By Amy Zewe—
Last week I ended our report with a list of some of the colleges engaged in some sort of antisemitic activity or stance by either faculty, students, or both—with little or no pushback from leadership.
Let us continue our examination this week—as the topic is worthy of more than just a few YouTube reports.
First, we look to an article in The Algemeiner, in an interview with Cary Nelson — the Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who is a former president of the AAUP and current chair of the Alliance for Academic Freedom. Nelson said that he had personally been approached by pro-Israel faculty members concerned about their jobs.
He notes collegiate organizations supporting BDS and includes what he described as a “huge change in terms of academic freedom” that took place in May of this year, during the renewed clashes between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. At the height of the fighting, more than 100 women’s and gender studies departments endorsed an anti-Israel statement that, as Nelson put it, “formally committed them to an anti-Zionist departmental policy.” Just two examples are the American Anthropological Association and the National Association of Women’s Studies, both of which endorsed the boycott of Israel in 2019.
What is even more freighting is the trickle down now into our educational systems teaching our younger children. The Critical Race Theory and other similar curriculums that target Israel, Jews, their history and their experiences also demonize them as oppressors and the Arabs as the sole victims of Jews in the current Middle East crises. Many teachers’ unions are also now engaging in pro-BDS policies in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and more. Thankfully, teachers and parents are starting to wake up and speak out against these policies and curriculums.
This hate of Israel, which some claim is ONLY anti-Zionist and not antisemitic, does spill over to the Jewish folks living in just about any jurisdiction outside of Israel. Jews are being attacked in the name of some outrage about the treatment of Palestinians (which is just the latest excuse of attacks) but, it is just because they are Jewish. This is happening in California, New York, Toronto, Paris London and more. Jewish individuals, Jewish property, Jewish businesses, and Jewish community centers, cemeteries and synagogues are seeing even more attacks in the last few months than since the tracking of the uptick in antisemitic activity in the last 10 years. Some areas are seeing between 200-600 percent increases in antisemitic activity—including NYC and London.
And, in the end, this hostility, hate and desire to rid the Jews and their footprint from this earth is not about any justice for Arabs in the regions of Gaza and the West Bank, (because the reality of their plight and the source of their pain rests solely on their own leadership -who are never called out by anyone). Jew-hate is the oldest hate and is the enemy’s constant mission to rid the world of the people God has chosen to be the pathway of salvation and the conduit for His plan and messages. In this day, the target is Israel because it actually exists, but this does not negate the targeted Jews worldwide, the state of Israel is simply the latest bull’s eye.
Blame the Jews—a centuries old mantra–has morphed into blame Israel (in the last 80 years) is just the same sinister spirit of the enemy attempting to thwart God’s plan—which we know will never happen.
But the battle is real and it is daily—and Christian, Jews and anyone one of any other religion or culture or philosophy who has any sense of true justice, fairness, and human rights—with or without a spiritual element, cannot deny the illogical and slanted accusations against Israel in light of the facts of what it does as the only democracy in the region and the only jurisdiction with some sense of humanity in it’s a laws and societal structures including law agnostic to one’s religion, color, gender, etc.
Be the voice (or typist) of truth and reason as we use facts and reason to advocate for Jews around the world, to fight the hate and discrimination that leads to the undercurrent of groups trying to snuff out Jews in all their forms and the nation of Israel.
This war will be won, and we know that, but we are responsible for doing our part in the battle and be the hands, feet, and words of God’s values and plan along the way.
Shavua Tov, Have a great week.