Appointed in November, Columbia University’s task force on anti-Semitism has found no small number of serious, institution-wide problems. In an all-too-typical attempt to undermine its work, a group of four self-described “Jews against Zionism” wrote an article for the school newspaper attacking the task force as “part of a political project to stoke fear on campus by alleging anti-Semitism against anyone opposing Zionism.” Elisha Baker, a fellow student, responds:
The four authors have made their choice clear: they reject their people’s right to a state and self-determination in their historic homeland. They have paid what the task force calls “the price of acceptance,” effectively assuring . . . the Columbia community at large that they, in fact, are not Zionists. Therefore, when they claim not to have felt ostracized on campus, I believe them. That is because they fit the pro-Palestinian movement’s mold of what kind of Jew belongs.
[The four] equate anti-Zionism with criticism of the Israeli government. They ask, “If even close to 42 percent of Jewish students on this campus hold critical views of the Israeli government’s actions, and are expressing them, would the task force call us all anti-Semitic?”’ The answer to this question is simple: no.
But of course, chanting “Death to Israel!” or calling for the country’s destruction isn’t criticism at all; nor is harassing pro-Israel students. Baker continues:
In their article, the four authors accuse the task force on anti-Semitism of excluding their voices from the conversation about campus anti-Semitism because of their anti-Zionism. They write that “it seems that the price of acceptance for the task force is that Jews be Zionists.” They are wrong. In reality, it seems that the price of acceptance for the task force is simply that one refrains from discriminating against Jews for their Zionism. On a campus that supposedly prides itself on diversity, equity, and inclusion, is this really too much to ask?
Read more at Columbia Spectator
More about: Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, Columbia University, Israel on campus