Natan Sharansky says that anti-Israel intimidation is silencing pro-Israel students on campus, but where’s his evidence? [NJJN Just ASC]
Hillels should include, not oppose, JVP groups. Look for more on this in an NV blog post later today. [The Magnes Zionist]
In related news, the NIF comes out explicitly against BDS. [Atlantic Jeff Goldberg]
And BTS (Breaking The Silence) activists reveal their names. [The Independent]
It’s easier for high-school students to procure marijuana than cigarettes. [MPP]
Unless young Jews on American college and university campuses are willing to show more “spunk,” anti-Semitism (disguised now as anti-Zionism) will continue to not just spread but flourish. And, tragically, that seems to be the trend. Hiding out in their Hillel sanctuaries and calling on campus administrators and the ADL to fight for them will prove not just ineffective, but contemptuous – and, as such, will only embolden their enemies. They must confront their tormentors straight on – protest for protest. But there seems to be little stomach for that. You’ve raised a whole generation of young Jews in the habit of appealing to universal human rights to defend their minority status here in American and, therefore, unable to defend Jewish particularism in Israel. Not only does that fact trap them in an intellectual conundrum they’re unable to resolve, but – and let’s be honest here – it also serves as a convenient excuse to justify their temerity. I can’t imagine very many Jews willing to “go to the barricades” for Israel. How pathetic! Finally, a homeland – but a homeland fewer and fewer diasporic Jews are willing to fight for and defend. It’s a dirty little secret that needs to be exposed.
Unfortunately, the same temerity is tightening its grip around the heart of a good many Evangelical Christians – many of whom have always stood in support of Israel. We both have our work cut out for us.