I would very much like to get on a plane and attend some of them; posting photos on Facebook of police in full riot gear zip-tying my wrists while in my wheelchair would be a hoot.
I’d like to make five points:
1. ANTISEMITISM
Firstly, criticism of Israel is not antisemitism. It is criticism of a nation-state. Furthermore, Israel just killed 34,000 people—the majority of whom were women and children. What Israel has been conducting in Gaza is not self-defense; it’s revenge. I’m not even sure this even rates “criticism.” Description will suffice.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp averred recently, “College campuses … in Georgia … will never be a safe haven for those who promote terrorism and extremism that threatens the safety of students.”
So, to protest the murder of (Arab) children makes one a promoter of terrorism. Charges of antisemitism are expected in this atmosphere.
There have been some instances of antisemitism. It appears a number of these have come from people who merely joined in from outside the universities and do not represent the protests. A number of Jewish students have come forward to say they have participated in the protests and were welcomed by those seeking a ceasefire and university divestment.
And, we should not look past the violence of the counter-protesters—commonly people who are supportive of Israel—who have started fights at the protests. The police were recently quite casual in responding to these actions at UCLA, and their behavior has garnered little comment from politicians. Apparently, if you’re supportive of Israel, there is no standard of conduct. The Israeli state can murder children, and its supporters can attack those who stand morally opposed to the murder of children. The moral calculus is a wonder to behold.
Fox News gushed over these racist thugs and said “American frat boys” should be recipients of the Presidential Medal of Honor for “defending the American flag”—whatever that means.
2. ANTI-ARAB RACISM / ISLAMOPHOBIA
It’s standard to hold in contempt the people we are murdering—or are being murdered by proxies—and to cheer the owner of the boot over the owner of the neck. Black Americans know this narrative well: Police shoot Black men, Black Americans protest, and the Thin Blue Line flags start fluttering, as if to say, “Stop picking on the (White) police!”
It’s only when Democrats like Rashida Tlaib talk about “the river to the sea” that politicians (including Democrats) come unglued.
What Tlaib actually said is, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate…. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”
But, Tlaib is of Palestinian descent and is therefore, of course, suspect.
Republican representative Lauren Boebert at a recent protest referred to the Palestinian flag as “that shit.” Not a peep. Imagine if she said that about an Israeli flag.
Former president Donald Trump said upon watching police raid the encampment at Columbia University, that it “was a beautiful thing to watch.” And, Trump has been vocal about refugees from Gaza entering the United States: “The same people that raided Israel are pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our TOTALLY OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER.” Gazans are presumably all terrorists, so his thinking goes.
3. GOP
Numerous Republican lawmakers have trafficked in antisemitism. Trump has given winks and nods to white supremacists, has dined with avowed antisemites, and has himself repeatedly made antisemitic comments. Republican colleagues of those issuing antisemitic rhetoric don’t seem bothered by this. At all.
4. UNIVERSITIES
I have said for years that universities are not the bastions of leftist politics that they are commonly assumed to be. They are institutions, and they behave like it. They tend to be roughly liberal, yes, like corporations. Think Democratic party and the New York Times. Universities are actually right of center. So, for many universities to clamp down on the protests, call in law enforcement, and attempt to crush the protests came as no surprise. The issue is the subject matter of the protests. Israel is an ally; Arabs are viewed with suspicion. It makes sense that the priorities of the universities would track with those of the State Department.
5. THE HOLOCAUST
While the Holocaust was happening and the years that followed, precious few cared about the Holocaust. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, there wasn’t much talk about it. Then, in the 1980s, films started coming out and books began being pumped out, one after another. An industry emerged. Now, eighty years later, we’re deeply concerned about the Holocaust. Even Israel’s founding father, David Ben Gurion, was more or less disinterested. He is quoted as saying,
If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter….
Israel has always had a curious attitude toward dead children.
Noted Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg points out in his autobiography, The Politics of Memory, that the Holocaust did not become a fashionable subject until after the Vietnam War.
Scholar Norman Finkelstein, in his short, superb The Holocaust Industry, emphasizes how Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War helped bring the Holocaust into the popular imagination.
The point is that the Holocaust only much later inspired the deep, emotional concern that it does today. Endless lists of films, books, and curricula are just part of the melodrama, and out of this narrative came the connection of Israel with the Holocaust. Criticism of the former is an indictment (and denial) of the latter—and, of course, an act of antisemitism. The concern—perhaps at times sincere—is in general suspicious in the least.
Why do we all of a sudden (decades later) care so much? And why is it only six million Jews? Why are the other victims of Nazi persecution not included? And why is the Armenian genocide not discussed at all? Please read Finkelstein’s book.
Ms. Boebert, this image of the Palestinian flag is for you. And all like you.
