{"id":1579189,"date":"2024-03-28T20:08:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=464935"},"modified":"2024-03-28T20:08:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:08:00","slug":"pro-israel-advocates-are-weaponizing-safety-on-college-campuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/03\/28\/pro-israel-advocates-are-weaponizing-safety-on-college-campuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing \u201cSafety\u201d on College Campuses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\"\n    src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?fit=2500%2C1667&#038;w=1200\"\n    srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=2500 2500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1804973504-em.jpg?w=2400 2400w\"\n    sizes=\"(min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\"\n    alt=\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 20: People gather to protest the banning of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at Columbia University on November 20, 2023 in New York City. Students, alumni of both schools, some dressed in caps and gowns, and supporters held a &quot;Denouncement Ceremony&quot; and pledged not to donate money to the schools after the banning of the student groups for holding a nonviolent but unsanctioned protest demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. More than 20 progressive elected officials have sent a letter to the university calling for the reinstatement of the groups. Calls for a ceasefire in Gaza continue as the death toll from Israel\u2019s invasion of Gaza has increased in the weeks since the October 7 Hamas attack. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)\"\n    width=\"\"\n    height=\"\"\n    loading=\"lazy\"\n  data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n      <figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n              <span class=\"photo__caption\">People gather to protest the banning of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters at Columbia University on Nov. 20, 2023, in New York City. <\/span>\n                    <span class=\"photo__credit\">Photo: Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images<\/span>\n          <\/figcaption>\n  <\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><u>Two weeks ago,<\/u> the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ColumbiaSJP\/status\/1768367084084322523\">publicized<\/a> an email leaked by an anonymous student at the university\u2019s social work school. In the email, a professor, who was also not named in the screenshot, raised the issue of a Palestinian flag emoji that the student had placed next to her name during Zoom meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn an unrelated matter,\u201d the professor wrote, \u201cit has recently been brought to my attention that geopolitical emojis\u201d \u2014 the Palestinian flag \u2014 \u201cused at the end of name info has caused trauma reactions, making it difficult for some to remain present and not dissociate during class session.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<!-- BLOCK(oembed)[7](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22OEMBED%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22EMBED%22%7D)(%7B%22embedHtml%22%3A%22%3Cblockquote%20class%3D%5C%22twitter-tweet%5C%22%20data-width%3D%5C%22550%5C%22%20data-dnt%3D%5C%22true%5C%22%3E%3Cp%20lang%3D%5C%22en%5C%22%20dir%3D%5C%22ltr%5C%22%3ELEAKED%20EMAIL%20EXCHANGE%3A%20%3Cbr%3EColumbia%20University%20Professor%20asks%20CSSW%20student%20to%20remove%20Palestine%20Flag%20from%20their%20zoom%20name%20online%20because%20it%20has%20%5Cu201ccaused%20trauma%20reactions%5Cu201d.%20%3Cbr%3E%5Cu201cGeopolitical%20emojis%5Cu201d%20is%20referring%20to%20the%20Palestinian%20flag.%20%3Ca%20href%3D%5C%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Ft.co%5C%2FSQVyB6E4rU%5C%22%3Epic.twitter.com%5C%2FSQVyB6E4rU%3C%5C%2Fa%3E%3C%5C%2Fp%3E%26mdash%3B%20Columbia%20Students%20for%20Justice%20in%20Palestine%20%28%40ColumbiaSJP%29%20%3Ca%20href%3D%5C%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Ftwitter.com%5C%2FColumbiaSJP%5C%2Fstatus%5C%2F1768367084084322523%3Fref_src%3Dtwsrc%255Etfw%5C%22%3EMarch%2014%2C%202024%3C%5C%2Fa%3E%3C%5C%2Fblockquote%3E%3Cscript%20async%20src%3D%5C%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fplatform.twitter.com%5C%2Fwidgets.js%5C%22%20charset%3D%5C%22utf-8%5C%22%3E%3C%5C%2Fscript%3E%22%2C%22endpoint%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fpublish.twitter.com%5C%2Foembed%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22unknown%22%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Ftwitter.com%5C%2FColumbiaSJP%5C%2Fstatus%5C%2F1768367084084322523%22%7D) --><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LEAKED EMAIL EXCHANGE: <br>Columbia University Professor asks CSSW student to remove Palestine Flag from their zoom name online because it has \u201ccaused trauma reactions\u201d. <br>\u201cGeopolitical emojis\u201d is referring to the Palestinian flag. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SQVyB6E4rU\">pic.twitter.com\/SQVyB6E4rU<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ColumbiaSJP\/status\/1768367084084322523?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><!-- END-BLOCK(oembed)[7] -->\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The professor asked for the student\u2019s \u201ccontinued partnership in ensuring our class space remains a safe one for all.\u201d In an excruciatingly polite response, the student asked for permission to discuss the issue collectively, with the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the stuff of far-right parody: an absurd example of \u201cwoke\u201d culture. An Ivy League professor, invoking the language of \u201ctrauma response\u201d and safety, in an email that refers to class members as \u201cfolx,\u201d suggesting the removal of an emoji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet the professor\u2019s email speaks to a broader problem of student safety being flattened into a question of whether students feel safe. And these aren\u2019t the reactionary tropes of left-wing \u201csnowflakes\u201d: \u201cSafety\u201d is being invoked by pro-Israel students, many conservative and center-right, who believe that protests targeting the nation state constitute inherent attacks on them as Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same dynamic played out in the fall at the same university. Last November, Columbia banned its chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, as The Intercept <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/14\/palestine-penn-columbia-gaza-protest-lawsuits\/\">reported<\/a>, because an \u201cunauthorized event\u201d put on by the groups \u201cincluded threatening rhetoric and intimidation.\u201d When challenged to name the threat, Columbia Senior Executive Vice President Gerald Rosberg said only, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the student groups, that \u201caccusations that Israel was \u2018a racist state committing genocide\u2019 and \u2018is an apartheid state\u2019 could upset some people and \u2018seem \u2026 like an incitement of violence.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>New York City\u2019s Upper West Side isn\u2019t the only setting for such thin complaints. A staggeringly imbalanced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2024\/03\/stanford-israel-gaza-hamas\/677864\/\">feature<\/a> in The Atlantic this week, written by Stanford sophomore Theo Baker, offered up a supposedly neutral narrative that treats the \u201cconflict\u201d on his college campus as a battle between imperiled Jewish students and unreasoned pro-Palestine zealots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right-wing GOP culture warriors and conservative Zionist groups are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=32ZgaM3bf2A\">using<\/a> similar claims about campus incidents nationwide. \u201cSafety\u201d is the latest weapon in the culture war, being deployed now to deal a blow to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, known as DEI, and to silence criticism of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class=\"stylized pull-right\" data-shortcode-type=\"pullquote\" data-pull=\"right\"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[1] -->\u201cPeople are taking their feelings of being uncomfortable with information as the same as physically being unsafe.\u201d<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[1] --><\/blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[1] -->\n\n\n\n<p>The result has brought us to our intolerable status quo, with students and faculty risking grave consequences for protesting a war in which Israeli forces have slaughtered over 31,000 people. Israel\u2019s U.S.-backed assault has <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/02\/09\/deconstructed-gaza-university-education\/\">razed<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/02\/09\/deconstructed-gaza-university-education\/\">to rubble every single university in Gaza<\/a>, but the concern as relates to intellectual life in this country focuses instead on the inoculation of Israel\u2019s young supporters from bad feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople are taking their feelings of being uncomfortable with information as the same as physically being unsafe,\u201d said Layla, a Palestinian American graduate student at Columbia\u2019s School of Social Work, who asked to withhold her last name for fear of harassment. \u201cAs a Palestinian student, I\u2019ve lost family in Gaza. Frankly, I get uncomfortable when Zionist students are chanting \u2018no ceasefire\u2019 on campus. That makes me feel uncomfortable. That makes me feel unsafe. But I know that it is not a physical threat to my safety. That is free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-feeling-safe-vs-being-safe\">Feeling Safe vs. Being Safe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The need to distinguish between feeling safe and being safe is both urgent and undeniably fraught. <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishcurrents.org\/toward-a-sober-assessment-of-campus-antisemitism\">Antisemitism<\/a> is rising. There have been instances, including on campuses, of Jewish students harassed and targeted solely for wearing a kippah or being otherwise identified as Jewish. Islamophobic, anti-Arab, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/18\/muslim-islamophobia-palestinians\/\">anti-Palestinian violence<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/11\/09\/us\/cair-unprecedented-surge-anti-muslim-bias-reaj\/index.html\">surging<\/a>. And a American-supported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2024\/02\/israel-defying-icj-ruling-to-prevent-genocide-by-failing-to-allow-adequate-humanitarian-aid-to-reach-gaza\/\">genocide<\/a> is being carried out halfway around the world in the purported name of Jewish safety. Yet this is no time for cowardice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing as a professor and a Jew, with a profound commitment to my students\u2019 safety and well-being, I see an imperative for them to learn to distinguish between genuine threat and paranoia \u2014 that their judgments of the world be grounded and attentive to the workings of power, propaganda, and ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, a perfect political storm, driven in large part by sustained campaigning from pro-Israel groups, has produced structures of feeling \u2014 a map of collective emotions at historical junctures \u2014 that are resistant to challenge. The elements include the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, pushed evermore fervently by Zionist groups in the last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2020\/nov\/29\/palestinian-rights-and-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism\">decade<\/a>; the equation of feeling unsafe with being unsafe that has been normalized in the oversimplified liberal discourse; and the weight of intergenerational Jewish trauma combined with very real antisemitism in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have no doubt that the students\u2019 feelings of fear are real, but educational institutions should not be validating a psychic block that precludes seeing support for Palestine as anything other than a threat.<\/p>\n\n\n<!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22israel-palestine%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/israel-palestine\/\">\n              <span class=\"promote-banner__image\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra\/Anadolu via Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=3600 3600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>        <\/span>\n            <div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n                  <p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n            Read our complete coverage          <\/p>\n        \n        <h2 class=\"promote-banner__title\">Israel\u2019s War on Gaza<\/h2>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/aside>\n<!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[2] -->\n\n\n\n<p>One way universities are validating these feelings as proof of real danger may be out of their hands: through Title VI complaints and, in some cases, official investigations. <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?req=(title:42%20section:2000d%20edition:prelim)%20OR%20(granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section2000d)&amp;f=treesort&amp;num=0&amp;edition=prelim\">Title VI<\/a> of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. By statute, universities are duty-bound to take these complaints seriously, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re always serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the post-October 7 campus battles, the complaints in question consistently<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/16\/israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests\/\"> center on claims of campus antisemitism<\/a> \u2014 referring to Title VI\u2019s protection from discrimination based on national origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n  <div class=\"promote-related-post\">\n    <a      class=\"promo-related-post__link\"\n            href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/16\/israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests\/\"\n      data-ga-track=\"in_article-body\"\n      data-ga-track-action=\"related post embed: israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests\"\n      data-ga-track-label=\"israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests\"\n          >\n              <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"440\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1793875057.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>            <span class=\"promo-related-post__text\">\n      <h2 class=\"promote-related-post__eyebrow\">\n        Related      <\/h2>\n      <h3 class=\"promote-related-post__title\">Student Protests for Gaza Targeted by Pro-Israel Groups for Alleged Civil Rights Violations<\/h3>\n    <\/span>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights has 80 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2024\/02\/29\/united-states\/search-our-database-of-title-vi-discrimination-investigations-at-schools-and-colleges-since-oct-7\">open Title VI investigations<\/a> that have arisen since October 7 that fall under the category of \u201cshared ancestry\u201d discrimination, which also covers incidents of Islamophobia and other religious discrimination. And just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/meet-the-jewish-conservative-leading-campus-antisemitism-investigations-in-the-us\/\">one man<\/a>, Zachary Marschall, the editor of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/04\/10\/campus-reform-koch-young-americans-for-freedom-leadership-institute\/\">right-wing site Campus Reform<\/a>, is responsible for 10 of them, according to a database of the complaints and investigations put together from public data by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To file a complaint, a person need have no affiliation with the institution in question. Marschall, an outspoken critic of DEI, has no connection with any of the universities against which he is the Title VI complainant, but claims to be filing the complaints on behalf of campus figures who are often not publicly named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While details of the federal investigations are not public, Campus Reform\u2019s coverage of reported antisemitism on campus offers clues about Marschall\u2019s approach. His posts on the site consist largely of alarmed responses to Palestinian solidarity <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campusreform.org\/article\/anti-semitic-slogan-painted-across-campus-display-\/20736\">slogans<\/a>, calls for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campusreform.org\/article\/indiana-university-facing-federal-civil-rights-investigation-over-anti-semitism-response-exclusive\/24792\">ceasefire<\/a>, and vocal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campusreform.org\/article\/suspended-anti-israel-groups-still-operating-on-columbia-campus-jewish-students-claim\/24521\">anti-Zionism<\/a> on the part of left-wing Jewish student groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider, by way of example, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, against which Marschall filed a Title VI complaint. Campus Reform wrote about the school too. A November <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campusreform.org\/article\/hamas-connected-org-praises-these-johns-hopkins-profs-\/24330\">post<\/a> cited as evidence of anti-Jewish animus the fact that a faculty open letter in support of a Gaza ceasefire was commended by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that Campus Reform alleged is connected to Hamas \u2014 a common attack against CAIR that the group has denied as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cair.com\/dispelling-rumors-about-cair\/\">smear<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marschall may well think the discrimination he is alleging is very real, but it hangs on a thin reed. To have the desired impact, though, the Title VI complaints don\u2019t necessarily need to be sustained. The Department of Education might rule that Marschall\u2019s complaints fail to show civil rights violations, but the investigations themselves can still have a chilling effect, forcing universities to act out of fear of losing federal funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigations can and have drummed up publicity, putting other university funding in the crosshairs. The effects of similar pressure campaigns are already being felt: Elite universities have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/10\/19\/business\/harvard-upenn-donors-israel\/index.html\">appeased<\/a> wealthy pro-Israel donors, who have since October 7 threatened to withhold their money if anti-Israel speech is tolerated on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-xlarge-bleed\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\"\n    src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?fit=2500%2C1667&#038;w=1200\"\n    srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=2500 2500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1981891574-student-protest.jpg?w=2400 2400w\"\n    sizes=\"(min-width: 1300px) 1221px, 100vw\"\n    alt=\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 02: Pro-Israel protestors argue with Pro-Palestinian protestors during a demonstration near Columbia University on February 02, 2024 in New York City. The demonstrations were held in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian protesters that were allegedly attacked during a protest two weeks ago on the university campus. Pro-Palestinian University organizations alleged that two people attacked multiple protestors with &#039;skunk&#039; stink-bomb during a January 19th protest on campus. Multiple arrests occurred following clashes between the NYPD and protestors as they marched around the exterior of the Columbia, and Barnard-Columbia, before being pushed down Broadway.  (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld\/Getty Images)\"\n    width=\"\"\n    height=\"\"\n    loading=\"lazy\"\n  data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n      <figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n              <span class=\"photo__caption\">Pro-Israel protesters argue with pro-Palestinian protesters during a demonstration near Columbia University on Feb. 2, 2024, in New York City. <\/span>\n                    <span class=\"photo__credit\">Getty Images<\/span>\n          <\/figcaption>\n  <\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-antisemitism-as-cudgel\">Antisemitism as Cudgel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Using antisemitism for political ends is not a new tack. Efforts like Marschall\u2019s play into a pattern of reporting on antisemitism that obfuscates rather than clarifies material antisemitic threats. Frightening statistics, leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com\/sensationalizing-campus-antisemitism-isnt-serving-jewish-students-like-mine\/\">sensationalized<\/a> headlines, about soaring campus antisemitism are compiled by conservative, <a href=\"https:\/\/droptheadl.org\/\">agenda-driven watchdogs<\/a> that conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism as policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They assert without compunction that calls for Palestinian liberation are a threat to Jews. The statistics then take on the imprimatur of official narrative, stoke further fear, and resist dispute \u2014 any such challenge is open to charges of antisemitism denialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/28\/magazine\/vermont-shooting-palestinian.html\">Palestinian students<\/a> wearing Keffiyehs were <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/12\/10\/vermont-palestinian-shooting-civility-politics\/\">shot<\/a> last November in Vermont, leaving one paralyzed from the waist down. An Arab Muslim <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/nov\/06\/stanford-muslim-student-hit-run-hate-crime\">student<\/a> at Stanford was hospitalized in a hit-and-run in November that authorities are investigating as a hate crime. (The latter incident went notably unmentioned in Baker\u2019s viral Atlantic story detailing threats at Stanford.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>And there have been physical dangers at Columbia, too \u2014 for pro-Palestine students. Those attending an on-campus Palestine solidarity rally in January were <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/22\/columbia-university-palestine-protest-skunk\/\">sprayed<\/a> with a noxious chemical by two veterans of the Israeli military, also Columbia students. Numerous students \u2014 including Layla, the Palestinian social work student \u2014 were hit with the foul-smelling spray, believed to be Israeli-developed chemical weapon knowns as \u201cskunk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fifteen students had to seek hospital care for nausea, burning eyes, and irritated skin. While the NYPD is investigating the incident and the assailants are currently banned from campus, the university\u2019s initial response was to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/22\/columbia-university-palestine-protest-skunk\/\">chide<\/a> the injured students for holding the protest in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students at Columbia and elsewhere have seen their faces and names projected on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/brianbushard\/2023\/10\/26\/doxxing-truck-takes-columbia-heres-what-to-know-about-the-truck-that-posts-names-of-students\/?sh=6e2542981f41\">doxxing trucks<\/a>\u201d circling campus. A vocally pro-Zionist business school professor, Shai Davidai, has faced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columbiaspectator.com\/news\/2024\/02\/13\/society-of-personality-and-social-psychology-students-submit-complaint-calling-to-sanction-business-school-professor-shai-davidai\/\">complaints<\/a> that he used his X account to target <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/itslaylas\/status\/1770957480652112318\">individual<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShaiDavidai\/status\/1747346477100191939\">Palestinian<\/a> and pro-Palestinian students by linking them to Hamas. (Davidai has denied <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShaiDavidai\/status\/1771303933119455309\">going after<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShaiDavidai\/status\/1771308510912917620\">particular<\/a> students, though in January he promoted a form letter that singled out a student by name and, in March, accused a student of being \u201cpro-Hamas\u201d while linking to a tweet that identified her.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to dozens of student complaints, the university launched an investigation into Davidai\u2019s behavior; he has <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/03\/09\/us-news\/clear-act-of-retaliation-pro-israel-columbia-prof-probed\/\">decried<\/a> the probe as \u201cretaliation.\u201d His outrage make sense, I suppose, in a universe that gives credence to a Palestinian flag emoji as a potential trigger for a \u201ctrauma response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-absence-of-any-real-threat\">\u201cThe Absence of Any Real Threat\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The disparity of the stakes \u2014 felt safety and its material counterpart \u2014 become ever starker when one\u2019s gaze is turned to where it really belongs: Palestine itself. Students speaking out for Palestine are not doing so to shore up campus safety for Palestinian students \u2014 which the Palestinian students, of course, deserve \u2014 but because they are desperate to see an end to Israeli assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI question why our focus is on the elite college campuses and their use of language over the horrific injustices being committed against the Palestinian people,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columbiaspectator.com\/opinion\/2024\/02\/13\/what-are-the-politics-of-respectability-during-a-genocide\/\">wrote<\/a> Maryam Iqbal, a freshman at Barnard College and among the students hospitalized after the Columbia chemical attack, in the college newspaper. \u201cThere is absolutely no reason to be centering the feelings of privileged college students over the victims of an actual genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Iqbal told me that she hoped that following the chemical attack, the university administration\u2019s attitude towards what constitutes threat and safety, and where risks lie, would change. \u201cNothing has shifted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, attacks on expression continue. Last month, Barnard <a href=\"https:\/\/thebarnardbulletin.com\/2024\/02\/26\/barnard-bans-decoration-on-dorm-doors-imposes-new-policies-restricting-on-campus-protests\/\">banned<\/a> students from displaying any decorations on dorm room doors, to avoid \u201cthe unintended effect of isolating those who have different views and beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are, without question, students who feel hurt and unwelcome when faced with protests and speech condemning Israel as a genocidal apartheid state. Many Jewish people struggle to square such realities with the idealized notion of Israel we were raised with: that it is a noble and necessary state for Jewish safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know, too, that there are Jewish students who fear that antisemitic groups and individuals are simply using opposition to Israel as a guise for anti-Jewish hate \u2014 there\u2019s certainly historic precedent. And there are, as I noted, examples of genuine heightened antisemitism on campus. When Jewish people are targeted for being Jewish, we need to act with severity. Fear, however, does not make a protest against Israel, even a protest against its maintenance as a Jewish ethnostate, a protest against Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[5](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class=\"stylized pull-right\" data-shortcode-type=\"pullquote\" data-pull=\"right\"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[5] -->\u201cTreating feelings of fear and discomfort seriously does not mean reifying them.\u201d<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[5] --><\/blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[5] -->\n\n\n\n<p>Institutions of higher education should be in the business of demystification, even when it involves challenging certain sensitive received wisdoms. We fail as educators if we permit the false lesson of all too many Zionist upbringings \u2014 that Palestinian freedom is a threat to Jewish safety \u2014 to persist for our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Joseph Howley, a classics professor at Columbia who has been perturbed by the treatment of pro-Palestine protest on campus, told me, \u201cTreating feelings of fear and discomfort seriously does not mean reifying them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Howley, who is also Jewish, noted that, by the same logic, we would not want to validate the fear felt by a white student, conditioned under racist assumptions, who called the police because they felt afraid in the presence of a Black student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCapitulation to this sort of language of fear and unsafety in the absence of any real threat,\u201d he said, \u201cis a real betrayal of our actual responsibilities as teachers to the social emotional development of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-xlarge-bleed\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\"\n    src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?fit=2500%2C1667&#038;w=1200\"\n    srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=2500 2500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1786022805-student-protest.jpg?w=2400 2400w\"\n    sizes=\"(min-width: 1300px) 1221px, 100vw\"\n    alt=\"UNITED STATES -November 15: Students and activists protesting Columbia University&#039;s decision to suspend the student groups &quot;Students for Justice in Palestine&quot; and &quot;Jewish Voice for Peace&quot; for holding pro-Palestine events on campus at Columbia University in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.  (Photo by Shawn Inglima for NY Daily News via Getty Images)\"\n    width=\"\"\n    height=\"\"\n    loading=\"lazy\"\n  data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>\n      <figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n              <span class=\"photo__caption\">Students and activists protest Columbia University\u2019s decision to suspend the student group chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace for holding pro-Palestine events on campus, in Manhattan, N.Y., on Nov. 15, 2023.<\/span>\n                    <span class=\"photo__credit\">NY Daily News via Getty Images<\/span>\n          <\/figcaption>\n  <\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-than-a-feeling\">More Than a Feeling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We might be tempted to hand it to the anti-woke right, who warned against the proliferation of \u201csafe space\u201d language and \u201ctherapy speak\u201d as organizing forces at American universities. Such criticisms, though, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2018\/sep\/20\/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind-review\">rely on<\/a> bad faith framings of anti-racist and diversity work \u2014 only the worst liberal iterations, although too common, exemplify the right-wing caricature of colleges privileging \u201csnowflake\u201d student feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a different, more rigorous exercise entirely when students and professors proffer materially grounded, historically informed opposition to oppressive speech and discriminatory treatment on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Hillel student group at the New School in New York City, where I teach, invited a lieutenant from the Israeli military to come speak on campus in early March, I was among several colleagues who signed a letter to our administration, requesting the planned event be canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the reasons listed was that many students, above all Palestinians, would feel \u201cutterly unsafe\u201d to have an active-duty Israeli soldier on campus. This, I thought, was true, but a weak argument; the students might feel unsafe, but they would not be unsafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>The letter\u2019s far stronger claim was that, as a university founded on antiwar ideals and a purported commitment to liberatory principles, the school should not offer \u201ca platform for an army that continues to violate international law and is actively engaged in perpetrating human rights abuses and the murder of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank.\u201d It is, I believe, valid to oppose a university hosting an active ranking officer of an army that has <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/02\/09\/deconstructed-gaza-university-education\/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=theintercept&amp;utm_source=twitter\">obliterated<\/a> every single institution of higher education in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing the importance of free speech, the university permitted the talk to <a href=\"https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/876403\/protesters-disrupt-event-with-israeli-soldier-on-new-school-campus\/\">proceed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve long argued against an absolutist approach to <a href=\"https:\/\/publicseminar.org\/essays\/why-we-should-outlaw-oppressive-speech-acts\/\">free speech<\/a> on campuses and beyond; some oppressive speech, even if constitutionally protected, should not be platformed. Decisions about canceling speakers and banning certain speech, however, should not be a question of privileging certain peoples\u2019 feelings and fears over others, however visceral the feelings might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather, we must \u2014 without presuming answers in advance \u2014 interrogate whether structures of oppression and violence are normalized and upheld in our educational institutions through these choices. The decisions will be imperfect and contested, but at least they will be based on more than feelings.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/28\/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine\/\">Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing \u201cSafety\u201d on College Campuses<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/\">The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/28\/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine\/\">The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some schools are acting on the misbegotten notion that Palestinian freedom is a threat to Jewish safety.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/03\/28\/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine\/\">Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing \u201cSafety\u201d on College Campuses<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/\">The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,6145,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579189"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1580188,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579189\/revisions\/1580188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}