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Well over 100 faculty members of Columbia University and Barnard College signed a letter “in defense of robust debate” about the issue war regarding the attack on Israel by Hamas. This letter is stunning in its isolation of the facts and myopic love of terrorism. If this letter doesn’t seal the deal for you never letting your child cross the threshold of most colleges, especially Ivy League schools, then you are a terrorist supporting punk. American professors are jonesing for a ceasefire, but Prime Minister Netanyahu put the kibosh on that, Thank God. You ready for this?
There are almost 3,000 full-time faculty at Columbia so I suppose the fact that only 100+ are anti-Semites is promising, but one would hope that that level of education would bring it down to zero. The 100+ faculty members gave their letter a particularly haughty title, so you must take it more seriously.
Well, I am not intimidated. I am sad for the students who had once hoped to learn from these people. This is from the New York Post:
More than 100 Columbia University professors signed a letter Monday defending students who supported Hamas’ “military action” in Israel on Oct. 7 and called on administrators to protect those students from “disturbing reverberations” on the Manhattan campus.
As top donors vow to stop giving money to the university amid a swell of pro-Palestine demonstrations, professors demanded that the administration protect demonstrators from doxxing efforts from trucks dubbing them “Columbia’s Leading Anti-Semites” and halt its educational outposts in Israel.
The Ivy League staffers also demanded that the administration “cease issuing statements that favor the suffering and death of Israelis or Jews over the suffering and deaths of Palestinians.”
“As scholars who are committed to robust inquiry about the most challenging matters of our time, we feel compelled to respond to those who label our students antisemitic if they express empathy for the lives and dignity of Palestinians and/or if they signed a student-written statement that situated the military action begun on Oct. 7 within the larger context of the occupation of Palestine by Israel,” the letter reads.
“In our view, the student statement aims to recontextualize the events of Oct. 7, 2023, pointing out that military operations and state violence did not begin that day, but rather it represented a military response by a people who had endured crushing and unrelenting state violence from an occupying power over many years,” they wrote of the brutal terror attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians.
We all have empathy for those innocents in Gaza. Feeling empathy is in no way anti-Semitic. Israel has given up control of much of the land they conquered in the Six Day War. But “recontextualizing” the brutal massacre of 1400 and kidnapping a couple hundred people, sounds like brainwashing.
Now for a little good news:
The young man asserts that his Muslim friends are reaching out to ensure that he and his family okay. That’s promising. The young lady…oof. Palestinian lives are equally valuable, but they elected the animals who massacred Israelis.
A little more directly from the Columbia faculty letter:
The statement also describes the Israeli treatment of Palestinians as a form of “apartheid”, and while this term is viewed as controversial in some quarters, major human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded that the occupation of Palestine and the treatment of Palestinians within Israel amount to a form of apartheid, a crime against humanity with definitions provided in the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (“Apartheid Convention”) and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Indeed, Desmond Tutu, noted South African civil rights leader who was the first Black archbishop of Cape Town, concluded in 2014 that: “[Palestinians’] humiliation is familiar to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government.” And President Jimmy Carter has expressed the view that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.”
In this day and age, we cannot possibly believe that the United Nations, Jimmy Carter or the late Desmond Tutu are moral barometers. I’ll fight anybody on that.
I would rather believe these students than any globalist body:
Students at Columbia University speak out against antisemitism on campus:
“My Jewish sisters and brothers and I are on the receiving end of death threats from our peers.”pic.twitter.com/mdKn1XQgev
— YAF (@yaf) October 31, 2023
The first young lady, named Noa Fay, was on Fox News (don’t judge me) and was impressive:
University students demand action over growing antisemitism on campus: 'Not debatable'
Columbia student Noa Fay joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss growing anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses nationwide and why it is strange to feel unsafe in the classroom.… pic.twitter.com/uUOzyvPhUi
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) October 31, 2023
I agree with Dana. I cannot believe adults signed that letter. “Never again” went by faster than we thought. Time to renew our commitment.
Featured Image: Jo Zimny Photos/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
NTSOG says: We in Australia have just had a national referendum to change the constitution to grant certain powers to the 3% of the population that is aboriginal. The Referendum was lost 60% to 40% * much to the disgust of the Socialist Left faction whose member reacted by labeling all those who voted No as illiterate imbeciles* from the country too stupid to understand what their city-based, university educated betters were trying to do. [There was a clear divide between inner city residents and those in working class suburbs and rural areas.] The advocates in favour of the Referendum were trying to cement their Leftist Woke power and were caught out by the increasingly sceptical electorate. As part of the fallout from the Referendum and also from the behaviour of the rabid anti-Israel university students demonstrating in favour of Hamas there has been a groundswell of anger aimed at the universities and their weak, apologist leaders. Universities are increasingly seen as having lost their way and their degrees, especially those in social studies, a waste of time and money.
* Voting is compulsory for all adult citizens in Australia.
* The word ‘deplorables’ was mentioned a number of times. Hilary’s reputation is well known.
Cameron says: Raises hand Ignorant American here. What kind of powers were going to be granted to the Aborigines?
GWB says: White suburban progressive women (Wine O’Clock Wendys to use Ace of Spades’ new favorite phrase) will be sacrificed to them every season?
Cameron says: Can’t recall seeing that on AoS but I like it!
And can we throw in some blue-haired land whales?
NTSOG says: Wine O’Clock Wendys = brilliant!
In Australia there is a group of slightly left-leaning urban-based women elected in recent years to government that are called ‘Teals’ as in the colour teal. Meaning they are not fully Greens, but slightly left of centre and full of grand ideas and plans.
As for human sacrifice: in stone-age Aboriginal society at the time of colonisation women were simply chattels to be used at the convenience of senior men in the tribes. Violent assaults on women were normal and, in times of famine, unwanted babies and women were eaten. In far out [tribal] settlements the level of violence by aboriginal men against ‘their’ women and children continues in the old way exacerbated by access to alcohol, drugs and pornography. Attempts to control access to alcohol by setting limits on access has been negated by the leftist social welfare folk who contend to deprive aboriginal men access to alcohol is against their Rights.
NTSOG says: G’day Cameron,
It was proposed that a special aborigine ‘advisory’ body be formed and granted powers to ‘advise’ the Executive level of Federal government on all issues that affect aborigines and that meant every issue facing government. However, since aborigines have been recognised as full citizens with all rights for many decades such an ‘advisory’ body would have given 3% of the population inside running on most issues to the exclusion of the majority. There was also concern that such an advisory body would allow ‘progressive’ [left-leaning] judges in the courts to interpret new laws and regulations as suited the Left against the wishes of the majority. Taxpayers already fund special services for aborigines at about $A30 billion per annum. There are already many aboriginal advisory agencies funded by the government as well as many aborigines elected to different levels of government in open elections. The major objection of the 60% who voted against the Referendum was that allowing it to pass would have formally divided the country on the basis of Race – forever. For many it was seen as a form of apartheid. Ultimately the Referendum was seen by ordinary taxpaying voters as a power play by aggressive urban/western educated aborigines supported by their Marxist-socialist-Green mates. Needless to say, the racial victim card was played as part of the campaign in support of the Referendum. The aboriginal lobby and fellow travellers over-reached politically and lost. Their bitter reaction and disparaging remarks [ignorant hillbillies, etc.] towards those who voted No caused a lot of anger as I remarked in my first post.
Cameron says: Thank you. I figured that Aborigines already had full rights and this was just a push for special rights. Not surprising that the race card would be waved around.
GWB says: Unthinkable Antisemitism
OK, I’m going to rant for a moment on this sort of language.
Honestly, why is it “unthinkable”? I will tell you the reason you think that: because you believed Progressivism’s claim of “progress.”
Anti-otherism is not unthinkable. It’s part of our innate human nature. It’s a very normal sin to see “other” and refuse them because they aren’t our tribe. And only Progressivism thinks that we have “advanced” as humans to the point that human nature no longer exists.
And what the “unthinkable” mindset does is enable them to produce moral panics. And no one thinks during a moral panic (or they get labeled as terrible people because they aren’t as outraged as their betters) – which causes all sorts of bad decisions to be made or supported. It’s what they do with mass shootings (and why they try to up the numbers by changing definitions – to increase the panic). It’s one of the tactics around racism.
They also use this methodology with things like the Israeli offensive against Gaza. “Bombing hospitals is unthinkable!” And suddenly a very effective, perfectly normal bit of warfare is held off-limits for the good guys.
Just because something is evil doesn’t mean it’s unthinkable. Just because something is horrendous doesn’t mean it’s unthinkable. Lots of people claim the use of atomic/nuclear weapons is unthinkable. But thank goodness we didn’t use that sort of thinking in WW2!
When you say something is “unthinkable” you fail to prepare for it, too. And failing to prepare for evil – especially when you’re ignoring history and human nature – gets people hurt. All of those Jewish sheep in the university library suffered because they didn’t think that sort of thing could happen – again. All the places with smashed windows and anti-Jewish graffiti suffered because they thought that was ‘unthinkable’ – again. Those folks in the synagogue in Pittsburgh thought it couldn’t happen here – that it was ‘unthinkable’! – again.
I’m all for calling evil “intolerable” (but only if you don’t then tolerate it) or “incredible”. But let’s get our heads out of the sand with words like “unthinkable.” Trust me, the evil man can commit is truly amazing. All you have to do is open your eyes and look at history. “Never again” is something you have to DO not something you profess.
/rant
It’s a fine post, Toni. That phraseology, though, sets me off.
Toni Williams says: Dearest GWB-
Rant away. Unthinkable because I believed “Never Again”. I am over “unthinkable” and now have my war face on.
T
Yeah-Me-Neither says: Anyone who thinks that Columbia’s faculty is 100 antisemites out of 3,000 is grossly undercounting the antisemitic atmosphere at that and most Ivy league schools.
Heck, even the Jewish profs at Columbia are antisemitic.
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