America Morton Klein, head of the ardent-
ly pro-Israel Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), tells of a recent visit to Columbia University at the invitation of a non-Jewish student group. When he made his argument that
Israel is not, actually, an apartheid state, is not conducting an “occupa- tion” of Palestinian lands, and doesn’t wantonly oppress or murder Palestin- ians in the West Bank, he was met with blank stares.
The student who had invited Klein
told him that his presentation was “one-sided.” In fact, Israel is the furthest thing
from an apartheid state. Israeli Arabs have all of the same rights that Israeli Jews do. Arab women in Israel have more rights than do Arab women in any Arab country, including voting, holding office, driving, and working at whatever they want. Off campus there are increasingly
frequent physical attacks on Jews. The African American commu-
nity has a high rate of antisemitism, though not of the anti-Zionist vari- ety. Black Muslim leader Louis Farra- khan’s antisemitic ideology has pen- etrated deeply, as recent incidents with Kanye West and Kyrie Irving have demonstrated. But, Klein notes, most liberal Jew-
ish institutions are entirely unwilling to raise the issue of Black antisemi- tism. They prefer to talk about prob- lems with “white supremacists.” Over not much time, hatred for
Israel and those who support the country has become a tenet of general left-wing orthodoxy — and activism. How far has it gone? In a recent
piece in Tablet magazine about her experience as a (left-wing) lesbian Jewish Zionist teaching at Southern Connecticut State University, Corinne Blackmer found that queer studies has been entirely infiltrated by an anti- Zionist ideology, as if the two subjects had anything to do with each other. Jewish students, too, are made
to feel deeply uncomfortable on their campuses.
38 NEWSMAX | JULY 2023 At Harvard,
Sabrina Gold- fischer, a for- mer president of Harvard Hil- lel’s Women’s Group, wrote an opinion piece in The Times of Israel discussing the ways Jewish students are attacked and made to prac- tice self-cen- sorship about support for Is- rael, and to be accepted by classmates. Every year, on campuses across the
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
500 0 2012 2013 2014 SOURCE: Anti-Defamation League
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Harassment
Vandalism Assault
country, Israel Apartheid Week occurs, with rallies, speakers, and displays. Members of the Palestinian Soli-
darity Committee build a wall, which is, ironically, meant to symbolize the security fence that Israel built to keep out terrorists. But the indoctrination often starts
much earlier. There is a deeply pro-Palestinian,
anti-Israel curriculum that starts in pre-K, available at TeachPalestine. org, that is used in some American cit- ies where people don’t want to wait till college to turn children against Israel. In fifth grade in Newark, New Jer-
sey, students read a book called A Little Piece of Ground, which is a very sym- pathetic, manipulative story about a young boy in a West Bank town, shortly after an Arab bombing in Israel, where Israeli soldiers inhibit the movement of both adults and children. The young hero of the story is upset
at how hard life is for his father, hav- ing to stop at checkpoints. There is no book to make the opposing case. No one would publish it. As a practical matter, these chang-
ing attitudes are morphing into hard political positions. This March’s annual Gallup track- ing poll of attitudes toward Israel and
the Middle East conflict show that, for the first time ever, a majority of Democrats now sympathize with the Palestinians, not Israel. Currently, 49% of Democrats favor
the Palestinians, with only 38% sup- porting Israel. Among Republicans, 78% back Israel, with only 11% prefer- ring the Palestinians. That is an aston- ishing difference. It explains why, when Somali-Amer-
ican Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., made her infamous remark about U.S. sup- port for Israel being “all about the Ben- jamins” (i.e., Jewish money), the Demo- cratic Party in Congress was only will- ing to issue a condemnation of “hate speech” in general.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE? For now, Jews need to fight back with anti-indoctrination lessons of their own. Jewish organizations need to focus on this broad political trend and respond first by strengthening the knowledge and resolve of young Jews, and then by taking the message public. This is much easier said than done, especially because so many Jewish institutions, including most Reform and many Conservative synagogues, identify left of center. This is a time when having allies
among conservative Americans matters a lot for Jews who defend Israel.
U.S. Sees Worrying Rise
in Antisemitic Incidents Number of antisemitic incidents recorded in the United States
853 88
1,776
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