The disgusting displays of anti-Semitism that we have seen at Columbia, Yale, NYU and many other universities in recent days are a threat to the physical security of Jews and Israelis. History has taught us to take seriously those who threaten us, and the road between chants like “Burn Tel Aviv” and “Kill more Zionists” to actual violence is short (and in some places it has also been crossed). There is no attempt in this column to diminish the harm and fear experienced by Israelis, Jews and their supporters in these areas.
A demographic analysis of the population of the demonstrations, where such calls were heard, may teach us something about their dynamics. In every video and photo I saw, there was a predominance of two groups – Arab-Americans, whose affinity for the conflict is national, and accordingly also their nationalist views, and young whites, apparently from very well-established homes (those who benefit from a scholarship cannot afford to demonstrate and prepare for exams).
There are four social factors that deserve to be looked at: leaving home (even during adolescence), creates a feeling of lifting a burden, combined with the first encounter with the “real world”; the tendency of young people to propose “big” and “revolutionary” solutions; Good old youth rebellion; Since students at these universities come from every possible background, they have nothing in common except their values. Accordingly, their values become what defines them, and thus a social dynamic is created that, in order to maintain itself, encourages conformity and blocks any discussion that challenges its values. One of these values is opposition to war.
The combination of these four factors, fueled by authentic hatred for Israel and the Jews on the part of the “hard core” of the protesters, produces the events we have seen.
Fortunately for us, when it comes to such blatant anti-Semitism, the means of dealing with it are clear. In a country of law, and the USA is still a country of law, if you slap an American Jew “go back to Europe” (as happened in Colombia), you are a racist and will be punished accordingly. If you hit another female student (as happened at Yale), you will be suspended from school. If you break into a house private of a lecturer and starts screaming at him (as happened in Berkeley), your freedom of speech is not valid. Those who use the freedom of speech, the holy of holies of American society, to threaten, endanger and even harm others, will find out very quickly that in the real world the actions have consequences.
But precisely because of this, they are not the problem in God’s knowledge. Those who call for violence, break into private property (another sacred cow in American society), and completely disrupt public order – it is relatively easy to isolate and denounce, and if necessary to punish. The real problem is with the “silent majority”: the group in which there are young liberals and progressives in the USA, who do not know enough about the conflict and follow foreign news superficially, but their heart’s inclination is to support the weak. I describe them as “David supporters”, standing against Goliath .
Put yourself in their shoes: wouldn’t you sympathize with a demonstration against a war in which, as you heard, over 30 thousand people were killed? Wouldn’t you like your workplace or school to stop investing in companies allegedly involved in war crimes? Wouldn’t you be angry with the government if it transferred billions of dollars to weapons and ammunition for a war that has been going on for over half a year on the other side of the world?
We all love to support the “underdog”, the weak little uncle against Goliath, the Big Bad Guy. For the most part, it is also the morally right thing to do: see Ukraine in its war against Russia, or Taiwan against China. But for Israel, this is not the case – we are strong, but not the “bad guys”.
In the informational workshops I conduct, under the title “How to speak liberally”, I teach how to deal with this paradox – not to try to convince that we are the victim (in view of the extent of the damage in Gaza, it will be very difficult), but to cut the Gordian connection between Strong and Wrong. Convincing, not the violent anti-Semites, but the “silent majority” who know almost nothing about the conflict, that Israel is a regional power supported by the US, does not necessarily make it the Goliath of the Middle East.
Two weeks ago I visited the US Congress, and I presented this exact claim to members of Congress and their staffs. I deliberately met with the more critical politicians, the more “difficult” as far as Israel is concerned, the ones that my colleagues in government offices told me “give up on them, it’s a waste of time”.
Of the people whose offices I visited, at least two – Senator Raphael Warnock and Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs – who previously announced that they supported limiting military aid to Israel, voted in favor of President Biden’s aid package, without restrictions. What works with congressmen and senators will also work with most college students, at least those not chanting “From sea to river, Palestine shall be freed.”
