Dear Anti-Israel Campus Protesters:
It may take years to realize that, but Israel supporters like me have reason to be grateful to militant anti-Zionists like you.
A friend recently asked me what my decision would have been if your protests hadn't been so fervent and one-sided. For example, if pro-Palestinian student groups at Harvard and Columbia University had not condemned Israel immediately after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Or if Jewish students and professors from Harvard to Columbia to Berkeley to Stanford hadn't faced violence, harassment, and anti-Semitic imagery from you and your allies. Or if we were going to acknowledge the reality of the October 7 rape and the suffering while demanding the safe return of the Israeli hostages and their families. Or if you consistently condemn and distance yourself from Hamas. Or if you had all just followed the rules that give you every right to free expression without trampling on others' rights to a safe and open campus.
I mean, what if your protests focused on Israeli policies, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, instead of calling for the complete elimination of Israel as a Jewish state?What if we avoided demonizing those who support Israel's right to exist, including the majority of Jews? Like modern day Nazis?
In that case, I told my friend that I would disagree with your opinion, but I would not disrespect them. Neither did a wide range of Americans, including many on my left. The result could have been a movement with stronger arguments and more influence. You could have won over the undecided about your cause. And for Israel to make the case that Hamas must be eliminated, it would have had to fight much harder.
I know some people don't think so. The most hard-liners among you want to “radicalize contradictions,” as the Marxists would say. Your real goal was never to shape U.S. government policy, at least not in the short term. What you really want to do is normalize anti-Zionism, especially on elite university campuses, while the people you convert to your cause become senators, governors, and university presidents. They're hoping for a bigger payoff in 2020 or 30 years.
But the problem with sharpening a contradiction is that the contradiction being sharpened is one's own. On behalf of all the students who became fervently pro-Palestinian during the protests, perhaps even Jewish students who had hitherto been indifferent toward Israel finally realized the connection between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. To all the professors who showed up to the camp asking for support, you lost a fair-minded liberal with your Maoist-like slogans and arrogant contempt for the real horrors of some of your Jewish colleagues. It turns out.
And for every graduation ceremony that you have effectively forced to cancel or that you are going to ruin, thousands of apolitical students (who didn't have a proper high school graduation because of Corona) , has an intense and abiding hatred towards you. And everything you stand for.
In short, if clarifying contradictions is the game you're playing, it benefits my side more than it does yours. That's nothing new either. Are we trying to emulate the 1968 protests? Their main accomplishment was the election of Richard Nixon and the continuation of nearly 40 years of center-right rule in the United States.
Also, this is not the only help you can give me.
I am a Zionist not only because I support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, an abstract point about other countries. I'm also a Zionist. The most personal reasons are: Because I see Israel as an insurance policy for all Jewish families, including mine. Because they have experienced persecution and exile in the past and understand that they may not be safe forever in their host country. . For those with historical memories of France up to Dreyfus, Germany up to Hitler, or Iran up to Khomeini, that kind of insurance is something Jews cannot afford to lose.
What happened on October 7th shook my belief in the quality of that insurance. After all, what else does the state of Israel exist for, if not to protect its people from the kind of carnage it endured that day? But what happened on October 8th, the moment your protests began, renewed my conviction that, at least with people like you at the helm, America for Jews will never be the same. Because I was able to get a glimpse of what will happen in the future.
I believe that many, if not most, of you consider yourself to be committed idealists who want to end Palestinian suffering, champion equality, and oppose all forms of prejudice. Masu. There are ways to do it without making common cause with people who hate Jews, want to kill us, and frequently do. Supporting two-state solutions is one such method. It is one thing to argue that Palestinians deserve a better leader than Hamas. The third one is the bridge with the Israelis.
Rather, without realizing it, you remind me every day what my Zionism is for, what it is for, and what it is against. If nothing else, thank you.
