During his time in college, Blake Flayton has discovered that anti-Semitism is considered an entirely acceptably prejudice in leftwing circles, and support for the Jewish state is anathema. Yet all too often, he has found himself discouraged by the sympathetic and likeminded from saying this outright:
Since the New York Times published my story about being a Jewish college student and experiencing anti-Semitism in left-wing circles on campus, I’ve had the opportunity to write for a number of publications and speak in synagogues, high-school classrooms, and Jewish community centers. Many of those who host these talks call me ahead of time and use that ubiquitous phrase: “Don’t go there.” They are warning me to avoid certain topics. They don’t want me to emphasize that anti-Semitism is one of the key features of today’s new leftism. Too often when I talk about anti-Semitism with Jewish liberals like myself, both on and off campus, they are terrified by this new and all-too-popular trend, but they are unwilling to speak freely about it. They are asking me not to tell the truth.
I’ve had professionals call me, their voices shaking, worried that they might get shamed on Twitter by college students if I use their platform to speak freely about what is actually causing anti-Semitism at school. This is all part of a desperate need to sit at the table with those who style themselves as fighting for justice. The “adults in the room” beg us to reason with them, to explain to them what Judaism means to us and why we have a connection with Israel. “Allyship,” they preach, because the only way we’ll be accepted is if we are conceived as oppressed.
I’m sorry. If a Jew is called a Nazi on campus, is it really his or her responsibility to invite the offending student to share a bagel on the quad? If someone bans me from his organization, is it really my responsibility, as one individual put it to me recently, to “internalize ways in which I am not welcoming, and strive for a more intersectional approach to dialogues about oppression and power”? . . . What other minority community would be forced to endure this jargon-filled hellscape? Every time Jews speak out about anti-Semitism, we’re immediately told to endure a corporate diversity-training seminar, one which concludes that it’s still our fault for causing all the drama.
Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/new-zionist-congress-is-born-blake-flayton-antisemitism