Anti-Semitism is wrong, end of story. Students may not like Israel’s policies, but that doesn’t give them the right to utter hate speech.
The AMCHA Initiative (http://www.amchainitiative.org) is the most comprehensive source of antisemitic incidents on campus. It includes:
-Recent news of antisemitism on U.S. college campuses
-An ongoing list of campuses that have had antisemitic incidents in the last 60 days
-List of campuses being monitored for antisemitic activity (based on history of such activity)
-A guide for HS students/heir parents on how to screen colleges for antisemitism on campus
http://www.amchainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/StudentParentQuestionnaire.pdf
-Videos of antisemitic incidents on campus
-A mechanism for reporting antisemitic incidents on campus
-Definition of antisemitism
And much, much more. Please visit this site.
The AMCHA Initiative website (http://www.amchainitiative.org) also lists the names of professors who support BDS, in case students want to avoid classes with those professors. You can find the list on the page for each university listed on the AMCHA site.
By the way, I have nothing to do with AMCHA. I just think they are doing an extraordinary job of tracking antisemitism on campuses, and their website is very comprehensive and easy to navigate.
The organization’s tagline is “Protecting Jewish Students.”
Actually, they do have the right to do so, as far as the government (and public universities) are concerned. However, they do not have the right to threaten or assault others (or commit vandalism, etc.), and the exercise of their freedom of speech is freedom to reveal their noxiousness to others.
Such noisy fringy hate groups have been around for decades, and people on campus do not give them any credibility.
As much as I abhor the antisemitism on campus, this is true ^^^.
After all, the Nazis had the right to march in Skokie. It petered out.
Stuff like this drives me nuts - the insistence of Jewish organizations on equating opposition to Israeli occupation with antisemitism. It’s crying wolf, and it compromises the organization’s credibility when it identifies and opposes real antisemitism.
Half or more of the people in my synagogue support BDS.
This. The two topics are not mutually inclusive, and should not be confused. However the concerns that you raise appear serious. Maybe a sitdown is in order? Like have the Dean sit reps from both sides down to get to the root of the problem and explain that violent behavior won’t be condoned by the university.
This. The two topics are not mutually inclusive, and should not be confused. However the concerns that you raise appear serious. Maybe a sitdown is in order? Like have the Dean sit reps from both sides down to get to the root of the problem and explain that violent behavior won’t be condoned by the university.
This. The two topics are not mutually inclusive, and should not be confused. However the concerns that you raise appear serious. Maybe a sitdown is in order? Like have the Dean sit reps from both sides down to get to the root of the problem and explain that violent behavior won’t be condoned by the university.
Okay so for some reason I can’t edit the multiple posts. Sorry for spamming.
^^^By the third one, with your user name, I thought there would be no end, LOL!
I am opposed to many of the policies of the current government of Israel. But I do not support BDS.
If it is just about opposition to Israel’s policies, why do BDS members spit in the faces of Jews on campus? Why do students at BDS rallies assault Jewish students who clearly have nothing to do with Israeli policies?
This is disturbing to me. You can parse it into opposition to Israel’s policies vs. antisemitism. But BDS is a proxy for opposition to the existence of Israel and, for many, antisemitism.
Are your BDS acquaintances serious about their support for BDS? Do they actually boycott Israeli products? Such as:
- Intel Pentium and Celeron computer processor chips. Developed or manufactured in Israel.
- Windows XT operating system. Developed in Israel
- All current Microsoft operating systems. Microsoft is heavily reliant on its Israel R&D center.
- Anti-virus software and personal firewall technology. Originated in Israel.
- Outgoing emails. The algorithm used today for sending e-mail was made in 1980 by an Israeli who worked at the Ben-Gurion University in Be’er-Sheva.
- Texting. SMS was developed in Israel.
- 4G devices. The chipset is Israeli.
- All mobile phones, actually. The technology was developed in Israel. First mobile phones were manufactured there too. Mobile chip technology from a single Israeli company has now been installed in more than 100 million devices.
- Voice mail. Israeli companies invented the voice-mail system.
- Drugs, devices, and research discoveries used to treat cancer, heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, multiple myeloma, and SIDS.
- Recordings of U2 Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, George Benson, and other artists who have used the sound technology of the Grammy Award winning Israeli company Wave Audio.
If they are not actually boycotting these products, then it IS just a proxy for antisemitism. One can be opposed to Israel’s government’s policies without supporting the organization BDS.
U2 is a hasbara talking point now? It’s like they calculated it specifically not to appeal to me at all.
This has been the same frustrating sentiment several Jewish friends and HS*/college classmates/fellow alums at my college have been expressing for a while on FB feeds and IRL discussions whenever the topic of Israeli-Palestinian discussions come up.
Incidentally, this very issue came up on my college alum online website with discussion getting so heated a few alums on both sides of the debate got temporarily banned for uttering ad hominems at each other.
And these are alums. Some of whom are middle aged/seniors…not recent college grads.
- Doesn't come up on HS alum page as the moderators are extremely strict about no political topics unless it directly pertains to the school concerned.
Yes it is. I love Israel too, but enough is enough. Israelis don’t do themselves any favors among American Jews by electing right wing nut job governments through racist campaigns, by allowing “price tag” terrorist attacks against Arabs, and by doing everything possible to scuttle the creation of a Palestinian state. Until it became hopeless, I believe there were enough West Bank Palestinians who wanted peace and would never let their hard won precious “state” look like Gaza by foolishly shooting missiles at Israel. Yet the Netanyahu governments did everything possible to undermine them and expanded the encroachment of Jews into Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem to make dividing the city more difficult. Now we have the fallout from pure stupidity.
My synagogue has a strong BDS contingent too, though 50% is probably high. At least we still have an Israeli flag next to the bimah, but many of us personally know Palestinians from academia who are good educated people, and don’t deserve the oppression that’s been going on. It’s really hard to look them in the eye and say Israel’s treatment of Arabs is justice. Sorry, it just isn’t.
Same here. I get very tired of everyone needing to be part of a victimized group, and don’t make an exception for my fellow Jews.
While I’m opposed to the BDS movement and feel very vested in Israel’s security, I have no problem saying I can’t stand Netenyahu and his policies.
Precisely.
I too am against some of Israel’s policies but I’m overall pro Israel and disturbed by Jews who are in favor of BDS. It might be a different story if Israel was held to the same standards as other countries. but the rabid hatred of Israel and its inability to do anything right according to some people, no matter what terrorist acts occur within its borders, makes me determined to stand up and defend Israel. When these same people stop buying Chinese products to protest China’s almost complete annihilation of the Tibetan people and culture, then I might think differently.
If this thread becomes about BDS, then I’m leaving CC forever. Why can’t you people talk about anti-Jewish actions on campus without talking about Israel? Why do you need to inflict your views about Israel into discussions of things said and done to Jewish students in the US? This is the United States, not Israel. I don’t care if you’re Palestinian or Russian or Chinese or if you’re from Alpha Centauri, anti-semitism is wrong.
Is it excusable that a Jewish person is questioned about his/her loyalty because he/she is Jewish? No. (And in the adult sphere, we saw long-serving Americans like Chuck Schumer accused by some of treason because he opposed the Iran nuclear deal, all because he is Jewish.)
Is it excusable that university student governments seek to exclude Jews because they are Jews or, even more insidiously, because they represent Jewish agendas? No.
Is it excusable for people of any kind to say to Jewish students that “Hitler was right”? No.
Hate is hate is hate is hate.
About the only example I can come up with where there is an arguable line is when the bleeps chant “Intifada! Intifada!” because I can understand that as a political statement though in reality it means they want people to be murdered. While I think it’s hateful and viscerally disgusting to root for death, I can accept that it is a political statement. None of this other stuff is in any excusable political speech: it is racist intimidation.
So basically, the “hint” I’m getting is that it’s impossible to talk about the actual actions in this actual country toward Jews without people dragging Israel into it as some sort of pathetic justification. Well, all I can say is I hope something like the things I’ve mentioned happens to you so maybe you can buy a clue about hate and keep the rest to yourself.
I’m a g*****n American, born on a US military base to a serving officer, and raised in the United States. What does that have to do with Israel? And if you say “this is what motivates hate”, then look in the mirror.
Israel came up because (a) the anti-Jewish haters tend to use criticism of Israeli actions as a cover, and often loudly drown out non-racist voices there, and (b) AMCHA (as referenced in the linked article in the first post) does include criticism of Israel as part of its questionnaire linked from reply #21 (i.e. AMCHA is promoting that linkage in questions 11-19, just like the haters do).