Anti-Semites All Over Campus: How the College Left Has Gotten Israel All Wrong, Part 1

The Anti-Semitic GWUSJP, The Historical Irrationality of Palestine, And The Unsophisticated Notion That This Whole Issue Is About Land.

The October 7th attacks on Israel, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, have opened the world’s eyes to anti-semitism— anti-semitism that has been fomenting in plain sight. After Hamas butchered innocent Israelis at a Kibbutz, raped women (dead and alive), murdered children in front of their parents (and vice versa), shot the elderly, dragged little girls through the streets, targetted civilian areas, took hostages, and committed other stomach-turning atrocities – GWU Students For Justice In Palestine (GWUSJP) referred to Hamas' terrorism as “resistance” and “liberation”, Hamas terrorists as, “resistance fighters”, and demonstrated an absurdly inaccurate historical understanding. GWUSJP even went so far as to say that Hamas has the right to “armed resistance” and that they “will stand firm and steadfast in support of [their] people’s right to resist” — this is also known as the evil slaughtering of Jews which is what the rest of the civilized world instantly observed it to be. GWUSJP then ended their statement with, “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” – a terrorist slogan that literally means the wiping out of Israel from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean Sea. The astounding and abysmal lack of intellect exhibited by far too many GW students is reflective of the broader new low that higher education has reached: the college-sponsored justification for terrorism through members of faculty and student bodies. On college campuses and around the country, anti-semitism has been dressed up in political jargon – using terms such as “occupiers'', “colonizers'', “ethnic cleansers'', “settlers”, and more – to sell the anti-semitism. It is impossible to sell anti-semitism as the pure and utter hatred of Jews; thus, it is sold through various forms of political jargon to transform weak-minded leftists into unconscious anti-semites. The underlying truth of these recent marches, protests, and the general promotion of hate is representative of being anti-Israel – the new politically correct way of being anti-semitic.

What Hamas did to Israel was rooted in a hatred for Jews – plain and simple. As a matter of fact, annihilating Jews is in Hamas’ charter. The terrorism waged by Hamas, the same terrorism that useful idiots in the West have promoted – the same terrorism that groups like the GWUSJP have justified – is not and never has been about land. The Palestinians have been offered the two-state solution, by Israel, ten times: 1938, 1948, 1967, 1990, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, and most recently at the end of the Trump Administration. The Palestinian leadership and the Arab elite do not want a two-state solution, they just want one – one that is established through destroying Israel and the Jewish people. What a pragmatic solution that is! If it is really about land, then why have the Palestinians not agreed to the two-state solution?

The land was notably on the table in 1967, following all of the Arab armies essentially declaring war on Israel while simultaneously threatening the genocidal elimination of it. As a result, Israel took pre-emptive measures by attacking Egypt and Syria, followed by Jordan attacking Israel; ultimately, Israel won the war and captured the West Bank in the process. Immediately following the aftermath of the war, the Arab countries rejected Israel’s offer of exchanging the West Bank for peace. This led the Arab leaders – who all met in Khartoum – to issue their three famous No’s: No Peace, No Negotiation, and No Recognition of Israel. Well doesn’t this sound reasonable? No Peace, No Negotiation – I’m sure these were easy world actors to get along with.

Ehud Olmert, former prime minister of Israel, offered 94% of the West Bank, I repeat: 94% of the West Bank, to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for peace. Well, don’t you think the Palestinians would've said “yes” to that? 94% is quite a lot, after all. Nope! The Palestinians rejected that too. If it is really about the land, why was this not enough? If there is going to be some sort of compromise, wouldn’t Israel only keeping 6% of the West Bank, for its strategic protection, be a pretty damn good deal for the Palestinians? Especially since this came on the heels of Gaza being handed over to the Palestinians, by Israel, in 2005. Could they really not have lived without the remaining 6%? I’m starting to get the notion that this isn’t really about the land.

On the issue of land, the settlements are truly the crux of the land issue – even though this is not what Hamas or any anti-Israel protesters actually care about. The settlements and the debate over whether to expand them are fundamental to the political dialogue and debate within the State of Israel. Throughout the settlement debate, the Israeli government has offered to give up all the settlements in exchange for peace, multiple times. Again, it is clearly not about land.

If anything at all, the land argument seems to exist solely as an excuse for the vicious attacks on Israel and the animosity directed at it. It is jarring that so many, particularly at GW, struggle to ascertain this basic historical assessment.

The land issue has been weaponized as a justification for the outpour of anti-semitism, despite its falsity. When faced with the fundamentally incorrect assertions being made, the anti-Israel protesters resort to not believing the truth, at the expense of facts and reason. I do not remember this many people being upset, from the beginning, when Ukraine defended itself against Russia. Moreover, I do not recall seeing anyone or hearing any outcry over the 1.7 million Pakistani Muslims being forcibly moved into Afghanistan by the Pakistani Authorities. I don’t remember any outpouring of support for the Kurds – who are oppressed by the Syrians, the Turks, Iranians, and the Iraqis. In fact, there is daily oppression throughout the Middle East; yet, the only time when there is ever any significant outcry over alleged oppression – consisting of allegations that consistently fail to satisfy the meaning of the word, “oppression” – the outcry is solely directed at the Jewish State of Israel.

There are 18 countries in the Middle East and only one of them is Jewish. It is really not that hard to ascertain why the Jewish country, which happens to also have the highest standards for human rights, is the only one to face this 3double standard. The antisemitism exhibited today stems from the ancient hatred of the Jews — a piece of history that so many fail to understand.

Author: Jack Fisher

The views expressed are the author's alone and do not represent the official position of the GWCRs.