By Yiftach Levy
SAN DIEGO — Local college campuses are an active battlefield in a global war to deligitimize Israel and shame its supporters. You could be excused for not knowing this if you don’t go to school, work in higher education, or are otherwise directly affiliated with one of the universities in town, but if you care about the future of the United States, not to mention Israel, you should be aware of this issue. Events in recent and in the upcoming weeks underscore the urgency of this matter.
College is a time and place where young adults often figure out exactly who they are, what they want to do with their lives, what career path to take, and so on, all while hopefully learning something about the world around them. Unfortunately, all too often these days, what they’re learning about the Middle East, and specifically about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is steeped in lies, mischaracterizations, and blatant anti-Israel and anti-semitic propaganda (these attacks originate with faculty as well as students).
For several years now, the absurdly named group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has hosted “Palestine Awareness Week” (or “Israel Apartheid Week,” depending on what day you ask them). Pro-Israel students call it “Israel Hate Week” and work hard to counter the lies and vicious hatred with educational materials and facts. Based on the image of the region SJP uses in their promotional materials (in which “Palestine” is shown as encompassing all of what is now Israel as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip), what they should really call it is “Let’s-work-towards- a-world-in-which- Israel-doesn’t-exist week,” but that admittedly doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily.
This year, this hatefest begins March 26, with the return of the infamous “Israel Apartheid Wall,” a highly misrepresentative and rambling portable barrier that’s supposed to symbolize the security fence separating some of the West Bank from Israel. The panels of this traveling exhibit of misinformation are covered with references to the US-Mexico border, out-of-context quotes by prominent activists from various points in history that purport to support the Palestinian position, and calls for the US to end aid to Israel.
Pro-Palestinian students are only too happy to talk about, say, the difficulties experienced by Palestinian farmers whose orchards are harder to access due to the barrier. What they won’t mention, of course, is how since the barrier was erected terror attacks against civilians inside Israel have become almost nonexistent. These students are likely to have a very hard time condemning terrorist attacks in general, since they operate under the belief that Israel is an illegitimate state in its own right and that any method of resistance is justified.
Pro-Israel students at SDSU, led by Aztecs for Israel (AFI) and supported by Hillel, Stand With Us, and other community organizations, work tirelessly to combat this poisonous atmosphere. They distribute factual educational materials, arrange for speakers who promote a negotiated solution to the conflict, and engage in other advocacy methods. Perhaps most significantly, they constantly and consistently reach out to SJP and other student groups in a call for open dialogue, trying to bridge the chasm one relationship at a time. They have been rebuffed at every turn, personally and organizationally, and, at least once, even when the attempt was facilitated by the office of the President of the University. SJP students have repeatedly told their AFI counterparts that SJP’s policies, bylaws, rules, etc., explicitly prohibit them from so much as talking to pro-Israel students, not to say anything of actually collaborating on peace-building initiatives.
This intransigence is reflective of the most extreme elements in Palestinian society (including Gaza’s ruling Hamas, a terrorist organization that doesn’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and which has launched thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian population centers over the last decade). The futility of trying to negotiate with people hell-bent on your destruction was noted last Sunday at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla by American-Israeli educator, author and commentator Dr. Daniel Gordis when he debated Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder of J Street, the left-wing lobbying group.
Gordis, who made aliyah in 1998, said that the most difficult thing about the transition from life in the United States to Israel was witnessing the collapse of the peace process. He was brought up to believe that any conflict between people was solvable, because all people basically want the same thing: to live securely, earn a living and raise children in peace. In fact, he said, it’s become clear to him and many, perhaps most Israelis, that the Palestinians desire Israel’s destruction more than the normalcy we all crave. Peace, he said, isn’t an absolute value; it shouldn’t come at the expense of truth, morality, and justice. Truth isn’t relative; the prevailing notion in much of academia in our era, that all cultures inherently have values that ought to be respected, is problematic and potentially dangerous.
J Street has been criticized for undermining Israel’s interests not only by opposing activists and lobbying groups, but by some liberal and conservative legislators as well. Ben-Ami, who was very amiable and cordial during the debate, spent the first several minutes of his opening statement establishing his credentials as a qualified commentator on Israel even though he doesn’t live there. His background, he said, made it clear that he is as deeply connected and committed to Israel’s well being as it’s possible to be without living there. He acknowledged that Gordis and his family (including two sons currently serving in the IDF), along with all other Israelis, are the ones who bear the burdens and make the daily and long-term sacrifices relating to Israeli security and other matters. Still, he said, Israel needs diaspora Jewry’s love and opinions as much as the diaspora needs Israel. The Jews in Israel, he said, own the voting shares in the Israeli enterprise, while American and other diaspora Jews are stockholders whose opinions should be considered even if they don’t have a formal voice in the process.
Among other criticisms, Ben-Ami accused Gordis and his allies of being intellectually dishonest for laying the blame for the failure of the peace process solely on the Palestinians. Ironically, laying the blame on just one side is a favorite tactic of the anti-Israel forces in this arena. To these folks, the Palestinians are blameless victims of brutal Israeli oppression for no reason other than the Jews’ imperialist colonialist expansionist aspirations. There are no innocent Israelis in their universe, so any Israeli is a legitimate target at any time, be they a uniformed, armed combatant during an active military engagement, or a 3-month-old infant sleeping in her crib at home in the middle of the night.
This single-minded focus on Israel as an aggressor also drives the loud but as yet not terribly effective boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. This effort, itself possibly the greatest exercise in intellectual dishonesty in modern times, is particularly popular in academia, especially in student government. Several California campus student councils have approved resolutions calling on their universities to divest from companies that, in their words, profit from “Israel’s military occupation and siege of the Palestinian territories.” The latest resolution was passed by Associated Students UCSD in a secret ballot on Wednesday, March 13.
Based on UC policy clearly stated by the President of the University in 2010, the resolution itself is meaningless in terms of the UC system’s actual investments. Passage of the resolution does, however, alienate countless Jewish and non-Jewish students on campus. Many of these students spoke out against the resolution during a marathon debate session a week before the vote, pointing out the hypocrisy and double-standard inherent in singling out Israel’s defensive actions against Palestinian terror among all the other armed conflicts in the world. It’s fascinating, disturbing and disheartening to note, for example, the silence of these same self-styled watchdogs of human rights regarding the Syrian civil war. In just the last two years, more Syrian civilians have been killed by the Syrian military than all the Palestinians killed in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The next few weeks will be a critical time in Israel-related activity on our local campuses, starting with SDSU March 20. You can show your support for the courageous Jewish students on our local campuses, who will be on the front line of this continuing battle, by donating to Hillel or StandWithUs (note that the donation is in honor of San Diego students). Both of these organizations provide material and social support to help the students spread the truth about Israel, promote peace, and stand up to hate and lies.
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Yiftach Levy, an IT Consultant at SDSU, is staff advisor to Aztecs for Israel, the SDSU Pro-Israel student organization, and an active volunteer in the San Diego Jewish & Pro-Israel community.