidnapping, activist groups have already changed campus politics in America. After getting over his shock at the countless student groups attempting to absolve the murderers and child abductors of all responsibility, Friedersdorf added:
I understand various reasons why advocates for the Palestinian cause might keep quiet––as many supporters of Israel have done after abuses of Palestinians. I understand why, thinking of loved ones in Gaza, they might skip right to anticipating and preemptively denouncing retaliatory attacks, hoping to avert the deaths of still more innocent people. I understand why some observers feel there is a double standard in the West that accords less attention to the killings of Muslim innocents. I saw that firsthand when I condemned America’s drone war and argued for a moratorium, to little avail. When Senator Lindsey Graham says of Gaza, a place dense with civilian children, “Level the place,” I’m appalled.
What I cannot understand is endorsing, validating, or standing in solidarity with war crimes. That so many student organizations did so is stunning. It commits them to positions anathema not only to the conservatives they often tangle with but to left-leaning liberals and progressives, many of whom now perceive a frightening difference in core values that too many had scarcely pondered before.
If you think these are just isolated incidents on a few of the Ivies, you would be wrong. Here is a summary from the TGIF posting by Nellie Bowles of The Free Press of what is now being referred to as the “Ivy Intifada”.
Nearly 2,000 sociologists signed a letter that Israel was committing “genocide” and anything Hamas does is justified by the “context.” The University of California, Berkeley Ethnic Studies Faculty Council released a statement condemning anyone who describes what Hamas did as “terrorism,” which is offensive. The student leader of a Wellesley residential house wroteto the entire dorm she oversees: “We firmly believe that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” Harvard launched a task force to help ensure the pro-Hamas protesters feel safe and can get jobs while also berating any Jews they might find. At George Washington University, students projectedonto the side of the school library: GLORY TO OUR MARTYRS and FREE PALESTINE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA. At Stanford, students are asking the school to pay for round-trip tickets for Muslim students to visit home: “Full round trip covered by University upon the signing of a ceasefire for students to visit their family and friends and grieve properly.” (Okay, fine, that one’s funny; just think of the Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine president calmly trying to explain preferred pronouns to a jihadi upon arrival.
At Cooper Union, pro-Hamas protesters chased a clutch of Jewish students into the library. Video from inside shows the young Jews standing, frightened, as the protesters pound on the doors. What exactly would they have done if they got in? Librarians reportedly offered to hide the students in the attic. The joke writes itself.
The protesters trying to ram through those doors to beat up the Jewish students might even be up for some extra credit. Professors are starting to offer it to anyone who joins a pro-Hamas protest.
Here’s Berkeley professor Victoria Huynh: “Hi everyone, We’re offering a field trip and/or extra credit opportunity: (1) Students can attend the national student walkout tomorrow against the settler-colonial occupation of Gaza (info attached below) OR (2) Students can watch a short documentary on Palestine and call/email your local California representative using this linktree. Doing so will either count as a field trip or an extra 5 points on the field trip category of your grade.” First of all: Who talks to college students about “field trips?” Anyway, UCLA professors are also offering extra credit for students who go to pro-Hamas rallies.
And after graduation, the future that awaits these students trying to ram through the doors also looks golden: here are some of the hundreds of academic job postings for roles in various normal-sounding departments that say they’re only looking for people who want to push for “decolonization.”
Sensing the vibes weren’t right, Columbia postponed its annual Giving Day, which usually raises tens of millions for the school. It’s really hard to shake down Jewish alumni when your faculty and students are also trying to do a pogrom. The list of donors who are pulling their gifts keeps growing: the latest is billionaire Leon Cooperman, who declared on television: “I think these kids at the colleges have shit for brains.”
Cooperman sums it up pretty well for me.
In the stacks this week: Here are a few links to some interesting reading.
Ripping down posters of kidnapped children – From the Free Press, a story by Candace Mittel Kahn – A disturbing and particular act of vandalism has gone viral in recent days. You’ve probably seen the videos online: people in cities across the West ripping down posters with the photographs and names of the hostages being held in Gaza. In her brilliant piece, Candace tries to make sense of how a college friend ended up “standing on a street corner, tearing apart pictures of kidnapped Israelis and flinging them to the ground like a dirty tissue.”
Michael Oren: A war against the Jews – I met Michael Oren back in the 90’s when I was on the Board of the American Jewish Committee in Boston. He was pretty impressive in his knowledge of the middle east. In this piece he pivots from the way the media has mishandled the war and argues that anti-zionism is anti-semitism.
John McWharter: The ultimate condescension to Palestinians – There is a patronizing racism in the idea that slaughtering innocent people equates to noble freedom fighting, as if this were the only way to respond to oppression.
Six Myths about Hamas: ‘Hamas seeks peace.’ ‘Their rockets are harmless.’ And more lies we’ve been told for years that keep getting repeated today.
Time is fleeting. So much to read, so little time. I thought I would end with something uplifting, as I am sure we could all use a bit of joy during these depressing times. Playing for Change is a group that brings together people from all over the world to sing and play songs of hope and joy. I hope you enjoy this from Stevie Wonder. “Higher Ground” is a song that speaks of the perseverance it takes to reach a higher consciousness. Let’s all keep trying together, to at least find some common ground.
Be safe out there. My thoughts of course to the folks in Lewiston.
Brad out.
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