Middle East Misery - Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?

The scars of carnage in Sederot (Le Monde)

As noted in previous posts, I am extremely gratified by the President’s full throated support of Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas. That support has been echoed by responsible law makers on both sides of the political aisle. Congressional support is stronger than it has ever been. I believe that in all of Jewish history in the Diaspora, the Jewish people have never been so valued and protected by the nation in which they live. I am more than grateful for that.  

I have also seen a poll indicating that about 70% of the American people support President Biden’s approach to the situation. Even the mainstream media has been sympathetic and supportive of Israel albeit expressing equal sympathy for innocent Palestinians in Gaza for what they are undergoing.

On that score it was difficult to watch a young Palestinian woman - a student in one of their universities - crying bitterly over the loss of her home. Which was demolished by an Israeli airstrike after she was warned to leave. (Which she obviously did.) 

In a crying voice she asked why are they (the Israelis) doing this? The implication being to balme Israel for the loss of her home. What bothers me about her comment is her blindness to Hamas responsibility in all this. They are the ones causing her all that misery. Dirsn’t she see that? Dors she not know Hamas did in Israel two weeks ago? I guess not. All she sees is an occupier exercising their military might to indiscriminately kill and maim innocent Palestinians in Gaza for no reason at all. 

Why doesn’t  she - and many other Palestinians in Gaza having similar experiences - recognize reality and blame Hamas for all their troubles?! She ought to be asking why her own people slaughtered so many innocent Jews and took over 200 hostages! But I digress.

There is one segment of America who reacted to the atrocity on October 7^th by blaming the victim. Students at several major ivy league universities, starting with Harvard placed full responsibility on Israel for that atrocity. Saying that the ‘occupation’ led desperate Palestinians from Gaza to do this. Some of those sentiments were reflected by their school’s leadership! From Jonathan Rsoenblum’s column in last week’s Mishpacha Magazine:

31 Harvard student groups… could not even wait 24 hours to blame Israel “entirely” for the atrocities committed against those murdered by Hamas, without indeed even mentioning said atrocities. If that represents even a fraction of the “class” of America’s future movers and shakers, then I could not bear to live in such a country. And it surely does: Earlier this year, the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, endorsed the BDS movement against Israel.

We are not talking about a handful of campus radicals. Those same Harvard students expect to move easily into Wall Street firms, government jobs, and high-paying law firms.  

It’s difficult to understand how some of the (supposedly) most intelligent and well educated Americans among us are saying the same kinds of things about us that Hitler did in the 1930s. Ignoring our history of persecution. Ignoring the fact that Israel is a refuge for Jews with millennia long legacy of persecution. Ignoring any context. Ignoring the fact that Palestinian demands for their own state could have been satistisfed at the same time Israel was created.  Something Israel immediately agreed to at the time! 

It’s true that their radical views are not mainstream. It’s true that their views reflect those of the extreme left. But even so, to be blinded to what the Jewish people have gone through historically and are still going through - is nothing short of willful ignorance that in my view can only be attributed to latent antisemitism.. 

Despite their small numbers, they should not be considered an insignificant minority. True they are a minority.  But they are not insignificant. Students at these schools tend to be future movers and shakers of American society. They have the real potential to eventually negatively influence American policy with respect to Israel.

All of which makes this very worrisome despite their relative small numbers. 

My hope is that these students do not represent the thinking of the majority of their fellow students. I believe that  most students are NOT antisemitic. That they are aware that everything has a context. Why they haven’t spoken up is also worrisome.

I hope that is because they just do not want to get entangled in counter protests that will detract from their studies. Not that this is the right thing for them to do. Sometimes you have to speak up and do the right thing. To show the world that these radical left student groups do not speak for the majority. If I am right, I think the student majority has an obligation to not be silent!