HUNDREDS OF PRO-ISRAEL COLUMBIA STUDENTS SLAM 'OUR JEWISH PEERS WHO TOKENIZE THEMSELVES'

Hundreds of pro-Israel Columbia Students Slam 'Our Jewish Peers Who Tokenize Themselves'

Describing themselves as proud Zionists, the students write that their love for Israel 'does not necessitate blind political conformity'

May 09th, 00AM May 09th, 00AM

Hundreds of Jewish students at Columbia University have signed an open letter accusing anti-Israeli protesters on campus of "dehumanizing" them and challenging those who have attempted to downplay the hatred they have confronted.

In this context, it singles out "some of our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent 'real Jewish values,' and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism."

Describing Zionism as a "pillar" of their identity, the students write: "We connect to Israel not only as our ancestral homeland but as the only place in the modern world where Jews can safely take ownership of their own destiny. Our experiences at Columbia in the last six month are a poignant reminder of just that."

The antisemitism these students have encountered on campus, they write, is a "twisted reversal of our Holocaust legacy."

"Protesters on campus have dehumanized us, imposing upon us the characterization of the 'white colonizer.' We have been told that we are 'the oppressors of all brown people' and that 'the Holocaust wasn't special.' Students at Columbia have chanted 'we don't want no Zionists here,' alongside 'death to the Zionist state' and 'go back to Poland' where our relatives live in mass graves.

"This sick distortion illuminates the nature of antisemitism: In every generation, the Jewish people are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time."

A number of Columbia students, mainly from Barnard College, have been active in the anti-Israel protests, and several were suspended and taken into custody when police raided the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on campus. Photos have also been widely shared of Jewish students holding a Passover seder in the unauthorized encampment.

The letter – titled "In Our Name: A Message from Jewish Students at Columbia University" – is address to the Columbia community. Most of the signatories are students at Columbia's four undergraduate schools – Columbia College, Barnard College, the School of Engineering and the School of General Studies. All told, Columbia has 1,500 undergraduate students, suggesting that the message is supported by a significant share of the Jewish student population

Describing themselves as proud Zionists, the students write that their love for Israel "does not necessitate blind political conformity."

"It's quite the opposite," they write. "For many of us, it is our deep love for and commitment to Israel that pushes us to object when its government acts in ways we find problematic. Israeli political disagreement is an inherently Zionist activity; look no further than the protests against Netanyahu's judicial reforms – from New York to Tel Aviv – to understand what it means to fight for the Israel we imagine. All it takes are a couple of coffee chats with us to realize that our visions for Israel differ dramatically from one another. Yet we all come from a place of love and an aspiration for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike."

What they have learned since October 7, the students write, "is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People. Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we've been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated."

The letter ends with a call to other members of the community to join them in engaging in "complex conversations" and repairing campus life.

"While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides," the students write.

2024-05-08T21:32:34Z dg43tfdfdgfd