Across the country, the scourge as old as the Jewish religion, antisemitism, is unfortunately on the rise once again. For those who deny it, it is not hard to point to the many examples that there is a clear rise in hatred and bigotry against Judaism across America.
Over the past 5 years, more than 80% of Jewish adults in the United States say that antisemitism has increased. Further, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish international non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law, found that antisemitic incidents reached an all time high in 2021. An average of 7 incidents were reported per day, with an “incident” being an act of assault, harassment or vandalism reported to the ADL. To reiterate, every day in 2021, there were seven times that a Jewish person was assaulted, harassed, or had their property vandalized simply because of their religion.
Photo Credit: (https://www.adl.org/what-we-do/fight-antisemitism)
Zooming in, these instances are becoming more and more common on college campuses, which claim to be bastions of diversity and inclusion. From FBI hate crime data as well as the ADL, hostile incidents against Jewish students on college campuses have increased threefold to 155 incidents in 2021. For comparison, the number of hostile incidents on American campuses in 2014 was 47.
This significant increase is troubling, and has dire consequences for Jewish students on campus. Students report hiding symbols of their religion, including necklaces with the Star of David or choosing to wear Hillel shirts less out in public.
There are a couple of causes to this increase in hostilities on campuses. One cause is the increasingly heated debates on college campuses regarding the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
While some Jewish students are critical of the Israeli government, they still feel an affinity to Israel as a country. Many additionally notice an uptick in vitriol and hostility correlates with an increase in criticism of Israel for its action in the West Bank or Gaza. Whether this is intentional is unknown.
The Wall Street Journal article goes on to elaborate that another cause of hostilities is the ever-blurring line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and whether they overlap. This was perfectly illustrated at Cornell University, where at a recent protest, protestors held signs that read “Anti-Zionism does not equal Antisemitism!” As defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, Anti-Zionism is “opposition to the establishment or support of the state of Israel”, while antisemitism can be defined as, “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.”
While someone isn’t anti-semitic if they don’t support the Israeli government, it does cross the line when they start to criticize the country of Israel as a whole. As a person of Jewish origin myself, I am happy to criticize and listen to criticisms of the Israeli government when they are wrong, holding them accountable just like any other government. However, once people veer into condemning the country as a whole, or saying that Israel, in its entirety, should be “gone,” the conversation has become anti-semitic.
This brings us to a recent incident at Cornell. On March 24th, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine organized a protest against Israel. The protest began peacefully with chants, slogans, and poetry readings. These readings talked about the beauty of the land they lived in, appreciation for their loved ones, and the desire for their freedom and independence. As a witness, it struck me that the Palestinian cause was not that different from the Israeli cause at its genesis.
However, the protest took a dark turn when a guest speaker, whose identity could not be verified, began to speak over a megaphone. The man made several comments, including, “Israel is the enemy of all humanity,” and “Zionism is the enemy of all humanity.” Further, he led members of the crowd, including Cornell students, to chant “Israel off the earth.”
He also argued that all Israeli embassies should be “thrown off” the African continent and broached the conspiracy theory that the ADL sends police to Israel to be trained in “zionist” brutality methods to break up protests such as the one that occurred.
This is not, as some might claim, legitimate criticism addressed at the government. This was a targeted attack on the only Jewish country in the entire world. Chanting “Israel off the earth” isn’t some political commentary about the West Bank or the Prime Minister’s recent actions in Gaza; it is a direct cry for a nation to be wiped off the map.
It was unnerving seeing a crowd of Cornell students, some of whom I have sat next to in class, call for the destruction of the only Jewish country in the world. Yet, as the local Hillel students said, the rhetoric was “shocking, but unsurprising.” Jews have faced hatred since the beginning of our religion, and we will continue to face it with steely resolve, until we can live in a world of love and tolerance.
The University’s inattention to this protest and the vile words that were stated is particularly disturbing when one considers the likely reaction had the roles been inverted. For example, had a group of pro-Israeli protesters had chanted similarly charged comments against Palestine, there almost assuredly would have been a different reaction from the University.
This point was proven when the Cornell Review reached out to Dean Love, who oversees Student Support & Advocacy Services, Diversity & Equity, and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. She did not reply.
The Dean’s silence is disappointing. Whether it was intentional or not, the Dean’s lack of response to a genuine concern implies that while all bigotry is equal, some bigotry is more equal than others.
The point of this article is not to criticize the protest itself. I personally value discourse and the free flow of ideas and different expressions. Yet the Ho Plaza protest was an illustration of the disturbing rise in antisemitism–both in universities, and across the country. What starts as a valid protest is disturbed up by a bad actor or two, such as this mystery guest who appeared on Ho Plaza. It’s an important reminder that antisemitism isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and that we all need to be vigilant against it.
