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| Police Arrest a Dartmouth Professor at a crackdown (JTA) |
Ms. Orleck decided to join Dartmouth’s pro Palestinian student protests after being warned by the school not to do so. Protesters were breaking the law and would be arrested - along with anyone joining them. Faculty included. The police showed up. Violence ensued and this is what happened to her:
In footage circulating on social media, historian Annelise Orleck can be seen being dragged to the ground by police and handcuffed following a harsh exchange of words. Ninety protesters were arrested in total as Dartmouth joined dozens of other colleges and universities across the United States in cracking down on their encampments.
“Those cops were brutal to me,” Orleck wrote on the social network X following her arrest. “I promise I did absolutely nothing wrong…
She promised. I guess it must be true then.
I have no way of knowing this for sure, but her involvement in any way with these protests strongly suggests that Ms. Orleck is what I would call a JINO – a Jew In Name Only. Trouble is she headed the Jewish studies department and that makes it seem as though she is a knowledgeable practicing Jew honoring the time honored ‘Jewish tradition’ of free speech.
Dollars to doughnuts – I’ll bet her knowledge of Judaism is not based on any substantial knowledge of Judaism at all - despite her former lofty title in that regard. For one thing Judaism does not believe in free speech. Speech is very restricted in Judaism along ethical and moral guidelines.
But even leaving that aside, it seems to me that her version of Judaism is based entirely on Tikun Olam that she thinks means social justice. Which in this case means Justice for Palestine and the right of students to therefore demand the their school divest from Apartheid Israel - who denies them that. She might even consider herself to be some kind of hero for standing up for students and faculty to scream ‘Palestine - from the river to the sea’.
Well, I’m sure she is a hero to her fellow anti Zionist progressives. The fact that she is Jewish and recognized as some sort of expert in Judaism gives cover to those claiming that being anti Zionist does not mean being antisemitic. I’ll bet she feels good about that. Which makes her a useful idiot for Palestinian protestors
The truth is that Ms. Orleck is not a hero. She is in fact an embarrassment to the Jewish people and the very Judaism she is supposed to have credentials for. I don’t know where she got her ‘knowledge’ of Judaism from. (I don’t know. Maybe she got it from ‘Jews for Palestine’.) But it was surely not from any believing or practicing Jewish educator. Her actions on the Dartmouth campus tell us a different story.
But even if she knows what our foundational document demands of all the Jewish people, I doubt she observes too many - if any of those demands. And yet, if asked about her participation in the protests to the point of being arrested and dragged through the streets by the police - she would probably say that she was acting in the best tradition of Judaism.
And that makes me sick.