Don’t Blame Israel for Palestinian Crimes
Ignoring Palestinian Atrocities Promotes Hatred Against Jews Everywhere (and it’s bad for Palestinians too).
I wrote last week that the savagery of the massacre committed by Hamas would undermine support for the Palestinian cause. It would clarify who really cared about Palestinian people and who just hated Jews. I still think that’s true. But the machinery that exists to defame Israel is entrenched and has kicked into high gear. These people are outing themselves as supporters of genocide, and I expect they will pay a price for it. But many people who don’t know much about the situation are being flooded with messages that the violence committed by Hamas is really Israel’s fault. It turns out that there are a lot of people who are inclined to believe it.
Image: Screen Capture of Post by CUPE local 3906 celebrating Hamas Attack
Local 3906 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees celebrated the murder of 1300 Israelis with a post on ‘X’ of a bulldozer knocking down the Israeli border fence and the announcement “Palestine is rising, long live the resistance.” In response to a wave of disgust from McMaster University and the broader public, the post was taken down. The local posted a statement doubling down on their position and depicting themselves as victims of “violent responses” and the “Zionist lobby”. You can read their full statement here.
If I were a Jewish member of this local I would not see the union as someone I could rely on for anything. I hope that people of good will will initiate a campaign to decertify the local. They are unfit to represent workers or act in any context that requires humanity, empathy or respect for the dignity of their fellow humans.
Bret Stephens wrote today in the New York Times that Hamas is responsible for every death that occurs in the current war. I think that’s true.
Stephens’ choice of wording may be a response to a statement issued by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee and signed by 35 student groups at Harvard last week. According to a Reuters article dated Oct 10, the letter said that they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” and “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame.” A link to the document from the Reuters article returns an error now, suggesting that it has been taken down. I found a screen capture of the complete statement and the original signatories (posted on Oct 8 on ‘X’), here.
Harvard’s current leadership has been severely criticized by Harvard President emeritus Larry Summers for failing to clearly denounce the letter issued by the student groups. These groups included the Harvard Pakistan Forum, Harvard College Pakistani Students Association, Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association, Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association, Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine, Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine, Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine, Harvard Jews for Liberation, Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus, Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus, Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Womens Caucus, Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus, Harvard Kennedy School South Asia Caucus Leadership, Harvard Muslim Law School Association, Harvard Prison Divest Coalition, Harvard South Asian Law Students Association, Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research, Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women’s Collective, Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance, Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society, Neighbour Program Cambridge, Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates, Society of Arab Students, Nepali Students Association, Amnesty International at Harvard, Harvard College Act on a Dream, Harvard Undergraduate Ghungaroo and Harvard Islamic Society. The last five groups listed here in bold subsequently withdrew their support, according to the Harvard Crimson in an article published on Oct 11.
The tolerance for hateful rhetoric toward Israel in the wake of the unspeakable violence directed toward them by Hamas confirms at least for me that antisemitism is rampant in groups that claim to be in favour of human rights and justice. While elected leaders in western countries have been outspoken in support of Israel, the hatred bubbling up from influential groups such as unions and academics tells a different story.
The Harvard statement is just one of many coming out of student groups including some in Canada. It’s particularly worrisome to see future lawyers and judges signing on to the ideological position that Israel’s efforts to defend itself are invariably criminal.
It shouldn’t surprise us that students take this position when many of their teachers also use similar rhetoric. The folks responsible for the deplorable Elephant in the Room statement published about a month ago have issued a new statement which purports to support Israel’s right to defend itself but then pivots to reaffirm the criminality of every action that Israel has taken in its own defence. The statement calls for an end to the “siege of Gaza”, which is what they call Israel’s attempts to keep weapons out of the hands of the genocidal Hamas regime in Gaza. You can read the statement here.
In response, Jarrod Tanny, one of the founders of the Jewish Studies Zionist Network wrote on Facebook:
Close to 300 signatures. This is the most unethical document ever produced by a group of Jewish studies scholars. And I suspect It was written by those Penn State “Jewish” studies professors.
It’s unethical for the simple fact that everything they say in their opening paragraph is negated by the subsequent paragraphs. This is deliberate of course to make readers think they care about Israel. But they don’t. Not in the least. They are calling for Israel to lie down and surrender.
I will point out that the disengenuity of the piece - which could have been written by a huckster at a 19th-century circus - reinforces stereotypes about shifty Jews. Because what this document is is “Jewish linguistic manipulation.”
The real elephant in the room is the people who have infiltrated the academy and cloak their violent aspirations behind progressive jargon.
The description of the many incidents of Jew hatred which have followed hard on the worst crime committed against Jews since the liberation of the Nazi death camps could fill many pages here. I will mention the 50,000 who demonstrated in support of Hamas on Oct 13 in London and the French teacher who was murdered that same day by a former student.
Jews from Tel Aviv to Atlanta are discovering that they are not safe. Please speak out against anyone encouraging or condoning violence against Jews or trying to justify it by referring to alleged crimes by Israel. History tells us that creating an unsafe environment for Jews will be destructive to every polity which is infected by it. It will do nothing to help Palestinians. If people claim their advocacy of the murder of Jews is “solidarity with Palestinians” tell them that they are defaming Palestinians as well as Jews.
I fervently hope that Hamas can be overthrown in Gaza without creating a catastrophe for the two million Palestinian civilians being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Please support all efforts to create an international coalition to replace the Hamas regime in Gaza with a group that is committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel.
A few more notes for today:
The New York Times article by Bret Stephens points out that signatories to the UN convention on genocide have a positive obligation to prevent it. This should mean that an international coalition would form to remove Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip or perhaps to take over government there to ensure that its influence is expunged after a military campaign by Israel to dislodge it.
Jarrod Tanny and Adam Fuller have put out a special edition of their podcast to respond to the egregious new statement put out by the Elephant in the Room group. You can watch it here.
It’s been a harrowing week for many Jews as the full horror of what was done by the Hamas death squads has come into full view. Please reach out to your Jewish friends and neighbours and let us know we have your support. Praying for a swift Israeli victory and the smallest possible impact on innocent civilians.
well written and researched, but it is hard to read because so much of the rhetoric coming out of the universities and many other locations throughout the world is both horrific and frightening.
The list of signatories to the follow up statement to Elephant in the Room statement has grown to over 600. Unsurprised to see names like Mira Sucarov and Shanes have signed. So far, Benny Morris, who signed Elephant in the Room, hasn't signed this follow up. As Morris had, as recently as a year prior to Elephant in the Room, published op-eds stating that Israel didn't practice apartheid, I was surprised and dismayed to see him among the signers. I am not aware of any comments from him since Elephant in the Room.