The Coronavirus 65 Weeks Later - Anti-Semitism in Academia

Recently, on May 26, 2021,the Chancellor and Provost of the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University (my alma mater) issued a statement condemning antisemitism.  "We are saddened by and greatly concerned about the sharp rise in hostile sentiments and anti-Semitic violence in the United States.  Recent incidents of hate directed toward Jewish members of our community again remind us of what history has to teach us."  The statement went on to mention George Floyd, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as Hindus and Muslims.  Reference was also made to the latest war between Israel and Hamas, with sympathy being expressed for the loss of lives on both sides, and the displacement of Arabs in Gaza.  

The statement went to "denounce acts of hate and prejudice against members of the Jewish community and any other targeted and oppressed groups on our campus and in our community."  I get it; it can never just be about the Jews.  And, in fairness, Asian Americans have also been recent targets of hate and violence.  

The very next day, May 27, 2021, a new statement issued, and was titled "An Apology."  Why an apology?  "In hindsight, it is clear to us that the message failed to communicate support for our Palestinian community members.  We sincerely apologize for the hurt that this message has caused."  What?  Much of the recent surge in attacks on Jews across the country was done by Palestinians and/or their supporters.  And Rutgers is apologizing to them?! 

I was incensed.  After hearing of the apology, and not yet knowing that the group demanding it was the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP, an anti-Israel hate group), I fired off an email to the Chancellor and Provost.  "I just read that you apologized for sending an email condemning anti-Semitism.  Jews are not only the biggest targets of religious hate crimes in our country, but the anti-Semitism and hatred toward Jews has grown to alarming numbers.  And you apologize for condemning that?  You know very well that if I dared to say 'all lives matter' I would be deemed  a racist.  Because it's about black lives.  But it can't just be about Jews because, as history has taught, Jewish lives do not matter very much."

I continued:  There is NO equivalency - FBI statistics regularly show that over 50% of the religious hate crimes target Jews.  And with a dangerous rise in antisemitism you can't condemn that without having to make a false equivalency and apologizing?  I am now ashamed to tell anyone that I am a Rutgers grad.  And I'm disgusted by your cowering to the woke mob."  Again, at the time I sent that I was unaware that it was the campus chapter of SJP that demanded the apology.

On June 9, 2021, I received a reply from the office of the President of Rutgers University.  I was advised that the President issued a statement which replaced the prior statements of the Chancellor and Provost.  It read as follows:  "Rutgers deplores hatred and bigotry in all forms.  We have not, nor would we ever, apologize for standing against antisemitism."  The rest of the brief statement went on to condemn "anti-Hinduism, Islamophobia, and all forms of racism, intolerance, and xenophobia."

That was not the end of the matter.  The SJP was outraged and did not accept the original apology.  They demanded a new apology, acknowledging the recent "violence (in Gaza) as white supremacist efforts and a Zionist political agenda."  They called for cutting off all ties to "the apartheid state of Israel."  It's all lies.  If it were true, Israel is the only "apartheid" state to have Arabs in all the professions and serving as judges and in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.  White supremacist?  The Jews in Israel are of many different backgrounds.  Many come from Arab countries, some are blacks from Ethiopia.  But that is the current left-wing/Marxist talking point.  Whoever has greater power is an oppressor and must be identified as white. 

This antisemitism in academia is hardly isolated to Rutgers.  It is widespread.  At the University of Chicago, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) issued a statement jointly with that campus chapter of SJP, on May 21, 2021.  In it, they said that they "stand against the ideology of Zionism that has been used as a justification for the murder displacement and traumatization of the Palestinian people."  They went on to state the usual phrase seeking the end of Israel:  "From the river to the sea USG supports a Palestine that is free."  More lies.  More ignoring history.  More ignoring that there never was a country of Palestine - ever.  And obviously being completely uncaring of the one Jewish state in the world, as Israel sits on much of the land between the (Jordan) river and the (Mediterranean) sea.  

The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs invited none other than Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, to give the commencement address.  Why is that a problem?  In 2015, Ms. Cullors spoke at Harvard Law School, and she said this:  "Palestine is our generation's South Africa.  If we don't step up boldly and courageously to end the imperialist project that's called Israel, we're doomed."  She calls for the end of Israel, and she gets invited to speak at Harvard and UCLA.  

The teachers' union in Los Angeles (UTLA) as well as the teachers' union in San Francisco (United Educators of SF) issued similar, if not identical statements, expressing "solidarity with the Palestinian people and call for Israel to end bombardment of Gaza and stop displacement of Sheikh Jarrah."  (See the May 16, 2021 post "Israel at War - Again," for a further discussion of that issue.)  The statements by the teachers' unions went on to assert that US tax dollars to Israel "fund apartheid and war crimes."

I am trying to explain that antisemitism exists throughout academia.  Worse, the Palestinian propaganda is accepted at the finest academic institutions in the country.  Have any of you ever wondered what happened in Germany in the 1930's?  Did the Jews not see what was going on?  Did they speak up?  Or did they think that nothing bad could happen to them - they were citizens of a modern industrialized country, a leader in the arts and sciences.  

Here is the son of Elie Wiesel, Elisha Wiesel:  "And now, once again, too many of us have shamefully become the Jews of Silence.  We have spoken up for every cause but our own."  I am proposing that NOW is the time for all good Americans to speak out against antisemitism.  It is especially incumbent on all Jews to speak out against the rising tide of antisemitism.  Write to your school districts and to your universities.  Send letters to the editor of your local papers.  Make your voices heard.  As a dear friend wrote:  "we all have to speak up or Never Again will happen again."         

The Coronavirus 65 Weeks Later - Anti-Semitism in the Media

In the May 28, 2021 edition of the New York Times, on the first page above the fold, were pictures of the faces of 64 children.  The caption above it read:  "They Were Just Children."  Underneath it said:  "At least 69 people under 18 were killed in the Israeli-Hamas war this month.  Nearly all were Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  They had wanted to be doctors, artists and leaders.  Read their stories, Pages A10-11."  Those inside pages had larger pictures, with their names and ages, along with a short bio.  Underneath the pictures was an article, "Buried With Their Dreams and Nightmares."  

Now, some of you may be wondering how the NY Times was able to get all this information from inside the tightly Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.  If you are like I am, then you understand that the Times is a willing propagandist for Hamas.  Hamas would not have given them access otherwise.  As I said in a recent post, for Hamas the more dead the better, because they know the leftists in the Western world will always assist them in blaming Israel.  So, let's take a look at some of the "highlights" in the accompanying article.  

After noting that the Israeli military says it takes precautions to protect civilians, they tell us this:  "Many people in Gaza, however, say that the number of civilians killed proves that whatever precautions Israel may be taking are tragically insufficient."  Then the Times makes its own assertion:  "The low toll on the Israeli side also reflected an imbalance in defensive capabilities."

Let's examine these comments.  First, we have to trust that Hamas was not lying about the number of children who were killed in the war.  Would a terrorist organization, that uses Western media to promote their propaganda, not lie?  Second (yes, the deaths of all children and innocents is tragic), we know that the Times would make the same assertions about Israel not taking sufficient precautions if the death toll was 100.  Or 50.  Or 10.  

Third, note the Times concern about the low death toll on the Israeli side.  For the Times it is always the same - a numbers game, with not enough Jews dying.  With over 4300 rockets having been fired by Hamas at Israeli cities (targeting civilians), the primary reason for the low death toll is Israel's missile defense system, Iron Dome.  The secondary reason is that there are numerous bomb shelters throughout Israel - out of necessity given the repeated wars Israel has had to fight.  Of course, the Times would not discuss the thousands (millions?) of Israelis who had to flee to, and temporarily live in, the bomb shelters for safety.  Question:  given that Hamas is able to get tons and tons of concrete which they use to build tunnels into Israel to aid in killing Jews, why don't they use that concrete to build bomb shelters for their own people?  It is not a question that the Times would ask.

Here is another question:  without the Iron Dome, what would Israel have had to do to halt the non-stop rocket attacks?  They likely would have needed a ground invasion of Gaza; and that type of war would probably have resulted in far more deaths on both sides.  It turns out, therefore, that the Iron Dome actually saved lives on both sides.    

Fourth, the Times does not bother to tell us that Israel would not have needed to have their warplanes bomb any part of Gaza had Hamas not started to lob thousands of rockets at Israel.  Again, all aimed at Israeli cities.  But the targeting of Israeli civilians isnot a concern for the Times.  And the Times would not blame Hamas for starting the war.  Nor would they bring up the numerous times the Palestinians have rejected having their own state.  The state that they want is on the land of Israel.    

And the Times says this:  "Israel's critics cite the death toll as evidence that Israel's strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate."  Let's examine that.  First, the technique of citing "critics" is one often used by the media, even Fox.  It is a way of saying:  "This is what we think, but we'll hide behind "critics" saying so."  It's nonsense.  Second, the death toll proves neither indiscriminate attacks nor the use of disproportionate force.  There is an underlying assumption that Israel should have done nothing.  They should have absorbed the attacks.  What other country on earth would not respond militarily to incessant rocket attacks?  What other country on earth takes extreme precautions to protect the enemy's civilians?  Only Israel does that.  Where appropriate, they drop leaflets warning of an attack.  They make phone calls.  And they drop "dud" bombs onto the roofs of buildings as a warning for people to evacuate. 

So, why do I say this is anti-Semitic as opposed to just criticizing Israeli policy?  Simple.  When Israel, the sole Jewish country in the world, is held to a standard that no other country is held to, there can be only one explanation:  Anti-Semitism.