A Schism in Social Justice

SJ Warriors Go After Israeli Policy; They Focus on the Who Rather than the What

On Monday, following the unprovoked and vicious attacks on Israelis by HAMAS, a large number of Harvard clubs signed onto a letter calling for student activism and rallies opposed to….Israel. The letter puts the finger not on HAMAS who carried out the attacks, not the individuals themselves who pulled the triggers killing hundreds, but on Israel and Israeli policies:

Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to “open the gates of hell,” and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.

The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.

Today, the Palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory. The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.

The signers are mostly pro-Arab, Muslim, Palestinian groups you can kind of expect. Nonetheless, the tone deafness of calling for a rise in activism (which included a protest march on Monday) at a time of massacre seemed to be completely lost on these groups. In addition, the letter was also signed by other groups such as “African-American Resistance Organization,” “Harvard Act on a Dream,” and “Harvard Jews for Liberation.” Soon after, Social Justice groups such as BLM , DSA and other student organizations across the country announced support for the position.

I’d love to say that Harvard was quick to condemn the students’ letter. They were not. Here’s former Harvard President Larry Summers:

“The delayed @Harvard leadership statement fails to meet the needs of the moment…The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel. Why can’t we find anything approaching the moral clarity of Harvard statements after George Floyd’s death or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when terrorists kill, rape, and take hostage hundreds of Israelis attending a music festival?”

Eventually, Harvard President Claudine Gay did issue a statement, but it was widely panned as too late.

Amid fierce national backlash, Harvard President Claudine Gay forcefully condemned the Hamas attack on Israel and distanced the University from a group of student organizations who signed onto a statement that called Israel “entirely responsible” for the ongoing violence in the region.

Gay wrote in a statement to The Crimson Tuesday morning that “while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”

The overarching themes among these student organizations and social justice advocacy groups is that somehow, this level of terror is justified based on past harms and existing inequalities. This level of violence is NEVER justified. My God. Thousands killed? Thousands more injured and taken hostage? It is an atrocity and affront to any civilized nation. What the students did here is akin to watching the George Floyd video and immediately after it say “He got what he deserved, I back the blue.” The position is atrocious.

Does Israeli policy towards the Palestinians deserve some scrutiny and criticism. Absolutely. The conditions in Gaza and the West Bank are brutal. Half are under the age of 18, most have no potable drinking water and live in poverty. Israel has shown no interest in fixing the problem, instead supporting settlers to the West Bank, creating ongoing gentrification as Palestinians live in what is de facto Apartheid. It’s horrible.

But you can be critical of the policies without praising the terrorists. It’s not hard to do. You can show sympathy, empathy and humanity to the victims of such a massacre and still hold your ideals and integrity. I am no fan of “The Squad,” and they have collectively said some stupid things over the years on this issue, including this week. But here is Ilhan Omar (someone I REGULARLY disagree with) showing how easy it is to be diplomatic and demonstrate empathy.¹ You can do both and understand when the time is to be critical and when its appropriate to offer sympathies.

This recent Social Justice backlash on this issue I hope shows the last vestiges of an arrogant, youthful, idealist movement that naively focused too much on narrow themes and ideas and fails to look at the bigger picture. Maybe going forward we’ll spend more time looking at the “What happened and Why?” aspects in the world and focus less on the “Who” and dicarding contrary information about that “who” if it doesn’t conform to our worldview. In the present situation, the “What Happened?” is that HAMAS attacked and killed thousands of Israelis in an unprovoked massacre. We shouldn’t lose sight of that in a distasteful attempt to score political points.

PurpleAmerica Recommended Stories

There are hundreds, if not thousands of books dissecting the conflict in the Middle East. It’s been a topic of interest ever since Jews returned to Palestine following World War II. There’s dozens of noteworthy historical events you can focus on as well.

However, for my recommended book, I’m going to suggest Zachary Karabell’s “Peace Be Upon You.” Where so much discussion on the Middle Eat focuses on division and conflict, here was a pleasing walk through history focusing on the positive collaboration between societies, Jewish, Christian and Muslim alike. It is well worth your time.

PurpleAmerica Cultural Corner

In my past post, I praised Speilberg’s “Munich” as a movie worth your time. I revisited it yesterday and this scene still gets me. It describes everything going on, from two perspectives, talking out sad and horrific realities.This scene stayed with me long after I finished watching the film.

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day

The Gaza Strip is about twice the size of Washington D.C. and contains 2 million people, about three times the population. You can read more about the conditions here:

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

“Peace be unto you.”

It’s the sentiment in both the yiddish word “Shalom” and the Arab phrase “A salaam alaikum.”

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. Of course, she followed up this statement with one calling for a “negotiated peace” which is both naive and unrealistic. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-condemns-israels-military-response-hamas-solution-negotiated-peace