Antisemitism on campus
Iam a 70-year-old Jewish man, but never in my life have I seen or felt the antisemitism of the last few weeks. I have heard antisemitic things from time to time.
I remember as a child being called a “dirty Jew,” and my friends and I being called “Christ killers” as we walked to Hebrew school. I had an incident in a class I was teaching about the ethics of negotiations, where a student matter-of-factly said, “the other side will try to Jew you down,” without the slightest sense of how that was a slur.
None of this prepared me for the last few weeks. Recently someone in my school posted on Instagram a picture of me with the caption “Erwin Chemerinsky has taken an indefinite sabbatical from Berkeley Law to join the IDF.”
Two weeks ago, at a town hall, a student told me that what would make her feel safe in the law school would be “to get rid of the Zionists.” I have heard several times that I have been called “part of a Zionist conspiracy,” which echoes of antisemitic tropes that have been expressed for centuries.
I was stunned when students across the country, including mine, immediately celebrated the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7. Students for Justice in Palestine called the terror attack a “historic win” for the “Palestinian resistance.” A Columbia professor called the Hamas massacre “awesome” and a “stunning victory.” A Yale professor tweeted, “It’s been such an extraordinary day!” while calling Israel a “murderous, genocidal settler state.”
A Chicago art professor posted a note reading, “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement. … May they all rot in hell.” A UC Davis professor tweeted, “Zionist journalists … have houses w/addresses, kids in school,” adding “they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.” There are countless other examples.
How can anyone celebrate the killing of 260 people attending a music festival, or the brutal massacre of more than 100 people in a kibbutz, or the pulling of people from their houses to take as hostages? If this happened to people who were not Jews, would there be such celebrations?
I have heard few campus administrators speak out publicly about the antisemitism that has become prevalent this month. They want to seem neutral or not be perceived as Islamophobic. I understand. I too refrained from speaking out against those who defended Hamas’ terrorist attack.
But when do we stop being silent, and when do we say the antisemitism must be condemned and is not acceptable on our campuses? I believe this must be that time.
To be clear, I—and I hope all of us—mourn the loss of life in Israel and in Gaza. There is surely room in our hearts to feel compassion for all who are in danger and all who have lost loved ones.
Criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitism, any more than criticizing the policies of the United States government is anti-American. I strongly oppose the policies of the Netanyahu government, favor full rights for Palestinians, and believe that there must be a two-state solution.
But if you listen to what is being said on college campuses now, some of the loudest voices are not advocating for a change in Israeli policies but are calling for an end to Israel. Students regularly chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
An oft-repeated mantra among some is that Israel is a settler colonialist country and should be forced to give the land back to the Palestinians. I have no idea how it would be determined who is rightly entitled to what land, but I do know that calling for the total elimination of Israel is antisemitic.
Students have the right to say offensive and even hateful things, but school administrators— deans, presidents and chancellors—have free speech rights too. They must exercise them and take a stand even if it will offend some and subject them to criticism.