Dear Friends,
During my college days, there was a slogan all over campus: “think one person can change the world? We do.” I loved these words because they reflected my institution’s history at the forefront of social change. In fact, college students have always made headlines for protests, marches, and civil disobedience. This
is how it should be. They are exploring their sense of right and wrong. They are expressing their voices as change agents.
Undoubtedly, there are many compassionate young people protesting in the tent encampments that have sprung up at universities throughout the United States. They are demonstrating for an end to the war in Gaza and for justice for Palestinians. And what decent person doesn’t want both of those things? They have seen the terrible images and grim statistics that we have all seen. We all want an
end to the suffering.
Unfortunately, these rallies are not always benign. My colleague Rabbi Ari Hart recently took a walk through the encampment at Northwestern University. Some of the signs and chants he encountered called for peace and an end to the fighting. Others were downright chilling: “Long live the Intifada!” “Hey hey, ho ho - Zionists have got to go.” And then there’s the ubiquitous slogan heard around the world, “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.”
I wonder how many of these students know what river and what sea they are chanting about? If they do, do they think that the seven million Jews living there will simply pack up and leave? And what about the word ‘intifada’ — which means ‘shaking off ’ or ‘uprising’ — do they know that the second intifada consisted of hundreds of suicide bombings, sowing terror throughout Israel’s civilian centers? Do they know that that uprising began after Palestinian leadership rejected a two state peace deal that Israel agreed to?
Perhaps the most disturbing recent statement came from Khymani James, the organizer of the Columbia encampment, who said that “Zionists don’t have a right to live.”
Just let that sink in.
Zionism is simply the political movement for the freedom of the Jewish people. To reject that movement is to deny the Jewish right to safety and self-determination. It is a form of hatred. I wish I could comfortably advise our young people to speak up for the safety and self-determination of both Palestinians and Israelis in these protest spaces. But I do not know of any protest where such nuance would be accepted. Tragically, the protests have been poisoned by forces that would not end the war, but rather declare it anew— on the entire Jewish people. (“Globalize the Intifada?” The nefarious intent is hiding in plain sight.)
This messy morass reveals a failure of the American left. Intersectional justice work dictates that none can be free unless all are free. In too many of these protest spaces, that applies to everyone except for Jews.
(And by the way, how many of these students showed up to protest the brutality of the Rohingya Genocide or Syrian strongman Assad’s murder of thousands of Palestinians in his civil war? We could name dozens of other geopolitical conflicts that haven’t risen to encampment-protest-worthiness. That alone is reason for deep reflection.)
Many well-meaning young people attend these events because of the images in the news or an invitation from a friend. Many have absolutely no knowledge of this conflict or its history. Most are well-meaning.
Undoubtedly, some of these protesters are Jewish. I suspect that some of our own college students from TBT may be involved. We should listen to them. Many of them are driven by conscience. We should respect their right to free expression. But mass protests devoid of critical thinking are morally bankrupt and potentially very dangerous. The movement we are seeing today is not about peace. It is tainted by a zero-sum worldview that requires Palestinian liberation at the expense of Jewish safety. That is a false choice and one that makes Jews around the world less safe.
Oseh Shalom bimromav, hu ya’eseh shalom aleinu - v’al kol yoshvei teivel.
May peace yet prevail in our world.
Shalom,
Rabbi Moss