An Open Letter to Student Participants of the Protest Encampments, from a Jewish Alumnus
Dear Participants of the Protest Encampments,
In our journey to anti-racism, there are certain things we do for minorities, as good allies. When African Americans are threatened, we say “Black Lives Matter”. We comfort Asian victims of assaults by repeating that “Hate is a Virus”. “Love is Love”, we tell frightened homosexuals. If women report sexual abuse, we say “Me too”. When migrants are separated, we proclaim “Families belong together”. Every time a minority is demonized, assaulted, or unsafe, we listen to them, we are there for them, and we let them define what is hurtful and offensive….for ALMOST every minority!
Yet, when Jews tell you that valid criticism of Israel has crossed the line into denial of our culture, anti-Semitism, and calls for terrorism against us, you gaslight or ignore us. We complain that we interpret chants like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” as calls for our genocide, yet you continue singing it. Why do you exclude these same privileges, of listening, “doing the work to educate ourselves”, and allowing the impacted minority to define what is offensive, for just one single ethnicity?
Frankly, your Jewish friends and neighbors are terrified. Some of us no longer feel safe. I have heard of people start considering, for the first time, to make Aliyah (immigrating) to Israel, and explore obtaining Israeli citizenship. I have seen friends quit their jobs, becoming traumatized by the anti-Semitism they’ve experienced. I know people who change their names for Ubers to not sound “Jewish”, who take off their Stars of Davids, and remove the mezuzahs in their apartments. I have comforted crying acquaintances who not only have been called “Nazis”, but have been assaulted, spat on, and followed home (“we know where you live”).
As a proud alumnus of Boston University, Class of 2011, and Northeastern University, Class of 2017, I was fortunate to have avoided these experiences on campus. Perhaps business school has more students focusing on their studies. Maybe we got so much homework, we didn’t have time to do much else. Possibly, I just associated myself with the right people, happily living in ignorance while surrounded by diverse, tolerant friends, who respected me as a human being, and were capable of holding uncomfortable, but intellectually-stimulating conversations. Yet today, I hear from friends, neighbors, current students, and employees working on college campuses, that “the place that is the least safe for Jews is on college campuses”. Talking to people, hearing all these stories, and seeing first-hand accounts via videos seem like an alternate reality to me! How did we get here? How did it happen, that the very institutions where we rely on for education, tolerance, and growing as individuals, have become such vitriolic bastions of anti-Semitism?
There is something else we never had during my days in school, which is happening now — a major protest. On one hand, protests at academic institutions are critical to make the world a better place. They encourage tolerance, holding governments accountable, preventing bigotry, and even stopping wars. Prior generations have successfully protested for civil rights, against the Vietnam War, and divestment from South African apartheid on college campuses. The critical aspect was that the protests were peaceful. Those were not endangering anyone’s well-being. The only lives threatened, were of the protesters themselves, by police. No one called for the violent deaths of any group, endorsed terrorism, or physically assaulted those with opposing perspectives. Those students were exercising their First Amendment rights to truly make the world a better place. Which makes the newest encampment protests on college campuses all the more terrifying.
I totally understand why some of you are partaking in, or supporting these. Many of you share my valid concerns of the human rights violations by the Israeli government, and worry about unacceptably high death rates of civilians. If the majority of casualties in a conflict are civilians, especially children, something is clearly broken. When a population is facing mass starvation, there is something very wrong. A government that makes entire families homeless, forces them to flee and remain trapped in just one tiny area of a region (Rafah), and shoots at aid convoys, must be held accountable. Politicians planning to attack the last area filled with civilians, with a complete lack of plan to minimize casualties, need to be called out and stopped. When you protest these things, it is the RIGHT thing to do, and I’ll join you! Unfortunately, these are not what the campus encampments represent. When the organizers of these very encampments proudly state that “Zionists don’t deserve to live”, our worse-case scenario concerns and fears come to fruition.
Publicly denying Jews the right to our own safety and security frightens and upsets us. One of the primary reasons Israel was even created was so we could escape the virulent anti-Semitism in European and Arabic countries. Denying our roots, attempting to erase our culture, and equating us to “white colonizers” when we ourselves were colonized, and where 70% of residents aren’t even white, is problematic. Hearing you publicly call to divest from every Israeli business or citizen, regardless of his or her views, while seemingly having no issues with study abroad programs in China, and using Chinese-owned Tik Tok, makes us feel isolated and alone. Showing up to protest against Israel, but remaining silent over the concurring genocide happening right now in Sudan, Iran executing its own civilians, and rampant gang violence in Haiti, makes us question your true intentions.
Unfortunately, rather than the peaceful protests against Israeli occupation some of you think you are rallying against, instead of solidarity with Palestinians, these encampments have devolved into support for terrorism, calls for genocide, and rampant antisemitism. Alongside the “Ceasefire Now”, pleas, we hear calls to “burn Tel Aviv to the ground”. Ironically, the same people pretending to be social justice warriors concerned about the “genocide” of Palestinians, openly call to “globalize the Intifada”, which of course means killing Israelis and Jews. Protestors at these encampments block Jews from accessing their own dorms and professors, working in their own classrooms. We have been physically assaulted, getting punched, spat on, and poked in the eyes with flagpoles. Rather than a peaceful practice of the First Amendment, these protests have devolved into a cesspool of demonization, dehumanization, extremism, and violence.
Why are attacks against Israelis held to a different standard than those against the LGBTQ community, Asians, or African Americans? At Harvard, you “violate harassment policies” for “using the wrong pronouns”, yet are apparently allowed to read “May we liberate all our water together, from the river to the sea”, calling for the erasure of Israel as a nation. In what world can a University of Pennsylvania professor be sanctioned for problematic statements about “race, gender, and national origin”, yet students on the same campus openly chant “We are Hamas”? Isn’t it interesting how we easily arrest people “carrying flaming torches”, but are fine with individuals carrying Hezbollah flags, an internationally-organized terrorist organization? There is a different tolerance level, even standard, with protecting every other minority from hate speech on college campuses, EXCEPT for Jews. Why do you tolerate, or even perpetuate it? What are you going to do to fix it?
If these protests are so “peaceful”, why are these same universities cancelling things? Why have classes have gone remote at Columbia University, graduation cancelled at the University of Southern California, and tuition dollars are allocated to pay for hotel rooms, for Jewish students, at Emerson College? Why are rabbis telling Jews to stay off campus? If it is so safe for Jews to remain here, why is Brandeis University, a historically Jewish university where 33% of students are Jewish, extending its transfer application? These clearly aren’t happening in a vacuum. When a peaceful protest devolves into threats and violence, when students feel unsafe, when classes get disrupted, the inmates have taken over the asylum. Those of you who are concerned about human lives and protecting civilians, why do you tolerate and allow these extremists to speak for you and to represent you?
Just like the United States, South America, and Australia, Israel is here to stay, as a Jewish nation, no matter how much you are against it. Are you more interested in helping Palestinians achieve statehood and live in peace, or demonizing and alienating potential allies? Had you actually bothered to discuss the conflict with us, you may have learned that many of us are also pro-Palestinian! Like you, we are bothered by too many indiscriminate deaths in the Gaza Strip. We condemn the Israeli government’s lack of effort in minimizing collateral damage, and use of psychological warfare such as starvation and destroying of infrastructure and houses. Get to know us, and you may even learn that some of us, myself included, are even considering getting Israeli citizenship, to vote in a more moral, competent government, which would be actually interested in peace and reconciliation. Where we differ, is we also support our right to exist, as well as a safety option to flee to when the anti-Semitism becomes intolerable, like it has in the past, and again, beginning to now. Want us to NOT live in Israel? Treat us as human beings, listen to and appreciate our pain, and stand with us, like you do with other minorities!
Rather than focusing on erasure of identities, the denial of our existence, instead of denying respect about our security concerns, work with us to create a true, lasting peace in the Middle East. By refusing to have difficult conversations about complex topics, all you are doing, besides offending Jews and disrupting classes and graduations for students, is alienating us, actually HURTING Palestinians. If you truly care about civilian lives and getting trapped children out of war zones, I challenge you to put your money where your mouths are! Egypt is currently expecting bribes to get Gazans across the border (interestingly, you don’t make a single mention of the immorality of gauging desperate poor people to make some quick cash, why is this?). Sell your tents, finish up those degrees, earn your salary, and then donate to Palestinian families trying to escape! Will you DIRECTLY aid with saving civilian lives, and take actions for a more peaceful world, or just performatively pretend to care about their well-being?
Anti-racist ally, should Jews feel safe, just like all of the other minorities? Will you allow us to define what is offensive? Will you “do the work”, and “listen and learn”? If so, please protect us. Acknowledge our existence. When you see support for killing us, if you witness anti-Semitism, call it out, speak up, and put a stop to it. Palestinians and everyone else, Jews also deserve safety, peace, and security. Will you work with us to truly make the world a safer place, or continue virulently demonizing and denying our existence?
Sincerely,
Gary Gorny
Boston University, Class of 2011
Northeastern University, Class of 2017
