CONSERVATIVEWESTERN

July 21-23, 2017 SUMMIT

Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Publisher, Dr. Donald W. Sweeting Volume 9, Number 6 • June 2017 Editor, Jeff Hunt

CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM result of increased security in those countries, which treat A special report by Joshua Sharf, Fellow, the symptoms, not the disease. the Haym Salomon Center The increase in incidents on U.S. campuses is real, and worrisome. Much of it is simply anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism. U.S. college campuses have become some of the most hostile places in the country for Israel, Israel-supporting students, and by extension, Jewish students. While pro- Israel speakers are driven off campuses or prevented from speaking altogether—often violently—anti-Israel speakers are welcome. Linda Sarsour, one of the leading organizers of the so-called “Women’s March,” has said in an interview that feminism is incompatible with Zionism, and has nevertheless been invited to give the commencement speech at the City University of New York. An increasing number of student governments have passed Protestors lie on the ground at IsraelFEST to symbolize those killed over Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Photo by Jacob Schaperow. Reprinted with permission—UMDMitzpeh.com) resolutions in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), which seeks to economically How Things Stand Now and culturally isolate the Jewish state. At two schools, Tufts What if you were a college student, and you woke up one and Claremont’s Pitzer College, the votes were specifically morning and found that a group of fellow students had scheduled on Passover in order to limit participation by the posted a fake “eviction notice” on your door because you schools’ Jewish students. were Jewish?1,2 The BDS movement styles itself after the anti-Apartheid What if students disrupted your fundraiser for a pediatric movement of the 1980s that successfully targeted that cardiac care non-profit, just because it was country’s harsh racial laws. In doing so, it based in Israel?3 slanders Israel as an apartheid state, and What if someone called you a “baby- Anti-Semitism has promoted the idea of Israel Apartheid killing Jew” because you were a member of Disguised As Week on college campuses worldwide, a Jewish fraternity?4 where students engage in street theater and Anti-Zionism other forms of anti-Israel activism. What if your speech at the home of the Free Speech Movement had to be moved, By contrast, pro-Israel activity is often because Jewish students there didn’t feel safe exercising scattered and disorganized. Organizations such as Stand their free speech?5 With Us are underfunded and undermanned. Campus Hillels are more suited to providing a social and religious All of these, and more, have happened on U.S. college life to Jewish students. campuses in the last few years, according to the AMCHA 6 Initiative’s Anti-Semitism Tracker. Joshua Sharf is a fellow at the Haym Salomon Center, a news and public policy group that combats anti-Semtism and Islamic terrorism, and defends A few weeks ago, a Tel Aviv University report on worldwide Western values. anti-Semitic incidents found that the biggest increase over Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance the last few years hadn’t been in France or Sweden or public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, Britain, but on U.S. college campuses. In part, this was a teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776. College campuses are not uniformly hostile to Israel, but Orientalism, Said used cherry-picked data to assert that all when they are engaged in the subject, that is usually the Western scholarship concerning non-western cultures was viewpoint they take. deliberately biased. Not some, but all. A newly-radicalized Where We Came From faculty eagerly seized on Said’s work, delegitimizing work by western scholars, and arguing that only Muslims, for How did we get to this point, where college campuses in instance, could adequately write about Muslims. The west arguably the most pro-Israel country on earth are hotbeds wasn’t capable of acting without cultural imperialism, of hostility to the Jewish state and increasingly hostile to and Israel was the example par excellence of that Jewish students? What are the intellectual underpinnings imperialism. Said would later admit that Orientalism was of this hostility? How has it been so successful in organizing an implicitly political work, whose purpose was to further anti-Israel coalitions? the Palestinian cause. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United At the same time, Yasser Arafat was working to align the Kingdom, has pointed out that anti-Semitism is like a PLO and Fatah with various other international leftist virus, mutating around whatever defenses may be put in its movements. He forged close ties with the North Vietnamese, way, and attaching itself to the zeitgeist of any era. Fidel Castro, various African “liberation” leaders, and both It has been empire based (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, China and the Soviet Union. In particular, his alliance Rome), religion based (some early and medieval Christian with the Soviets gave him the benefit of their substantial polemic, Islamic radicalism), race based (the National propaganda machine. Arafat also worked to equate the Socialism of the Nazi era), and now nation based (in our Palestinians’ cause with the anti-apartheid cause of South allegedly post nationalist era). African blacks. These efforts would cement The current logic is this: We must hate College Campuses, Israel as a racist, western colonial outpost in the minds of the political left.7 hatred, and the Holocaust is the ultimate Hotbeds Of expression of hate. Israeli Jews, by Not covered by Muravchik, but detailed oppressing the Palestinians because they Hostility To The over the years by Martin Kramer, has are not Jewish, are the current purveyors Jewish State been the steady inflow of Saudi money of hate. Therefore, if one opposes genocide to universities’ Middle East Studies and the Holocaust—and what civilized departments.8 Dependent on their person doesn’t?—one must perforce oppose Israel. benefactors, these departments have deeply politicized This idea didn’t find acceptance in academia by accident. the Middle East Studies Association9, and served as both Its popularity is a result of a confluence of the savvy intellectual armories and organizing tools for on-campus alliance-building, the political corruption of scholarship, anti-Israel efforts.10 and the current race-obsession of academic intellectual life, The current academic fad, intersectionality, ties all of these in particular the notion of Intersectionality. pieces together in a coherent whole. As an academic idea, Joshua Muravchik lays out much of the history in his intersectionality is the notion that various discriminations Making David Into Goliath. I can’t possibly do justice to don’t merely coexist, they overlap and reinforce one three chapters in three paragraphs, but without at least a another. Someone who is a member of more than one 30,000-foot view, the current terrain is incomprehensible. disadvantaged group suffers disproportionately. I strongly encourage those interested to read Muravchik’s The idea is not ludicrous. The recent movie Hidden entire book. Figures, which shows the struggles of black women at The corruption of scholarship begins with Edward Said, NASA in segregated Virginia, demonstrates the problem a Cairo-born U.S. academic. In his celebrated book quite realistically. Surely black women who were trying to

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Centennial Review ▪ June 2017 ▪ 2 get ahead in the 1960s or 1970s faced the dual problem of shorn of any support for Israel. In other words, they literally anti-black racism and sexism, and often that sexism came tried to define support for Jewish national aspiration as from within the black community itself. being un-Jewish. Israel Fest went on unimpeded. All well and good. In its practical application, however, Where We Are Going intersectionality amounts to a call for all “oppressed” And so, what is to be done? groups to stick together. The construct isn’t about fairness or opportunity; it’s about power, and this works decisively By now, readers who have made it this far may be to Jews’ disadvantage. thoroughly discouraged. How on earth are we supposed to combat this? Mark Yudof11, president emeritus of the University of California system, and David Bernstein12, CEO of the With facts, confidence, humility, wit, and vigilance, and Jewish Council on Public Affairs, both would like to not always necessarily in that order. put together a bigger, better civil rights alliance, more A friend of mine used to confidently walk up to the representative of recent immigrant groups. But in the “Apartheid Wall” on his campus, and without breaking grievance culture of intersectionality, with its hostility to stride, blow right through the thing, waving aside the the U.S. and to Israel, Yudof and Bernstein have nothing students manning the wall and saying, dismissively, “Oh, to offer. that’s not for me, I’m Jewish,” leaving them helplessly slack- Some Palestinians and other anti-Israel Muslims have jawed. Nobody can really make a student walk through been extraordinarily successful in building bridges to a fake checkpoint on campus, but all too many students other U.S. identity groups. Often, they have helped stir forget this and buy into the street theater. 13 racial tensions as part of their pursuit To be sure, that sort of in-your-face of allies. Instead of other groups having Blaming Israel confrontation-not-confrontation takes a to choose between Jewish support and certain personality to pull off. Most of hostility to Israel, all too often it’s the For US Police us will have to settle for the mundane but Jewish students who have to choose Shootings indispensable effort of learning the facts between being included and abandoning and the history knowing how to argue their support for Israel. them with people who are persuadable, Two examples show the precarious position that Jewish without being intimidated into silence. students find themselves in on campus. At the University We must be willing to ask, “Why Israel, and why not X?” of Wisconsin-Madison, the student government had where “X” is one of dozens of countries with human rights considered a resolution on police violence and other issues records orders of magnitude worse, who have contributed that included language harshly critical of Israel. In return little to nothing to the planet’s well-being. for the support of Jewish students, that language was removed. Then, at the last minute, Students for Justice in We must also never forget that Jews are members of a group Palestine and their supporters on the Council re-inserted that has succeeded in the U.S.. Couple that with Israeli language blaming Israel for U.S. police shootings. When success as a nation, and the story of the Jews in the second Jewish students complained that the previous arrangement half of the Twentieth Century stands as a great rebuke to was being abandoned, they were verbally attacked at the intersectionality’s victimhood narrative. There’s no reason meeting for not being team players, and refusing to support that Jews or our friends should want us to be a part of that. the resolutions. Instead, Einat Wilf, former member of the Knesset, argues The resolution passed 20-0 with two abstentions. that Israel’s success should be seen as an intersectional When push came to shove, they had no real support on success story.14 We must remember that while the faculty the council. will be what it is, these students will grow up and need Then, in advance of this year’s Israel Fest at the University to live in the real world. Many campus leftists grew up to of Maryland—a campus that according to Hillel is 20% be Reagan Republicans. Ultimately, they may find appeals Jewish—a coalition of Muslim, Arab, Latino, socialist, to success to be more inspirational than identification and union groups demanded that the festival be cancelled. with failure. Little chance of that, but they did feel bold enough to state Last, we must resist the temptation to overlook certain that they would accept a “Jewish Festival,” as long as it were expressions of anti-Semitism in order to focus on others. Centennial Review ▪ June 2017 ▪ 3 Centennial Institute CENTENNIAL INSTITUTE Colorado Christian University IS HONORED TO SHARE 8787 W. Alameda Ave. THIS PIECE FROM JOSHUA Lakewood, CO 80226 SHARF ADDRESSING THE RISE OF ANTI-SEMITISM Return Service Requested ON AMERICAN COLLEGE CAMPUSES. Joshua Sharf is a fellow at the Haym Salomon Center, a news and public policy group that combats anti-Semtism and Islamic terrorism, and defends Western values. His writing for the Salomon Center has focused on state-level opposition to the BDS movement. He has also published op-eds about the Charli Hebdo/Hypercache shootings, the Susan Abeles Case, campus anti-Semitism, and other related topics, and has been published in The Hill, JNS, Algemeiner, the Observer, and the Washington Times. Mr. Sharf is also a Fiscal Policy Analyst for the Independence Institute, a Colorado free-market think tank, where he focuses on PERA, the state’s public pension plans. He has also represented the Denver Academy of Torah on the local Jewish Community Relations Council, and has twice been his district’s Republican nominee for the State House of Representatives. Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, he lives in Denver with his 1“Fake housing eviction notices and Michigan irk students,” Cleveland Jewish News, December 18, 2013, http:// wife Susie. www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/national_world/fake-housing-eviction-notices-at-michigan-irk-students/ article_64538254-6752-11e3-97a5-001a4bcf887a.html 2“Campus eviction notices are fake, but their anti-Semitism is real, experts say,” Jewish News Service, June 22, 2014, http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2014/6/22/campus-eviction-notices-are-fake-but-their-anti-semitism- The campus is not generally a hospitable place for the Klan is-real-experts-say 3“Jewish students stand in solidarity against intolerance on campus,” Daily Texan, March 9, 2017, or followers of Louis Farrakhan, but that is only because http://dailytexanonline.com/2017/03/09/jewish-students-stand-in-solidarity-against-intolerance-on-campus 4Ibid. strenuous efforts have been made to keep it that way. 5Melanie Phillips, “Melanie at Berkeley,” May 4, 2017, http://melaniephillips.com/melanie-at-berkeley/ 6http://www.amchainitiative.org/antisemitism-tracker Likewise, groups on the left must not allow anti-Semitism 7“The Soviet-Palestinian Lie,” Judith Bergman, The Gatestone Institute, October 16, 2016. https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9090/soviet-union-palestinians to hide behind anti-Zionism. 8Martin Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Easter Studies in America, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 1, 2001 Ultimately, Jews thrive when America is at The Israeli- 9“Middle East Studies Professors Back Antisemitic BDS Campaign,” The Algemeiner, November 15, 2016, https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/11/15/middle-east-studies- its most American. The Israeli-American professors-back-antisemitic-bds-campaign/ American 10“Western Universities: The Best Indoctrination Money Can Buy,” The Gatestone relationship, founded on a broad array of Institute, June 26, 2016, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8331/universities- indoctrination common values, thrives when America is Relationship 11“BDS and Campus Politics: A Bad Romance,” Inside Higher Ed, December 14, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/12/14/colleges-should-commit-robust- most American. If we want to reverse the debate-about-middle-east-conflicts-essay 12“BDS and the Rising Danger of ‘Intersectionality,’” The Forward, January 4, 2016, http://forward.com/opin- trend of campus anti-Semitism, and prevent it from leaking ion/328585/bds-and-the-rising-danger-of-intersectionality/ 13“For Israel boycott movement, racial tension is a feature, not a bug,” Legal Insurrection, May 11, 2015, http:// out into the country as a whole, we’ll work to restore our legalinsurrection.com/2015/05/for-israel-boycott-movement-racial-tension-is-a-feature-not-a-bug/ 14“The Intersectional Power of Zionism,” The Tower, December 15, 2016,http://www.thetower.org/4304-the- country’s foundational values. n intersectional-power-of-zionism/

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