Which is a microcosm of the answer to the question “why aren’t more Jewish people speaking up against the War in Gaza?”
From what I’ve observed: those who are outraged mostly don’t dare speak up, because they will be punished by both sides, by the Israel lobby for daring hint that Palestinians might have a point, and by the worst on the pro-Palestinian side for being Jewish. Even if most on the pro-Palestinian side wouldn’t actually do that, there are enough reports of increasing hate speech for Jewish anti-war people to be super extra careful. They’re somewhere between cautious and terrified that if they say something even as anodyne as “I think the IDF has gone a bit far”, that neither side will protect them from the other.
A simple policy to ward off another disruptive season of campus protests is splintering the higher education community and forcing colleges to weigh their traditional role as beacons of free speech.
More than a dozen universities are banning official stances on politics a year after Hamas’ attack on Israel spiraled into an international crisis and felled several university presidents in its wake. The schools argue they put their students’ rights at risk when institutions take sides on major issues. A competing contingent of colleges insists they have an obligation to speak out against societal wrongs.
The debate represents a shift in the way colleges engage with a quintessential aspect of higher education: the free flow of ideas.
“The problem with universities taking official positions is that they lay down a party line,” said Daniel Diermeier, the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, which embraces official neutrality. “It creates a chilling effect.”
Colleges were bracing for what pro-Palestinian students nationwide intended to be a “Week of Rage” marking the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war.
But the demonstrations across the country proved to be much tamer than touted, as institutions implemented new restrictions to crack down on large-scale protests.
Students and faculty on college campuses from coast to coast held antiwar protests — including lectures, study sessions, vigils and walkouts — to mark the anniversary of the now-spiraling conflict in the Middle East.
The students said that because Sukkot honors the history of Jewish displacement, they were dedicating theirs to Palestinians, the majority of whom have been forced from their homes.
Isabelle Butera, a spokesperson with JVP NU, said the group made its own sukkah, which displayed signs that said, “Gaza Solidarity Sukkah” and “Stop Arming Israel.”
