Hamas Attacks, Israel Responds II

Nobody is arguing that right wing antisemitism isn’t a threat. We’ve all known about it for a very long time. Probably more than many of you.

The issue is the sad reality that many Jews are waking up to which is that the left has their garbage as well.

 

One solution is to make two threads and keep the topics separate. I'm not sure the mods want to moderate another thread, so I'm not suggesting it's the best solution. The other part that is missed (and I realize it's less relevant to most as most on here are not Jews, so kind of sympathy vs empathy type of thing), but most of us I believe live in US. So the events in this country are naturally going to draw more attention from us than events elsewhere (no matter how emotionally charged they tend to be). Lastly, the Jews on this forum tend to bring up this topic NOT b/c we think events in Gaza are less important or less relevant, but because we live with what we are describing and what we are seeing. We have kids that talk to us daily about their challenges, we have kids that attend Jewish schools and Jewish events, we attend City Council meetings, we go to rallies and protests. So yes, events in Gaza are qualitatively worse, but they are not directly impacting our daily lives.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/opinions/columbia-university-protests-greenblatt/index.html

And yet the most sobering experience came from a listening session hosted in the Hillel by the Columbia Task Force on Antisemitism. Approximately 80 Jewish students from across the university came to tell their stories about their encounters with anti-Israel protesters, crowding into a room. Some were crying. Some were yelling in anger. They shared individual stories, each more harrowing than the previous one.

Students told me of having liquids flung at them and getting screamed at for simply wearing a Jewish star.

Students illustrated the madness by showing me videos on their phones. One depicted the assault of a Jewish classmate, an Israeli flag ripped from his hand. Another showed a Jewish student being screamed at by a fully masked individual who came right up to his face, his voice shaking with fury.

I saw a photo of someone standing in front of openly Jewish students; she held up a sign that read, “Al-Qasam’s next targets,” a reference to an armed wing of Hamas. I saw images of oversized posters planted on the Columbia quad, each lionizing men Israel viewed as terrorists. Demonstrators calling openly for Hamas to burn Tel Aviv. Others yelling that October 7 is about to be every day.

To be fair, it is not clear that all of those harassing and assaulting Jewish students are Columbia students. It is quite clear that campus outsiders — even high-profile critics of Israel like Mohammed el-Kurd, Norman Finkelstein and Nerdeen Kiswani — are abundant on campus.

But maybe the most jarring moment came when I left the Hillel building. Standing on the corner, a young woman I had seen during the listening session approached me. She introduced herself and literally broke down in tears. She sobbed and sobbed, overcome by exhaustion, and expressed what I heard throughout the afternoon: anguish, desperation, fear.

 

A couple of unrelated points that may add clarity. Or may not.

* It's a tradition among Jews to hold different perspectives on the same matter. The old joke is "two Jews, three opinions." So the fact that people are expressing different, even contrary, opinions is not a sign that we're at war among ourselves. It's pretty typical.

* Israel has proposed ceasefire after ceasefire. All efforts have been rejected by Gaza/Hamas! Some of you are so intent on painting Israel as the bad guys that you seem to have missed that point. The end to war is in the hands of Gaza, and remains so. So maybe, just maybe, your anger is misdirected.

 

Are you suggesting that the student was arrested because of what she was wearing? I'm guessing it was because she and her ilk failed to heed the warning given by the university and decided to violate university rules. From UT Austin, yesterday:

The event "has declared intent to violate our policies and rules, and disrupt our campus operations" and that the university would not "allow this campus to be ‘taken’ and protestors to derail our mission in ways that groups affiliated with your national organization have accomplished elsewhere."

UT Austin said that any attempt to hold the event would subject the PSC and its members to discipline, including suspension, and anyone who attended not affiliated with the University would be directed to leave campus.

Can we fault the university for following through? They would be derelict in their primary responsibility -- that of educating students -- if they allowed mob rule to subvert university operations.

I also note some of the comments to that Twitter post:
I hope many of the people there are taking close pictures of some of these Officer Badges, knowing well they may have a Hidden #IDF Sign on it, then you know that is a Red Flag, this proves Darn Well that #Netanyahu & #ShaiDavidai are interfering with out country by FORCE.

12:43 PM · Apr 24, 2024

Hidden IDF signs. Cute. Hard not to see the protesters as mere rabblerousers who like to cause trouble and attack Jews/Israel, and don't really have a clue about what they're whining about. (Hint: Israel does not want to take control of the United States. Ever.)

 

Did you look at the video? I don't see anything rough or violent. She's speaking calmly to them as they cuff her, and apparently ask if her it's okay or too tight, and she nods that she's all right. She's not happy but she's not hurt or fearful.

People are removed from protests, including city council and school board meetings, all the time. This is garden variety "you knew you were breaking the rules -- these are the consequences" police behavior. Shouldn't be a surprise to the students, as they were warned, and anyone who would not bear the thought of being put in restraints should have decided to skip the protest.

 

Quite a bit of stupidity coming from certain Israeli politicians. Like really stupid. This is a perfect way to describe my thoughts on this.

Maybe - hear me out - we are being led by knuckle-dragging incompetents who understand neither their own jobs nor our national interest.

So very much is wrong with this. What kind of confusion drives a "diaspora minister," on the eve of President Biden's signing of billions of…

— Haviv Rettig Gur (@havivrettiggur) April 24, 2024