Rabbi Dov Greenberg, Executive Director of the Rohr Chabad House, a Jewish Center at Stanford University, wrote the following article on the National Review journal:
In mid July, Hamzeh Daoud, a student at Stanford University, publicly posted on Facebook: “I’m gonna physically fight Zionists on campus next year.” If his meaning wasn’t clear enough, Hamzeh continued, “And after I abolish your ass I’ll go ahead and work every day for the rest of my life to abolish your petty ass ethno-supremacist, settler-colonial state.”
While not reflective of Stanford’s values, the sentiment of this hateful post reveals the state of contemporary life on campuses. Daoud’s post is particularly telling, and its damage outlasts his reactive retraction.
A thought experiment: Replace the word “Zionist” with “supporters of #BlackLivesMatter” in Daoud’s post. Almost certainly, the outcry would be universal and deafening. Yet, for some reason, when it comes to threatening physical violence against fellow students who support Israel, the response is indifference or, worse still, support. Somehow, the target of hate becomes the villain and the aggressor becomes the victim. How has this come to pass?
Let me answer by way of illustration. Among the most striking and powerful museums in the world is the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. But at first glance, it contains a structural oddity.
The exhibit fills three floors. The top floor covers the rescue of the survivors and the aftermath. The middle floor portrays the Holocaust itself. But the entire first floor — which can take hours to go through — consists of the Holocaust’s prelude: the propaganda of the 1930s and the relentless Nazi campaign to dehumanize the Jewish people.
One might wonder: Why is the prelude to the Holocaust given as much space as the events of the Holocaust itself? The answer is simple: Crimes against the Jews have not emerged out of thin air. Rather, they have been preceded by lies, dehumanization, vilification, and slander. Before Jews have been attacked, they have been made pariahs. In order to be attacked, they have to be put beyond the pale.
It would be wrong to overstate the comparison: This is not the 1930s. Nevertheless, it is necessary, now, to remind ourselves how the seeds of violence are sown, and the tacit indifference that allows them to grow. The threat of violence at Stanford is a symptom of a larger assault, spearheaded by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, of which Daoud was an active member. This broader movement’s Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel betrays a prejudicial and sinister logic. It is tempting to dismiss BDS and its allied efforts as mere hot air, far-left radicals frolicking in their playpen of demagoguery. But that misses the point.
The overriding objective of BDS is to brand one country and one people as uniquely evil. The whole point of the BDS campaign is to delegitimize the planet’s single Jewish state — and thus turn a new generation of future American leaders against Israel. It aims to put Israel outside of the global community of shared humanity and solidarity.
Of course, it is absurd that Israel, the country that brought democracy, free press, independent judiciary, academic freedom, and women’s rights to the Middle East, is the one that stands vilified and accused. But just because the accusation is Orwellian does not diminish its danger.
It is worth remembering that Daoud does not retract portraying Israel as a colonial state. And not just colonial, but ethno-supremacist. Everyone agrees ethno-supremacism and colonialism are evil and their eradication is a positive good. To place Israel in that category is to make the destruction of Israel and harm to its supporters an act of righteous justice. Violence is not only threatened. It is legitimized.
Daoud’s post is a demonstration of how insidious the BDS campaign and its rhetorical tropes against Israel have been. This is not hot air. This is a vicious movement to demonize Israel and to establish the psychological basis for hatred and violence against Jewish students.
It’s time for universities across the country and all those committed to common decency to join together in opposing the immoral and dangerous BDS movement. Punches in the face may start with the Jews, but they never end with them. If we do not act now, it is our most cherished values and ideals that will come under assault. The news from Stanford is that they already have.
thank you
SIMPLE AS THAT.
IF BLM, ILLEGALY CROSSING A BORDER, AND PLACING DEMAND FOR SHARIAH “MATTER”
THEN I SAY THAT A NATION THAT HAS OFFERED MORE THAN ITS SHARE OF INVENTIONS FOR THE “BETTER OF MANKIND”MATTER FAR MORE IN MY BOOK.
Simple as JLM..❤️❤️❤️
BDS is the result of many years of bashing Jews and lying about Torah (especially Torah Shei’ Bal Pe’) in comments under videos and many other blogs and other places all over the internet. For the most part these lies and vilifications against Jews go virtually unanswered and unchallenged, with facts and logic that refutes the false claims. By the time the average college student starts thinking about the lies BDS is telling them, they have already read and/or heard these lies about Jews and about Israel, dozens to hundreds of times, already. They have already been indoctrinated by years… Read more »
Extraordinary piece
Thank you for clarifying the issue and squarely pinpointing the aim on truth!!
Wow! Very well said
What an extraordinary article. So glad the National Review published it. I will share it.
Yasher Koach for taking the time to write such an articulate, compelling and important piece.
Impressive piece
An excellent plea for action in the face of continual campus assaults on Jewish students. Not mentioned is the intimidation of pro-Israel students by pro-Arab tenured professors at many campuses. If the students dare stand up for Israel they risk receiving sub-par grades.
This article is as good as the best journalists out there. It’s a breath of fresh air. I’m sick and tired of people bashing the Jewish people /Israel. 👍
R Dov thank you for having the courage to take a stand For the state of Israel in a national publication. It’s not done often. It’s great to see Chabad stand up for Israel on college campuses
this article is too harsh on the Muslim student. He retracted Thevoffense of part of his post. we are a forgiving people. We should not reciprocate their heat.
Brilliantly argued and wonderfully written.