What strikes me about these cries of anti-semitism, and the way campuses, and governments (US, State, and Local) are dutifully investigating this "phenomenon", (with an eye to banning speech and activity) is the power imbalance. The imbalance in financial clout and political power to influence these organs. I am Jewish, so I am especially anguished that my name is being used for these campaigns.
Jews are one of the the most affluent ethnic groups in the US. Along with earnings and wealth greater than the average American, Jews represent 35% or more of billionaires in the US. Pro-Israel Jewish organizations such as ADL, AIPAC, Hillel, and others, have enormous financial resources at their fingertips. Jewish donors to universities do not hesitate to wield the power of the purse.
And, yet, what I'm seeing and hearing is Jews describing themselves as if they are a powerless besieged minority, who are being oppressed by Black and Brown and Palestinian and Muslim students.
This is so far from reality that it astonishes those of us who can see clearly.
At UC Berkeley, a Jewish Law Professor publishes an Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying "don't hire my students". Don't hire students who belong to SJP. Many law firms link the article (or cut and paste it in whole or part) on their websites.
The Dean of Berkeley law defends the Professor and pens his own paean to the terrible anti-semitism at UC Berkeley, although all the examples he gives are evidence of anti-zionism. At a UC funded dinner at his home, his wife wraps her arm around the neck of a student trying to give a speech about Ramadan and Palestine, while the Dean shouts at her to get out. He threatens the students who walk out with her, saying he'll report them to the State Bar. The next day, in interviews, he paints himself as the victim of the terrible anti-semitism at this dinner, while threatening to report to the state bar any student who again tries to speak up.
Who holds the power? What will happen to law students reported to the State Bar? Which students will easily get employment after graduating from UC Berkeley Law? Is it Jewish students who will have trouble seeking employment, or hijab wearing women with Arabic names, and Black and Brown students?
And so, when these organizations decide that anti-Israel sentiment is equivalent to anti-semitism, money talks.
There are no multi-million dollar organizations crying out for investigations of Islamophobia and anti-Palesinianism on campus. These students do not have powerful, well funded organizations fighting for them. They don't have multi-million dollar donors threatening to withdraw donations unless the universities crack down on discrimination. These are the students whose voices are being silenced, whose future careers are being threatened, whose relatives are being murdered.
Marcy