[sc:graybox ]The following guest post is written by Elijah Granet, HonestReporting’s Blankfeld Award winner for 2014. Elijah is currently majoring in Political Science and Talmud at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
There is a disturbing trend in the college “debate” over Israel, and unusually, it is driven not by Students for Justice in Palestine and their fellow travelers, but rather, by Jewish students.
I know that sounds odd, and what I’m about to say may sound even odder: the disturbing trend is resolutions condemning anti-Semitism.
It should be painfully obvious that I personally condemn anti-Semitism in the strongest terms, especially as someone who has experienced campus anti-Semitism, and equally obvious, that too little is being done about anti-Semitism around the world and on college campuses. Why then, am I so stridently opposed to Jewish students introducing resolutions to condemn anti-Semitism?
[sc:graybox ]Join the Fighting BDS Facebook page and stand up against the delegitimization of Israel.
These resolutions have been passed by, among others, UC Berkeley and UCLA, and one was just passed, alongside a divestment resolution, at scenic UC Santa Barbara. They are driven by student activism in the Jewish community, and have been treated, where passed, as victories. They are passed with the best of intentions, and many of my personal friends were involved in the passage of the UC Berkeley one.
The first and most glaring problem with these resolutions is that they are being debated and passed by the very same bodies that are passing BDS resolutions. In the case of UCSB, the two were passed at the same time. I’ve previously argued that it is a grave mistake to try to debate or fight these resolutions before student governments, because it only legitimizes their false and bigoted position. The anti-Semitism resolutions do something far worse than create an impression of false balance – they give cover to the demonization of and assault on Israel.
I have no doubt that the UCSB student senate breathed a sigh of relief when Jewish students asked it to pass a bill condemning anti-Semitism. It gave the senate perfect cover to pass a bill dripping with the anti-Semitism of extreme Israel hatred.
These bills accomplish nothing whatsoever, except to provide good PR to the empty words of a student government. Everyone “knows” anti-Semitism is bad. This isn’t a bold stand against anything. Instead, student government members will now be able to claim, “BDS’s antipathy towards Israel can’t possibly be associated with anti-Semitism. We passed a resolution against that!” When Jewish students are questioned whether their ethnoreligious background precludes them from serving in certain positions, student governments will note that they have always taken strong stands against anti-Semitism. Anyone can condemn something which is publicly taboo — what matters is action.
When BDS resolutions and resolutions opposing anti-Semitism are presented concurrently, they give an exoneration to members of student governments, who are, ultimately, normal college students who don’t wish to be involved in controversy. They will believe they have appeased the Jews with their empty words, and the BDS proponents by supporting divestment. Any council that passes a resolution against anti-Semitism is far more likely to subsequently divest from Israel.
This is not simply hypothetical. Let’s return to our case study of UCSB, where the student senate is doing exactly that. For one, the Facebook page “Against UCSB Divestment from Israel”, run by student activists, recently posted:
A senator (who shall remain unnamed) just said the Jewish community is “hypocritical” because they condemn anti-Semitism but also condemn divestment.
Precisely. Now take a look at the tragedy encapsulated in an excerpt from a post in the public “Santa Barbara Hillel” Facebook group, by its director, Rabbi Evan Goodman:
Thank you to the Senate for listening and acting. The Senate also decided to send a BDS anti-Israel resolution to committee.
In a vacuum, I wouldn’t care that much. The truth is that student governments can’t do much of anything about Middle East politics (though if they so chose, they could actually do something about anti-Semitism), and there’s nothing inherently wrong with agreeing with a universally accepted truth (e.g. that anti-Semitism is bad). The problem is that the fight against BDS is not being conducted in the background. The media are eager to cover these events, and the outcomes of these debates influence not just a few college students, but the entire perspective of America on Israel. The resolutions against anti-Semitism provide convenient cover, and the fact that they are supported by the Jewish community makes things worse. Soon, “I have Jewish friends” will be replaced with “I agreed that anti-Semitism was bad.” Maybe I would have a different reaction if these bills funded education promoting tolerance or created programs to combat campus anti-Semitism, but bills that simply “condemn” anti-Semitism are worse than meaningless. They are ammunition in the hands of the enemies of the Jewish community.
It pains me deeply to publicly disagree with my friends and fellow members of the Jewish community, but it is imperative that the Jewish campus community realize that there are no innocuous actions in the debate over the public image of Israel and of the noxious BDS campaign. One need only click around on this website to find examples of how almost anything a supporter of Israel says will be taken out of context, twisted, and turned against him or her. HonestReporting does an excellent job of calling out these gross distortions, but we in the Jewish community also have a responsibility to ensure that our advocacy will ultimately serve us and not be used against us.
I will continue to fight against the scourge of anti-Semitism and I am glad to see that students and our allies have marshaled formidable force to fight the demonization of Israel. I only hope that we can use this force to actually accomplish change, not contribute to our opponents’ public image.
[sc:graybox ]Are you a budding writer currently in full-time education? Think you can contribute articles to HonestReporting such as the one above? Then apply for this year’s Blankfeld Award for Media Critique.
Featured image: CC BY Bruce Krasting via flickr with modifications by HonestReporting
