Some Colleges Have Surrendered to Anti-Israel Protesters

Some college presidents not only refused to punish the screaming mobs that have been drowning out pro-Israel speech on campus, as well as disrupting lectures and commencement ceremonies; they also have given into specific demands by promising to “look into” their colleges’ investments in companies consigned to the outer darkness by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The surrender to the anti-Israel protesters was even greater, and more nauseating, at Occidental College, where the President and Board of Trustees decided to “hold a vote” on the protesters’ demands. It wasn’t clear from public remarks if it is only the President and Trustees who will vote, or if, as I suspect, all the students will be allowed to cast their votes, which could lead to the adoption of a resolution calling for the divestment by Occidental from all companies with ties to Israel. It will be a purely symbolic victory, however, because Occidental College is in California, one of the 37 states that has forbidden these BDS initiatives.

The BDS movement is not opposed just to this or that aspect of Israeli policy, but against the very existence of the Jewish state. A total divestment from Israeli companies, and a boycott of non-Israeli companies that continue to do business with Israel, could lead to an economic degringolade which, in turn, would weaken Israel’s ability to defend itself.

These demonstrators don’t want there to be pro-Israel voices heard anywhere on campus. They aren’t interested in thoughtful discussion of “Israel and the Palestinians.” Instead, chanting, screeching, and haranguing are their verbal weapons of choice.

At the University of Chicago, Students for Justice in Palestine has urged that Israeli professors be boycotted, for they are being accused of supporting “racism, genocide, and the spread of ‘Zionist’ propaganda.” No evidence for these charges is ever presented, for none is needed. You must take the protesters’ word for it. If Israeli professors are to be boycotted, why not boycott Jewish professors who support Israel as well? And why stop there? Why not ban Jewish professors from the faculty altogether, no matter what subject they teach, so that they will have no chance of brainwashing their students or defending the Jewish state?

“University Presidents Are Betraying Students By Giving Into Anti-Israel Demands,” by Douglas Sandoval, Algemeiner, May 13, 2024:

We must also examine the role of faculty in the alarming and deep-seated hate-mongering that currently holds American higher education captive. There is precedent for revoking tenured status due to “moral turpitude,” such as when a professor was fired in 2020 after using a racial slur. Among other strategies, we must pressure university stakeholders to apply this same standard to the radicalized tenured faculty members who have been inciting Jew-hatred unabated for decades.

Professors who have been counting on tenure to protect them from any consequences for their hate speech against Jews, including expressions of pleasure at their murders, will learn that such hate speech constitutes “moral turpitude” that can lead to their being stripped of their tenure. An example should be made of Professor Joseph Massad at Columbia, who on October 8 wrote on The Electronic Intifada that Hamas’ attack the day before was a “stunning victory,” “awesome,” and something worthy of “jubilation.” This was how he described the orgy of rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of 1,200 men, women, and children that day. Does that not meet the definition of “moral turpitude”? Fifty thousand people have signed a petition calling on Columbia to fire Massad; this is something the university has so far refused to do. It hasn’t even opened an investigation into the charges against him. Why not?

At Columbia, the Middle East Studies Department includes such purveyors of anti-Israel hate as Rashid Khalidi, Joseph Massad, and Hamid Dabashi. They won’t be dismissed or even questioned, because their hearts are in the right place — firmly opposed to the settler-colonialist armed-to-the-teeth “Zionist entity.”