A Very Troubling Survey

 Hat tip Campus Reform. This article first appeared in New English Review.

Campus Reform, a conservative site, has just posted the results of a very troubling survey. A Harvard-Harris poll reports that a majority of Americans between the ages of 18-24 believe that Jews are "oppressors" and that the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 was justified.

If this is accurate, our society is in deep trouble.

Based on my own experiences with campus anti-Semitism over the years, it would also represent three other things:

1. The indoctrination of our youth in schools and universities has been successful.

2 The well-organized pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel movement on our university campuses has also been successful. 

3 The resurgence of anti-Semitism, both worldwide and in the US, has reached a level that should concern every decent human being. 

When I use the term successful in points one and two, I mean successful to the other side, Hamas and their Jew-hating supporters. They are the winners, not us, not Jews, not decent people who know a thing or two about history-namely the Holocaust. 

Let's go back over the three points above.

1 Nowhere has the pro-Palestinian movement received more support-even after the horrors of October 7- than our university campuses. Fertile field indeed because for several decades now, our universities have been in the firm control of the extremist left. They have been preaching to our students, our children, that America is a racist endeavor, an imperialist nation that needs to be turned upside down. As part of this anti-America, anti-West campaign of indoctrination, Israel, a strong US ally, has been singled out for condemnation. Conservatives and supporters of Israel, the West, and the US speak out at their own risk on campus. Their speaking events are routinely disrupted by students with the encouragement of certain faculty and the refusal of administrators to stand up and confront the radicals. 

In many universities, there are Middle East Studies departments, some funded and established by money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Most are nothing more than centers of anti-Israel, anti-West, anti-US propaganda. They even have their own professional association, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), just another anti-Israel propaganda arm. If all that isn't enough, some universities pretend to have Jewish studies, many of which are infested by-you guessed it- anti-Israel activists.  

In short, our universities, with few exceptions, are morally and intellectually corrupt. They have refused to fight back against anti-Semitism and protect their Jewish students. The recent testimony of three university presidents, (Harvard, M.I.T.,  and the University of Pennsylvania) shined the light on just how low our universities have sunk.

2 We must give the devil his due. The worldwide, pro-Palestinian movement has been enormously effective. During my years teaching part-time at UC Irvine, I personally witnessed (attended and videotaped) countless speaking appearances by well-known anti-Israel activists; Omar Barghouti, Ben White, George Galloway, Amir Abdel Malik Ali, Cynthia McKinney, Hatem Bazian, Abdul Alim Musa, Mohamed al-Asi, and so on. Most of these people are nothing but anti-Semites, but it is worth noting that some of them are misfit Jews who despise the State of Israel and have cast their lot with those who would destroy the Jewish state and kill whatever Jews were remaining in the new Palestine. 

The Palestinian activists have certainly convinced Europe that their cause is just. Israel has few true friends among European governments, and the political leaders have stood by and watched their Jewish population persecuted by recent Muslim immigrants. In the wake of October 7 and Israel's response, European streets, like American streets, are filled with screaming mobs waving Palestinian flags and calling for the murder of Jews. Is it any surprise that thousands upon thousands of Jews are leaving Europe? They realize they have no future in Europe. They have seen this play out before, a repeat of the 1930s in the runup to World War 2 and the Holocaust. In a few decades, when the Europeans have finally become a minority on their own continent, few if any Jews will remain.

Then there is the UN. How many anti-Israel resolutions have they passed over the decades? How many since October 7? (8 at my last count) How many anti-Hamas resolutions have been passed since October 7? (0)

3  It is now beyond debate: The situation for Jews worldwide is the worst since the Holocaust. October 7 itself was the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust. What Hamas did on October 7 was so shocking, so bestial, that any decent-thinking human being would have recoiled in disgust. Even if one supported the Palestinian cause and was critical of Israel, would they not stop and reconsider their position in the wake of October 7. Would they not say to themselves: "Is this what I have been supporting?" Sadly, the answer is no. 

October 7 has shown the world what will happen to Israeli Jews if Israel falls. If they don't get out, they will be massacred. And where can they go and live in safety? The immediate response is the US, but look at what is happening here. There will be no Holocaust in the US, to be sure, but our Jews will not be safe from anti-Semitism. Is this what is to become of our great nation? If we cannot or will not protect our Jews, or any other group, from prosecution, then our country will not be worth a dime.

There may be flaws in the above survey; I don't know. But we need to wake up and take this to heart. This trend needs to be reversed starting right now. As the saying goes, Never Again is now.