The current issue of the Columbia University campus newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, is featuring a front-page open letter signed by 19 people who identify as Israeli students, post-docs, and alumni of Columbia. In their letter, they state their opposition to any measures being pushed by the Trump administration to deport foreign students engaged in pro-Palestinian activities on campus. It seems, in fact, that they don't want the Trump administration involving itself on behalf of beleaguered Jewish students in any manner. A link to the White House executive order is contained in the letter.
I gather from the letter itself that the signers are not exactly strong defenders of Israel's policies, which is their right even though they are Israeli citizens. I disagree strongly with their implication that the principal purveyors of anti-Semitism are neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Not that they don't exist, but to lay most of the blame on them is a canard-particularly on a college campus.
To be fair, I have expressed many times that from my own personal experience on campuses, most of the activists engaging in objectionable (anti-Semitic) activity are either native-born or people who came to the US as youngsters. I base this on the fact that most of those I have observed and interacted with speak English with a native accent. Many, if not most come from a Muslim immigrant background, but there are also American leftist students of various persuasions even some Jews, lamentably. Thus, it is simplistic for us to simply call for the deportation of foreign students who engage in anti-Semitic behavior and think that will solve the problem.
I do support the withdrawal of student visas and deportation of foreign students who cross the line from mere criticism of Israel into anti-Semitic expressions and acts of violence and vandalism. And make no mistake: If a university rightfully decides to expel a foreign student on a student visa-for any reason- it has an obligation to notify immigration authorities so that the student visa may be canceled and the student sent home. In fact, when I was teaching at the University of California at Irvine Extension (1998-2016), we were required to notify immigration authorities whenever a foreign student on a student visa was excessively absent from class. Beyond a certain limit, they would be dropped from our program (English as a second language). Their I-20 certificate of student eligibility would be canceled by the school, and unless they were accepted by another school, they would be forced to return home.
I would also call into question their claim that there are relationships between Israeli and Palestinian students that are being "nurtured". Where are these relationships, especially at this "pivotal time" at Columbia, of all places? While teaching at the University of California at Irvine and beyond, I have seen Jewish students try to dialogue with pro-Palestinian students many times-always in vain.
To that end, this letter looks to me at best to be just another attempt by some to try and show goodwill to the pro-Palestinian forces in the vain hope that it will be reciprocated. Either that or the words of a group that is on the side of the Palestinians. If, for the sake of argument, it is the former, it will be in vain. If it is the latter, it will be welcomed as useful- for the time being. (Can you say, "useful idiots"?)
Instead of trying to protect and shield miscreants, the writers of this letter should be glad that finally, there is a president back in the White House who cares enough about what Jewish students are going through to seriously tackle the problem. In reading the executive order, I see nothing that suggests that the administration wants to silence free speech as long as it is peaceful and doesn't cross the line into Jew hatred. It is the violence, calls for murder and other forms of violence, open support for Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization, bullying of Jewish students, disruption of their events, vandalism, and illegal occupations and encampments, especially after October 7, 2023, that are being targeted. And rightfully so.
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