Israel, Progressive Jews, and the Left-Wing Allies: The Case of a Demonstration at the U.S. Capitol
Still, cracks have begun to emerge among the Democratic coalition. The Palestinian cause is more important to younger and more liberal voters than older generations, a split that accelerated during the Trump administration. Many American Jews are far more critical of Israel than their forebears and have turned to groups such as IfNotNow or Jewish Voice for Peace, which staged protests in the U.S. Capitol demanding a cease-fire and accusing Israel of planning genocide.
In Los Angeles, Rabbi Sharon Brous, a well-known progressive activist who regularly criticizes the Israeli government, described from the pulpit her horror and feelings of “existential loneliness,” her voice breaking. The message from the world was that the Israeli victims deserved this terrible fate.
“When a people have been subject to decades of apartheid and unimaginable violence, their resistance must not be condemned, but understood as a desperate act of self-defense,” Black Lives Matter Los Angeles posted on Facebook, in its first response to the attack. A reproductive-rights group sharply criticized the “Zionist occupation,” stating that it denied Palestinians control over their bodies and that “there can be no justice, peace or reproductive freedom underneath colonial occupation.” A number of socialist organizations across the country did not directly condemn the killings by Hamas.
The most inflammatory comments come from progressive groups that didn’t wait for a moment of mourning before justifying the attack on the civilians.
And many protests have included chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that leaves no place for the state of Israel to exist in its own land.
When dehumanizing Israel can be deadly: the Los Angeles unified school board member of the D.S.A. effected by the LA Times-New York City protest
The Los Angeles Unified School Board member who is now running for Congress has been warned that people will turn on him quickly, but he did not think it would happen to him. When you make a group dehumanizing, that is how it happens. This indoctrination that many of us have been warned about hit us like a ton of bricks.”
The most terrifying episodes have occurred on college campuses and on social media. During the worldwide conflict, those statements have become totemic, heightening fears that they are a preview of a more dangerous and lasting shift in the standing of Jews in America.
The protest in New York City was promoted by the Democratic Socialists of America after the attack, and the lawyer and producer in Los Angeles was enraged by it. He sent hundreds of letters to Los Angeles city officials urging them to denounce the organization and label it a “hate group.” The D.S.A apologized for not making values explicit after they backed away from the protest.
“It’s like, I belong to this political organization that believes in three things: affordable housing, raising the minimum wage, and the wholesale murder of Jews,” said Mr. Spiegelman, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he condemned local leaders who are affiliated with the group. Two out of three is okay.
“We need to remember that anyone dehumanizing Israelis rightly has zero representation in the United States government, while many federal officials have been dehumanizing Palestinians for decades,” Eva Borgwardt, the political director of IfNotNow, said in an interview.
The unequivocal support for Hamas by some students at elite colleges is irksome and puzzling. These students claim to value tolerance but also object to capital punishment.
Bill Ackman, a hedge fund billionaire, urged that the names of students be leaked to avoid hiring them and others like him should be shamed for allowing a recent undergraduate at a university to determine the fates of students through email.
When the accusations are directed at individuals from marginalized populations, they are also misguided.
The students who support the liberation of Palestine are being targeted for being antisemitic. The harassment of these students demonstrates that there is no recognition of the free speech rights of those who critique the Israeli government’s brutal military occupation.
There are legitimate opinions that the U.S. should not be involved with the Israeli policies, just as there are legitimate opinions that the Palestinians should be able to represent themselves in diplomatic avenues.
Free Speech and the Harvard Paradox of Doxxed (The Pedagogical Viewpoint on Doxxxed, Physicists, and Critics)
It strikes me that the students at Harvard who complain about being “doxxed” misunderstand the concept of free speech. Free speech means that you can say anything you want without having to worry about government restrictions. It does not mean that your speech is free of consequences.
If you open your mouth and say something stupid, people will naturally think you’re stupid. If you say mean things, they likely will think you mean. And if you act as an apologist for terrorists, people will understand you to be an apologist for terrorists.