In the name of George Washington
NewsMany campuses in the US have been taken over by Hamas sympathisers among a broad pro-Palestinian movement. These universities, which include Columbia and CUNY, are increasingly becoming no-go areas for those who think Israel has a right to exist, among them Jewish students and academics.
Take a look at the George Washington University one of these nights. It’s in Washington DC, home of the brave and land of the free.
Fellow Jews: Arm yourselves.
No. Disarm the haters.
Better yet, do both.
I think Mr. Rosen is right. We are seeing on a large scale what emerged during the BLM riots in the United States – open antisemitism and attacks on synagogues.
The head of BLM called for the annihilation of Israel and has been rewarded with millions of dollars of corporate cash. Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton have been normalized. These are not safe times for Jews.
How?
Norman, please let me clarify my response to your suggestion that we should “disarm the haters”. My question is “HOW can we disarm the haters?”
There is more anti-Semitism on US college campuses than there was at the Nuremburg party conference in 1936.
It grows out of the woke oppressors vs. oppressed world-view that they’ve had pounded into them for years in school (both before and during their college years) in combination with the fact that much of the American culture these young people consume is also dominated by people who share that world view.
A lot of people seem to be finally waking up to that. They were fine with it as long as the hatred was just being aimed at their domestic political enemies or their own country in general.
Just stop it, James. Please. You know nothing about US college campuses & why this is happening. You’re too eager to make everything about anti-semitism. In the US we are completely slammed with pro-Israel news and demonstrations, also happening on these campuses. Those on the other side are declaring US college campuses as anti-Arab. Get off of your soapbox, please.
Nonsense
Where’s the evidence? A couple of non-specific slogans don’t make for an antisemitic university, or an anti-Israel one.
These particular slogans do.
Would you feal safe in a university that promots the overtaking of your national state by those who openly call for exterminating 8 million of its’ inhabitants?
Yaron, US universities are not just about you & your people. US universities promote free speech on a wide variety of issues and it can cause a lot of conflict. People don’t feel safe at universities because of differing opinions on a number of issues. Palestine-Israel is one of many.
This is the US. The US Constitution requires free speech under the 1st ammendment. Universities have to adhere to that or they can lose their funding. That is the law.
If you don’t agree with the US Constitution, or with US laws, then don’t send your students to study at universities here. And if you believe that the US right to free speech is discriminating against Israelis, then Israel should stop accepting billions of dollars in aid every year from the US.
Where have you been in recent years? American colleges and universities have become notorious for NOT allowing free speech when the speech doesn’t come from the proper (i.e. leftist) perspective. They have two sets of speech standards; one for each side of the political spectrum – much the same way our media outlets have double standards.
Absolutely disagree. Far right groups are very outspoken on US campuses. They make the most noise when they are surpressed in any way.
Both Sides Now, so it would be a requirement of Free Speech for US universities to plaster posters to advocate the destruction of themselves?
If there were students or groups who wanted that view expressed, yes, I’m sure it would be. It wouldn’t be unusual. People often call for the “destruction” of institutions which they object to. That’s a big part of free speech & it happens a lot in the US.
So you think it’s also ok to chant in the name of freedom of speech “we want a jewish genocide”, as it happened at UCLA? Or chanting “from the river to the sea” – which means magical “removal” of 9 million israelis, jews, arabs and christans from their homeland? Or protesting with “clean up the world from jews” signs, as also happened in other universities? Are you OK with it? Yes? Oh, sorry, I forgot those protesters don’t even know which river or which sea they are talking about. Let me suggest a revolutionary idea for universities – go and make some research before you decide to say whatever you want just because you think it’s right. They should learn critical thinking, cross checking and analyzing facts, and not chanting nonsense hate speech. Sorry but “opinions” based on ignorance and pure hate should not be heard, they should be corrected! And more importantly, what is wrong with your moral judgement? You can fight for human rights of the palestinians and criticize israeli government as much as you wish, like many israelis do, but there should be NO TWO SIDES when a terror organization pulls out babies from pregnant woman, cuts fingers and eyes of childrens in front of their parents, and burn alive entire families, kidnap 80+ years old. Even the fact that this is something that needs to be explained is unbelievable.
No, big misunderstanding here. US college campuses, especially those which receive public funds, are obligated by law to allow free speech from groups representing all interests on campus. It’s the First Ammendment of the US Constitution. Trust me, it can be very problematic.
It’s not that US campuses are suddenly all pro-Palestinian, it’s that by law US campuses must allow speakers from those interests as well as from pro-Israel groups to present on campus. If the school doesn’t allow this, their federal funding can be revoked.
This is why US college campus are hotbeds right now for both sides of this current conflict. Just as there are pro-Palestians demonstrating, there are also of plenty of pro-Israel groups demonstrating on campuses. Stop blaming everything on anti-semitism.
I have no objection to all sides of any issue being aired. What concerns me is uncritical treatment of “sides.” These are university students, and if they happen to be pro-Palestinian, that is their right — but do they not have the critical faculties to see that what Hamas did on October 7 was an obscenity, and a crime against humanity?
And do they think, as an IDF spokesman has recently said, that there is a magic wand whereby Israel, which MUST remove the blight of a Hamas governing the space next door to them, can make sure that that is done without some ancillary damage?
What sort of American university student cheers the taking of hostages, after a brutal massacre of men, women, children, babies? Of course nobody wants a massive acceleration of violence in the area, or the failure of civil services to protect innocent civilians in Gaza. But do people in universities seriously think Israel should just crumple up at this attack?
I am constantly astonished — and appalled — at what is coming out of universities these days.
V. Lind, up until now I’ve agreed with your posts. I think you’re a bit off on this one.
The free speech legal mandate on college campuses is a slippery slope and must be extremely difficult to monitor. A college is not necessarily endorsing a position, but they cannot prevent it from being expressed.
Is anyone anywhere actually cheering for Hamas? Does the sign in this post say “We support hostage taking and brutal massacres”? No, it says “Free Palestine”. You’re inferring the rest.
Universities don’t “think” anything. A university is an institution comprised of diverse, educated people who often have deeply conflicting views. It is the job of the administrators of the institution to follow the law and guarantee the right of free speech for all those who hold those views. It cannot be an easy job.
BSN, I am not tarring the universities with the views of their students. I applaud the constitutional right to free speech. And I do think there is more than one viewpoint to be considered in the ongoing conflict between Israel and its neighbours.
But one of those projections calls for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea.” That essentially means “get rid of Israel.” And campuses have included students cheering on the initial action by Hamas, which has triggered the current crisis.
What I am challenging is the humanity of people — allegedly the intellectual leadership of their generation — who can ignore what was done on October 7, including but hardly excluded to hostage-taking.
I am not sure that the US constitution has prevented “cancel culture” from having a significant place on US campuses, but if it has they are luckier than their British counterparts.
But, whether it does or not, I am reminded of what someone said long ago: You are entitled to form your own opinion. You are not entitled to form your own facts. I know that view has little currency in post-Trump America, but it is high time someone with a brain in their head — and you would hope that the universities were places where such could be found — started returning the fact to its place in the conversation. THE truth, not “my” truth.
I’m just looking at this particular case. George Washington is technically a private college. But it’s likely they receive some type of federal or state funding. Their students definitely qualify for federally granted financial aid.
If the school tries to limit the expression of their students in any way, they stand to be in violation of the First Ammendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees free speec. Federal & state funding could be revoked.
College campuses across the US are experiencing this issue right now. Love it or hate it, by law, they must allow their students freedom of speech on all sides of this conflict.
A few years ago, in the months following the George Floyd murder, institutions all across the USA, and especially colleges, completely abandoned free speech.
But now free speech is back in fashion?
To be clear…NO campuses have been taken over! Despicable as these protests are, please note that they are not takeovers. And, many campuses don’t have any of this kind of thing going on at all. The issue is that some of the “elite” northeastern universities (as well as other liberal universities) have demonstrators who are being a lot louder than others…but, they are not gaining wide spread sympathy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Several universities have rightly lost a LOT of funding from their biggest donors due to the bad behavior of the students (and some faculty members). When more of that money is lost, the universities will act to end these protests. There are many who are speaking out against this behavior…but they are not receiving the press as well. The bigger issue is the press and the press organizations that are expressing some support for Hamas. This is egging things on. And, when you have a few congresswomen also pushing for Hamas, it is going to take braver people to speak up to their idiocy.
No, it’s not specific to northeast liberal colleges. It happens on all campuses were there are students on both sides who wish to show their views. There may be more diverse representation at some schools & more conflict for this reason.
Not happening on the campus where I teach at all.
For arguments sake, consider that Israel was stolen from the Palestinians. I find it ironic that anybody who isn’t native American feels like the land that he is living on is his, even though the entire USA (except for Alaska, that Russia stole first) has been constructed on stolen land. Instead of protesting, set an example and give your land back to the original inhabitants. Then go ahead and protest.
People still alive can remember when there were quotas and calls for other legal and informal suppressions to keep Jews from “taking over” US universities. Then, Asians. And, of course, communists, who were assumed to be from ethnicities hostile to home of the free.
Clear proof that freedom of speech has to have limits in order to survive – or it will be destroyed by those whose will to destruct can flourish because of freedom of speech! Those slogans are very dangerous – there is no place for Israel left according to picture no 3!
Israeli students consider now many universities in the UK & USA physically unsafe, or even outright dangerous. Verbal abuse is commonplace, almost taken for granted, possibly regarded as a matter of free speech.
On october 7th, as news of the pogrom in southern Israel spred, Israeli students in a certain European university were advised to baricade indoors. They did for several days.
My family in France had been abused almost daily – spat upon, cursed or intimidated. Their home was tagged with the star of David.
These are dark days. And I fear darker days will follow.
Assertions like campuses have been taken over by Hamas sympathizers are sadly similar to things said about Jewish people only a few decades ago when universities even placed quotas on the number of Jews admitted. It was often literally said that without quotas Jews would take over our universities.
The Israel/Palestine conflict is about a century old and involves far more than the radicals on both sides who work to prevent progress through acts that sustain hatred. As a rule, it is the broader concerns of the conflict that are shaping the most meaningful campus debates. In the same way, one would hope that the cultured community surrounding classical music would avoid old clichés and serve as a model of intelligent discussion…
I am affiliated with a large US university. Last month we were advised that an “outside group” would be coming to speak in a room in our dept’s building.
It turned out to be an extreme far right “conservative values” group known for infiltrating “liberal” college campus and provoking students with confrontations which often end in violence.
We were advised that the university had no choice but to let them speak because of the First Ammendment. We felt in danger.
Our building was locked down, we had to go thru metal detectors to get to class & there was armed security in every corridor. Group members harassed and taunted us as we went to class. Knowing that we were “liberal” creative arts students, they tried to provoke us into confrontations. Their leaders stood outside our classroom and stared in at us. They tried to engage us as we went in and out. This group maintains a “watch list” of names of liberal minded professors. Our professor called for a personal security guard to protect him as he lectured. We held class but we were terrified.
This had nothing whatsoever to do with Israel or Palestine. Nothing. This was a US “conservative values” organization entitled to free speech on our university campus under the First Ammendment. These were not even students from our school. We felt threatened and in danger. What you’re seeing on US college campuses is not anti-semitism, it’s what happens under the name of free speech in many many conflictive areas.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-770520