Anti-Semitism Is a Growing Shame for Our Country

This article first appeared in New English Review.

University of Maryland

I taught part-time at a major California university from 1998-2016. As a gentile, I witnessed first-hand how the pro-Palestinian movement on our campus and so many others brought anti-Semitism to our universities. It is unconscionable that Jewish students on our campuses have to live under such fear and intimidation. You students who are undecided about which side is righteous and which side is not should have been convinced on October 7 beyond any shadow of a doubt. The subsequent nature of so many of these pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world should also convince you who is right and who is wrong. 

On the one hand, I am gratified to see national attention finally being brought to this problem, but on the other hand, it has been going on at least two decades now. I wonder where people have been all these years, but I have to admit it is now worse than ever. It has become downright scary and downright infuriating. On Thursday, November 9, during a Students for Justice in Palestine rally at the University of Maryland, a message was chalked onto the sidewalk: "Holocaust 2.0". In addition, pro-Hitler, pro-Holocaust rhetoric is becoming more common. We are seeing the worst outbreak of anti-Semitism since the Nazi era especially on our campuses but now spilling onto our city streets.  What have we come to?

I have been predicting for years that one day, one of our campuses will experience a tragedy because of this issue. That day appears to be approaching rapidly. Just this past week, a 69-year-old Jewish pro-Israel protester was knocked to the ground and killed by a pro-Palestinian protester in Thousand Oaks, California. The perpetrator has been identified. He is a 50-year-old Arab who teaches at a local university. There are conflicting reports, and the man has not yet been charged, but some witnesses are claiming that the man struck the victim with a megaphone causing him to fall to the ground where he struck his head causing his death. The police are asking for people to come forward with any video they may have showing exactly what happened. Had they been present (they weren't) they would have had officer testimony. Instead, they had patrol cars pass by periodically to make sure everything was peaceful during opposing demonstrations at the same time. What could possibly have gone wrong?

Returning to the campus, based on my own personal experience observing Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), I feel they have no place on any university campus. They are bullies who use tactics of intimidation and disruption to silence pro-Israel voices. They and various chapters of the Muslim Student Association, as well as the curiously-named Jewish Voice for Peace, have managed to intimidate university administrators to the point where they are afraid to stand up and protect their Jewish students. They have disgraced their profession and should all be fired. It is a major shame for American academia. 

I still maintain that, as in Europe, most of this modern-day anti-Semitism in the US is of the imported variety, but if we allow our society to degenerate into what happened in Germany during the 1930s in the run-up to the war and the Holocaust, if we are going to allow our Jewish fellow citizens to be treated in this manner, our country is no longer worth a dime.