During a stint as one of the three kings at our church’s Nativity scene, I was asked if we have a lot of anti-Semitism at our college. I let the questioner know that I recently brought an Israeli Security expert guest speaker online to my class for his second visit.
I also told the questioner that we really should hold not only colleges accountable, but also our politicians, as so many of the latter spout anti-Semitic tropes that lead to deadly consequences.
The college presidents of Penn, MIT and Harvard were grilled before Congress in a highly polarized hearing, and it did not go well.
“Critics say Magill, Gay and MIT president Sally Kornbluth failed to convince Congress and the public that they can adequately protect their Jewish students,” wrote Juliana Kim with NPR.
“Those concerns largely erupted after the university presidents were asked whether ‘calling for the genocide of Jews’ would violate their school’s code of conduct. Many felt their answers were too legalistic and lacked moral clarity at a time when both antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents are on the rise in the country.”
It wasn’t a great day for the three university leaders. One resigned, while others remain embattled. Some politicians gleefully tweeted results, like “one down, two to go.”
But before some of our politicians get too morally superior when lecturing college presidents caught in an ideological committee cross-fire, let us not forget how some of these smug political figures behaved before the Gaza attacks, either with their words or deeds.
Didn’t some politician share a conspiracy theory that “Jewish space lasers” may have been responsible for California’s wildfires?
Haven’t some politicians prominently dined with Nick Fuentes, one accused of being an avowed anti-Semite and white supremacist, or spoken at his events?
Could some involved in politics repeatedly single out several key Jewish businessmen to claim that they are buying politicians, when so many wealthy people of all religions donate lots of money in American politics?
Might some overlook, or even support, those who stormed University of Virginia college campus with Tiki Torches, yelling “Jews will not replace us,” while a supporter killed a counter-protester and injured others with his car later? Don’t some still tout “The Great Replacement Theory?”
Hasn’t a prominent political figure accused Jews of “disloyalty” for not supporting him?
Finally, could touting arguments claiming Jews support immigration and miscegenation have motivated someone to massacre members of a Pittsburgh synagogue?
After that synagogue slaughter, a pair of state representatives, one Democratic and one Republican, came to my class to speak to my students about how they were united against such hate speech, and have since kept their words to oppose those words that target others.
Politicians can be considered an ally of the American Jewish community if those elected officials strongly oppose those among their ranks who have trafficked in such anti-Semitic hate speech and dog whistles.
For those in office who ignore politicians making anti-Jewish attacks, their criticism of colleges is little more than cynical posturing for political points.