War divides California academics
The deadly war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a militant Palestinian faction, has revealed deep social and political fissures in America and California is not immune.
Although polls generally indicate that Americans support Israel's incursion into Gaza after Hamas conducted a deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7 — mirroring the Biden administration's policy – the issue is more nuanced in California.
A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll found that 61% of California adults and 51% of voters say the U.S. should not take a side, but there's a stark partisan division. Democrats are much more likely to favor neutrality with just 19% taking Israel's side and 16% supporting Palestine. However, 59% of Republicans back Israel and just 4% Palestine.
The Democratic fragmentation was displayed when pro-Palestine demonstrators disrupted a recent state Democratic Party convention in Sacramento.
Similarly, when President Joe Biden attended a series of highdollar campaign fundraising events in Southern California over the weekend, pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied outside the glitzy events, which were largely sponsored by prominent Jewish entertainment industry figures such as Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Rob Reiner.
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On Monday, the California Legislature's Jewish caucus issued a statement thanking Biden for “standing with Israel and with the Jewish community during this incredibly challenging moment.”
The internal Capitol effort emerged just a few days after Newsom cancelled the traditional public lighting of the Capitol's Christmas tree, substituting a virtual ceremony and citing the potential for conflict at the event.
Newsom's action drew sharp criticism from pro-Palestine groups. “Governor Newsom decided to cancel the tree lighting ceremony rather than face the public that is enraged by his shameful silence on the genocide in Gaza,” Yassar Dahbour of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights said in a statement.
Underlying the political angst in California and elsewhere is a rhetorical conflict over whether opposition to Israel's crusade to destroy Hamas in the aftermath of its surprise attack is simply a policy issue or reflects latent antisemitism, particularly among those on the nation's political left.
Leaders of several Ivy League universities hemmed and hawed last week when asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their codes of campus conduct and now face a backlash that could cost them their positions.
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One of the more ironic aspects of the increasingly shrill debates, occurring largely within Democratic Party and left-leaning academic circles, is what's happening in the University of California.
UC regents announced they will commit $7 million to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses. The money will go to training faculty and staff, and to mental health services for staff and students.
On Nov. 15, UC President Michael Drake declared that UC will launch “programs focused on better understanding anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, how to recognize and combat extremism, and a viewpoint-neutral history of the Middle East.”
Faculty members who wanted to take pro-Palestine positions in their instruction denounced Drake's statement, saying he was violating the principle of academic freedom by trying to dictate classroom content.
Drake then issued a “clarification” in which he said he was referring to “voluntary, extracurricular educational programming on our campuses, not classroom content.”
Defining the principle of academic freedom, it would seem, hinges on the ideology of those who believe their rights are being abridged.
Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.
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