Campus Hate

I find the following article by Lyon Symons to be pretty poor and think many areas need clarifying.

Anti-semitism is obviously a serious issue and I find it hard to believe the MP who says ‘for the first time, antisemitism has been taken seriously’ I mean really?  This is the first time?  I would be deeply shocked if it was its seems very unlikely.  Racism of all kinds is taken very seriously on campus.

Now that asside I think theres another important issue at play and thats criticism of Israel being associated with anti-semitism.  On my university course this year theres an American girl and in some respects I feel sorry for her.  You see, she associates criticism of the US Government with anti-Americanism.  In Europe we find this concept hard to understand as unlike the US where critics of the Government are often considered unAmerican we have no such thing as an unScottish Scotsman.  Its normally clearly understood that people can love their country and hate its Government.  Anyway this girl took every criticism of the States personally, but being strong dealt with it and tried to get on with things (hard for her as every professor and student was critical of Bush and constantly making jokes).  I’m pretty sure she felt like a ‘pariah’ and thats why I felt sorry for her – no one was out to upset her, no one was being critical of her, she just took it that way.  One solution of course is that everyone near her never utters a bad word about George Bush or US global hegemony.  But what if I get offended by people talking badly about Tony Blair and his war in Iraq too?  Then no one can mention him badly in front of me either?  Then were is freedom of speech and democracy?

I think something similar is happening with criticism of Israel – some people are taking it personally when really its just legitimate criticism of a Government like any other.  Does that mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater?

What we should be concerned with is anti-semitism where it exists and not where supporters of Israel feel like pariahs.  Theres every reason for a supporter of illegal military occuaption (whether British, American or Israeli), Apartheid, illegal settlement, colonialism and aggression to feel like a pariah.  Whereas theres no reason for Jewish people to feel like pariahs.  However if they associate the two thats something they need to deal with.  Likewise if a critic associates Israeli Government crimes with Jewishness thats also something that needs to be resolved.

For more on the UK Government’s Parliamentary All-Party Inquiry into Antisemitism read Norman Finkelsteins Kill Arabs, Cry Anti-semitism.

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks has called on university vice-chancellors to take greater action to defend Jewish students who are made to feel like “pariahs” on campuses around the UK.

He told the JC this week that vice-chancellors “must defend freedom of speech on all sides and all arguments. It must never be students of this or that faith who feel vulnerable or at risk or like pariahs on a university campus.