The epic failure of anti-Israel campus protests
Now that the campuses have settled down, it’s time to take stock of what has happened since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. Despite the hysteria, the protests were resounding failures in achieving their stated objectives.
Besides roiling college quads, they revealed disturbing truths about higher education, bringing the virulent antisemitism of students and faculty to the forefront, and scaring Jewish students.
But how widespread was the problem, and was there a pattern?
A Washington Monthly study found that of 1,421 public and private nonprofit colleges, 318 (22%) had protests and 123 (9%) encampments. While these figures might seem significant, they represent only one-third of all institutions. Even as strains have occurred in black-Jewish relations, it is notable that none of the 78 historically black colleges had encampments, and only nine had demonstrations. Protests were primarily concentrated in California and the Northeast, and were most prominent at elite universities.
The amount of publicity given to schools like Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, Michigan and New York University gave the false impression that protesters’ views were the norm rather than representative of a small fraction of the faculty and student body. The bad news is that these schools produce judges, business leaders and political officials, and they are churning out graduates who are, at best, ignoramuses and, at worst, antisemites.
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Extremists chanting “From the River to the Sea” must be disappointed that Israel has not disappeared and that their Hamas heroes are being crushed. Meanwhile, “moderates” advocating for a ceasefire proved equally impotent as Hamas terrorists rejected proposals requiring them to release their hostages.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement believed it had reached a critical mass. Votes were held at 24 schools, the most since 2014-15, and BDS measures were adopted at 18.
Do you know how many universities agreed to boycott Israel? Zero.
The president of Sonoma State University in California did cave to pressure, but his decision to boycott Israel was quickly reversed, and he was out of a job. Presidents of other universities said their institutions would not boycott Israel. Some of the more cowardly officials gave in to the campus terrorists and agreed to consider divestment or to be more transparent about their investments.
Meanwhile, the financiers in charge of university money said boycotting would violate their fiduciary responsibilities; economists explained there was little to divest, and the gesture would have no impact on Israel.
Throughout the history of the pro-Palestinian constituency, students have shown little concern for the massacre of Jews or Hamas’ use of Gazans as human shields. Demands for Hamas to release hostages or criticism of their weaponizing of schools, hospitals and mosques were conspicuously absent from protests.
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What many of us knew for decades was exposed for all to see — namely, that colleges are the only place in America where antisemitism is tolerated and that a double standard is applied to the treatment of Jews and other victims of prejudice.
University presidents, often lacking moral fortitude, failed to unequivocally condemn violence against Jews and address the bigotry within their institutions. Many disgracefully sought to appease protesters by inappropriately conflating antisemitism with Islamophobia. Some, like the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT, embarrassed themselves and their institutions by their inability to recognize that calling for the extermination of Jews was antisemitic and a violation of their codes of conduct.
Universities typically believe that they can outlast students by metaphorically patting the kids on the head and saying they’ll listen, knowing that summer is coming and expecting all to be forgotten by the next term. However, the capitulation to pro-terrorist protesters’ demands by some administrators emboldened the campus terrorists and perpetuated a cycle of unrest that promises to return in the fall as the war continues and likely escalates in the north.
Many faculty were also exposed as antisemites. They participated in protests, encouraged them, and signed and made statements that were blatantly antisemitic. Professors used their classrooms to indoctrinate their students with misinformation and propaganda. Many of us have warned of this rot within academia, but it has long escaped sufficient scrutiny.
We also learned that protesters were embarrassingly ignorant. Many joined without understanding the history or issues, like those who chanted “From the river to the sea” without knowing the name of the river or the sea.
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Far from achieving their aims, demonstrators provoked a backlash that is reshaping campus policies and public perceptions:
•Several universities established antisemitism taskforces and planned to require students and faculty to attend meetings to learn about the persecution of Jews and what behavior is impermissible.
•Just as the BDS movement stimulated the adoption of anti-boycott laws in 38 states, the campus divestment effort also prompted legal action. The Pennsylvania state Senate, for example, passed a bill to block aid to any university that boycotts or divests from Israel.
•Anti-mask laws are being discussed to prevent cowardly antisemites and terror supporters from hiding from public view and evading accountability.
•Law firms and other companies declared they would not hire students who participated in protests.
•Some protesters were suspended and prevented from graduating. Others were arrested and charged with crimes.
•More strict rules were implemented as to the time and place where protests could be held to prevent disruption of university activity and the harassment of Jewish students.
•The number of civil-rights complaints demanding action against universities that failed to protect Jewish students filed with the US Department of Education increased exponentially.
•Jewish students also filed lawsuits. NYU settled one and “committed to take groundbreaking measures to address antisemitism.”
•Donors withdrew support for institutions that failed to address antisemitism, and parents and students decided not to attend them.
After eight months of glorifying terrorists who savagely raped and murdered Jews, protesters succeeded only in highlighting their hatred of Jews, including their fellow students. They failed to promote peace or aid a single Palestinian.
