By Michael Pedowitz
Guest Opinion Author
Opinions expressed by the author are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Signal or its staff, as per the Guest Opinion policy.
Two months ago, Hamas carried out a vicious attack on Israel that resulted in the assault, rape, murder and kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli civilians. The terrorists’ brutality is nothing short of evil incarnate, and in the ensuing war, thousands of people have been killed, in part due to Hamas’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields against Israeli airstrikes. The horrific loss of innocent lives on both sides is staggering, and to those with connections to the Middle East, the conflict has been frightening and traumatic. As people in every nation pray for peace, the effects of this war continue to resonate worldwide.
Tensions have also risen among college students following waves of anti-Israeli protests on campuses nationwide, and our own school has been no exception. Jewish students on our campus have experienced an increase in anti-Semitic language and behavior. In early October, several Jewish students at a peace prayer were verbally attacked by two male students who screamed “from river to sea, Palestine will be free” – an anti-Semitic slogan which calls for the destruction of Israel. Fallacious stickers and pamphlets equating Zionism with terrorism have appeared around campus; Zionism, which is the movement for the establishment and protection of Israel, is crucial to many Jews’ religious identity. And at a pro-Palestinian protest in November, several students witnessed demonstrators compare Israeli soldiers to Nazis while chanting, falsely, that Israel is a “terrorist” and “genocide state.”
These are just a few examples of anti-Semitism on campus, and the students that reported these instances requested to be kept anonymous out of concerns for their safety. Read that again. Jewish students are afraid of their peers and teachers on their own college campus. This is not normal. This is not okay.
Thankfully, the United States Congress agrees, and the pressure has been turned up on university leaders across the country to combat anti-Semitism. However, at a Dec. 6 hearing, in which the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania were questioned over their responses to incidents of anti-Semitism at their respective universities, the academic leaders seemed unable to unambivalently condemn language calling for the genocide of Jews. They instead dodged around the question, saying that the answer would be context-specific.
There is no context for excusing anti-Semitism. Calls for the destruction of Israel are anti-Jewish, anti-democracy and anti-human, and are antithetical to what our country represents.
Our own college administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war has also been relatively weak. The narrative presented in the emails from both the interim president and the Office of Inclusive Excellence have simply called for “open and compassionate dialogue” among students in the wake of reports of anti-Semitism on campus. That is: Jewish students should have “compassionate dialogue” with those who align with terrorist groups that seek to destroy us. Since those emails, there has been little follow-up via the College’s official channels despite the ongoing issues of anti-Semitism.
While the College’s position of neutrality may seem appropriate from a safe academic distance, the reality is that the College’s leadership is not always neutral on political issues with opposing viewpoints. The College consistently calls out the hateful “Bible Believers” group when they appear on campus, has been repeatedly vocal on issues regarding race and racism in our country, and held a vigil for Ukraine when it was attacked last year. Why, then, won’t the College stand with Israel, especially when her enemies seek to destroy both the Jewish people and the United States? Why won’t the College support its Jewish students by expelling anti-Semitic slogans and rhetoric from its campus, just as other institutions of higher learning are called on to do?
This article’s goal isn’t to attack any one person, but to encourage The College’s leadership and its students to be wary of anti-Semitism and to stand up to evil. This isn’t a matter of politics – it’s a matter of saving lives and preventing terrorism. The College has a duty to act with moral clarity. The College must stand up for its students, especially on the issue of anti-Semitism, where neutrality is not an option.
