Nadiya Al-Noor: Anti-Semitism is the new social justice
Anti-Semitism is the acceptable form of bigotry on the Left. It’s thinly veiled as “anti-Zionism,” which really is just anti-Semitism with a fancy name, as it opposes the Jewish Indigenous Rights movement. Students are expected to hate Israel in the name of being progressive. Jewish students are painted as privileged racists, unless they disavow Israel and abandon their indigenous struggle in order to assimilate. My people (Muslims) are portrayed as helpless victims of ruthless Jewish aggression. Palestinians become pawns in the game of Jew hatred. The world falls for it. Israel is evil, end of story.Zionism is Not Racism
Studies show that a campus with an active Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter is more likely to have anti-Semitic incidents (no surprise there). My university, Binghamton University in New York, is unique in that the pro-Israel voice is the most dominant narrative. We used to have an SJP problem, but to my knowledge, they disbanded after the administration cracked down on their anti-Semitic harassment. Now our Muslim Student Association partners with our Hillel for mosque-synagogue interfaith trips. The Jewish and Muslim communities here are on good terms, because we see each other as people. We don’t allow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to define us.
Universities need to address anti-Semitism on campuses. If there was an Islamophobic incident at a university, you can bet the administration would deal with it much more swiftly. Anti-Semitism is tolerated because of Leftist hypocrisy. Because of the rampant anti-Semitism on university campuses and the racial diversity of students participating in Jew hatred, anti-Semitism is often excused or justified.
Jewish students, you need to be proactive. Don’t wait for an anti-Semitic incident to happen. Don’t wait for an SJP to emerge and fester. Hold an Israel Peace Week or Hebrew Liberation Week. Educate your fellow students. If you don’t speak up, anti-Semites will.
Anti-Semitism is unacceptable, even if it’s trendy.
41 years later, Columbia University students are still equating Zionism with racism.Algemeiner Editor-in-Chief: All Hands on Deck Required for Fight Against Antisemitism in US
As part of their annual “Israel Apartheid Week,” the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, in conjunction with Columbia/Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, are hosting an event Monday, February 27th entitled “Zionists are Racists.”
If you buy into Dr. King’s assessment that the arc of the moral universe is long but bends toward justice, then you buy into the idea that as humanity progresses, we sometimes must look back at the actions of the past and recognize that they do not conform to our standards of morality. The very essence of progress is predicated on acknowledging there is a problem which needs addressing.
The students who are hosting this offensive, bigoted, and hateful event are guilty of precisely the opposite. They drag us back to a past that is so shameful, it has already been corrected.
The 1975 United Nations General Assembly resolution that infamously gave the world “Zionism is Racism” was revoked in 1991 with 111 nations voting in favor of its repeal. Twenty-five countries voted against the repeal, including the shining beacons of democracy and equality of Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace are keeping fantastic company.
The fight against antisemitism in the US requires “all hands on deck,” the editor-in-chief of The Algemeiner said during an i24 News appearance on Tuesday.
Dovid Efune called President Donald Trump’s public condemnation of antisemitism earlier in the day a “great beginning” to an expected broader effort to quell the recent surge of anti-Jewish hate incidents — including a spate of telephone bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the country and the desecration of graves at a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis.
“Absolutely, you have to call in the FBI, you’ve got to call in [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions [to investigate the incidents],” Efune said. “These are criminal people doing criminal acts — hateful people, and they have to be brought to justice.”
Referring to critics of Trump who have accused the president of waiting too long to speak out against antisemitism, Efune said, “There is no such thing in this case of too little, too late. He’s [been] in office for a number of weeks, and I think and I hope that he’s just getting started.”
“I think it’s unfair to say…that the president has been dragging his feet,” Efune stated. “I think what we’ve seen here is a president who is reluctant to take commands from anybody, especially from the media, and especially from his political opponents. So really it was a question of finding the right time and place to speak out against antisemitism and we saw that the president found that this morning.”