https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/us/politics/rutgers-jewish-education-civil-rights.html
Many American colleges have been hostile to Jews in general and Zionists in particular for years. I am glad to see someone attempting to address this issue.
Looks mostly like the typical scenario of Israeli / Palestinian politics turning into a racist shouting match between extremist hardliners.
Such a thing seems rather hostile to both Jewish and Arab people who allow themselves to be bothered by it. But then even racist extremist hardliners will claim freedom of speech…
Being anti-Zionist is not anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. I know many Jewish people who are anti-Zionist.
@garland, true. However, it is also the case that people in US, Canadian and UK universities, for example, use anti-Zionist assertions to mask anti-Semitism. For example, a Jewish student at McGill was blocked from becoming a member of the student government because of his affiliation with Jewish organizations including those that opposed the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement that anti-Zionist students were trying to get McGill to endorse. In the process of trying to block him from taking his position, these anti-Zionist students sent out anti-Semitic leaflets attacking that student and two others. The university did an investigation that concluded that the student was kicked out because he supported Israel and opposed BDS and not because he was Jewish but that he was targeted by anti-Semitic literature. [Interesting to speculate given the excessively politically correct environment of Canadian universities about what would happen at McGill if someone were kicked off the student government for supporting BDS or opposing Israel]. The leaders of the Labour Party in the UK wrap their anti-Semitism in anti-Zionist garb but every once in a while the anti-Semitism slips out despite the camouflage.
I think the problem is slightly subtler. As an American Jew, I oppose much of what the current Israeli government is doing. However, I think it is necessary to have a Jewish state because the anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust, with significant support from many in Western and Eastern Europe is muted but not gone. Similarly, some American leaders seem more than happy to legitimize otherwise latent or suppressed anti-Semitism in the US. So I can oppose many actions of the Israeli government (like expanding settlement) and still think that a version of Zionism (a movement that supports the creation and protection of a Jewish state) is necessary. @garland, do the Jewish people you are referring to oppose the establishment and protection of a Jewish state? Or do they just oppose some of the actions and the current direction of the Netanyahu government?
I won’t try to speak for people beyond what I have heard. My only point is that opposing the Israeli government and the treatment of the Palestinians is not anti-Semitic and it is often labeled that way. (“Half”-Jewish myself, if that counts.)
I don’t disagree. In your first post you used the term anti-Zionist and in the second you said “opposing the Israeli government and the treatment of the Palestinians.” In your mind, are these the same or different? Do you consider that your opposition makes you anti-Zionist?
In real world terms, yes, because my impression is that Zionism is behind the refusal to assent to a meaningful Palestinian state (not the honeycomb that now exists) and the view of Palestinians as lesser people. But I don’t want to get into a debate on this farther than this.
The reopening of the case is interesting because it defines the Jews the way the Nuremberg Laws did and the world does: as an ethnic people, not just a religion. (This is certainly the case for my family of atheists who are ethnically 75% Jewish and 25% other ethnicities who were historically Christian.) The case is also interesting because it recognizes that anti-Zionism is the new socially acceptable way to be an anti-Semite.
Zionism is, simply, the right of Jewish people to exist. To have a homeland, a place to go to. During the Holocaust, many Jews had nowhere to go, as the countries of the world turned them away as they tried to escape before they were murdered. The U.S. blocked many. Every place did. The Jews in the British mandate protested against British leaders who sought to keep them out of their historic homeland, won recognition through the United Nations, and then fought off invading Arab countries.
One can believe in a Jewish state (the definition of being a Zionist) and still favor a two-state solution in which the Palestinians get a homeland as well. That is the view of many Israelis, including my relatives who live there. They dislike Netanyahu and are opposed to the expansion of settlements. They want to see land for peace trades. They also are proud of their nation and want it to continue to exist!
The reason we have relatives who live there is that our relatives fled Europe for their lives during either the pogroms in the late 1800s or the Holocaust later. In one family with four siblings, one made it to the U.S., one made it to Israel, and the other two were killed during the Holocaust.
We do not consider ourselves part of the nationalities that tried to kill us. We never were accepted as those nationalities but always treated as “other.” So whenever there is a multicultural event to celebrate one’s international heritage, and you need a flag to represent your country of national origin, I use the Israeli flag. None of my direct ancestors within living memory lived in Israel. But is the only country Jews ever had, both in ancient times and in present times.
Anti-Zionism is the new way of expressing anti-Semitism, basically saying Jews are only welcome to exist as a minority within other nations, subject to periodic tides of anti-Semitism in those countries. It singles out Israel, the mideast’s only democracy (albeit one subject to the strains of a less-than-democratic and xenophobic movement right now, as is the United States!), for special censure. Why do that? Simple. Anti-Semitism. And this interpretation is supported by the fact that anti-Zionist movements on college campuses have often led to comments against Jewish students, instances of swastikas and anti-Semitic cartoons, etc.
You can be opposed to Netanyahu and current policies in Israel and not be an anti-Semite. You can favor a Palestinian state alongside Israel and not be an anti-Semite. But to be opposed to a Jewish homeland altogether is anti-Semitic.
GreyKing says it better but it boils down to: Anti-Zionism is a dog whistle for Jew hating with political correctness thrown in. This stuff goes back over 2000 years. Its not going to change in my lifetime.
Rutgers wants to create a safe space for Jewish students? Doesn’t want them to be subject to insults and such on the basis of religion or ethnicity?
Seems OK to me, as long as the same goes for everyone else, including of course Palestinian students.
But there are free speech issues, as there are with attempts to stop hate speech against gay people, black people, etc.
Sadly it seems these protections may not be equally applied.
@OHMomof2 , please give us examples of Jewish students harassing Palestinian students at Rutgers.
@tanbiko I was speaking of students - even people - generally, not specifically at Rutgers. This case has pretty obvious implications way beyond that one school.