The “Fighting Antisemitism” Canard

My views on the Gaza protests and antisemitism aren’t particularly popular on the left.

I think it is pretty clear that “core activists” in the movement engaged in behavior that they would (rightfully) condemn if directed at any other minority group. They treated Israeli and Jewish students as presumptively morally culpable for Israel’s actions in Gaza. More moderate leaders made little, if any, attempt to marginalize voices that endorsed Hamas and its actions.

It is certainly possible to be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic. But it is very difficult to walk that line in practice. Most arguments require exceptionalizing Jews; they wind up rendering them as the only “national” group undeserving of self-determination rights. Efforts to construct Israel as uniquely illegitimate either wind up minimizing the atrocities committed by other states or enter into the kind of blood-and-soil nationalist mythology beloved by fascist movements, including the Israeli far right. The fact that they also sweep in anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, the discredited Khazar hypothesis, bad genetic analysis, and other “fun” material is just icing on the cake.

Since I’m already going there, I should also be clear that in my view, the decision of activists to center anti-Zionism contributed to the failure of the peace movement. It fed directly into right-wing messaging; it made alliances with the Israeli left and Israeli peace activists—including the families of hostages—virtually impossible; it alienated many left-wing and center-left American Jews; and it led to demands on administrators that had no clear connection to ending either the Israeli demolition of Gaza or right-wing settler pogroms in the West Bank.

The approach was also completely out of touch with the dynamics of the region. As a Palestinian acquaintance (more or less) put it: ‘It’s easy for activists in the U.S. and Europe to center anti-Zionism. They don’t have to live with the consequences. Israel isn’t going away; there is no path to peace premised on the wholesale rejection of Zionism.’ As a friend of mine who spent a long career studying Arab politics remarked, ‘it was strange to see student activists push a vision of the future of the Middle East that Arab states essentially abandoned decades ago.’

When I asked on social media whether the failure of the peace movement might lead activists to rethink their approach, the most common response I got was that ‘it didn’t fail; it was just one step on the long road to ending Zionism.’

This would, I suspect, be news to the vast majority of students who turned up at the protests.

I will leave it to readers to decide for themselves about the ethics of prioritizing the ‘long-term struggle’ over preventing the deaths of innocent Palestinians.

I write all this to contextualize my views on the right’s putative crusade against antisemitism: I am absolutely not someone who sees every accusation of left-wing antisemitism as some kind of Zionist smear. I even know some people with connections to that ‘crusade’ who are genuinely concerned about the treatment of Jewish students. But, as far as I am concerned, it is also blindingly obvious that we are witnessing a craven, cynical effort to a) destroy the independence of higher education and b) shut down criticisms of Israel’s fascist government.

The Trump administration’s announced intention to yank $400 million in funds and grants from Columbia University further gives the game away. Columbia caved to outside pressure and cracked down on the protests. It is already under intense pressure—from its board, donors, and other stakeholders—to adjust its policies. How would gutting Columbia’s operating budget have a positive effect on this process? The idea is only marginally more credible than the claim that crippling the Ukrainian military is the best way to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Roughly a quarter of Columbia’s undergraduate student body is Jewish—it is, on a per capita basis, the third most-Jewish of the elite universities (behind Harvard and Brown). The percentage of Jewish graduate students (16%) is higher than any of the other elite institutions that I surveyed (source).

Let’s be clear: the sudden loss of this kind of federal support will be catastrophic for Columbia. If the Trumpers actually cared about the welfare of Jewish students, they wouldn’t take steps intended to cripple an institution that’s played—and continues to play—such an important role in Jewish intellectual and professional life.