Israel at War

[BoSoxGal]

Watching Speaker Johnson speaking at Columbia University while Palestinian/Hamas supporters scream at him in response.

What a bizarre world where I am aligned with Speaker Johnson and grateful for his leadership.

This whole protest thing on college campuses is troubling. I follow another internet board with many college student parents who have been posting for months about circumstances being faced by their Jewish children away at college.

I remember there being some obnoxious activists when I was in college but I’m affronted by this whole movement which seems to have a strong pro-Hamas contingent. How can that be?

[Scooter]

I have always believed that one can legitimately protest the actions of Israel without being antisemitic, but that distinction seems to have disappeared in this latest protest movement.

In Canada we have had protestors targeting synagogues and Jewish schools, and/or spouting blatantly anti-Jewish rhetoric. It is making it hard for policy makers to proclaim support for a ceasefire or express any criticism of Israeli tactics or objectives, lest they be accused of siding with those who seek to destroy the Jewish race. Ironically, if the protests would just evaporate, it would make it a lot easier to take a harder line with Israel.

[Econoline]

[Big RR]

Ironically, if the protests would just evaporate, it would make it a lot easier to take a harder line with Israel

Perhaps, but without the public pressure, it will make it a lot easier to just ignore the situation and not take a harder line. Yes, there are a lot of jerks (many of them likely antisemitic) who are protesting the actions of Israel, but most of them are not. The jerks are not doing the other protesters any favors, but the jerks should not be used as an excuse to silence legitimate protest and bury a legitimate position. FWIW, for as long as I can recall, some have sought to brand any criticism of Israel for any reason as antisemitism, hoping to silence it.

[Scooter]

I guess the problem I am having is distinguishing the difference between legitimate protests and jerks. Maybe because the jerks are getting all the publicity, I don't know.

For example, there was a protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York during Easter services. What purpose did that serve? I say that as someone who supported the ACT-UP protests at that same church at the height of the AIDS crisis (because the RC church's position on condoms, etc. made it complicit in AIDS deaths). But in the present case, Pope Francis has been one of the loudest voices decrying the harms inflicted on civilians in Gaza. The target was misplaced, and the protest brought discredit on the cause.

Here in Toronto, and in Montreal, many of the protestors have targeted Jewish, non-Israeli institutions. It has been very ugly. And I have heard nothing from legitimate protestors calling on them to stop, which has allowed the entire protest movement, probably unjustifiably, to be denounced as antisemitic.