At UCLA, a culture of equating 'Israel' with 'guilty'
UCLA is a campus that has allowed Middle East history to be taught by instructors who demonize Israel, and has permitted its Center for Near Eastern Studies to be directed and co-directed by BDS supporters. It is a culture where a student can come to class wearing an "Israel Kills" T-shirt, yet any mention of Muslim symbols is sure to trigger the heaviest gun of political correctness, "Islamophobia!"Ayaan Hirsi Ali Condemns Anti-Semitism, Champions New Film
It is a culture where pro-coexistence students, especially in the social sciences, prefer to keep silent rather than risk mockery and social estrangement. Most importantly, it is a campus overrun by soft-spoken BDS propagandists who managed to hijack the student government's agenda with repeated proposals for anti-Israel resolutions, the purpose of which is one: to associate the word "Israel" with the word "guilty."
Coming from this culture, it is quite natural for a council member to assume that Rachel Beyda, as a Jew, is likely to have a built-in reluctance to joining the never-ending orgy of Israel indictments. Especially indictments authored by a movement like BDS, which openly denies one of Jews' most deeply held convictions – Israel's right to exist.
I am purposely using the generic term "as a Jew" here, in its most inclusive, people-based sense. I do so because a great many Jews do consider Israel the culmination of their millennia-long history. Likewise, I follow the observations of Hillel's leadership, who repeatedly assures concerned parents and outraged donors of its commitment to the Zionist dream, and to pro-Israel education.
So why all the outrage about the misuse of the inclusive term "Jewish?" Roth's mistake was not that she probed into Beyda's faith as a Jew, but that she implied that Jews can only gain social acceptance and student government credentials by joining the "indict-Israel" circus, as some of their professors have chosen to do.
On Wednesday in Brookline, Massachusetts, women’s rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali headlined an event revolving around the rise of anti-Semitism. Her remarks followed the Boston premiere of the Jerusalem U film, Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus, directed by Shoshana Palatnik, who also attended.Jewish teens attacked in southern France
Hirsi Ali pulled no punches, offering scathing commentary regarding the anti-Semitism around the world. She offered these statements:
It is appalling that only seventy years from the Holocaust, crowds in Europe chant "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas." It is even more appalling that 10,000 soldiers in Paris are needed to protect Jewish sites. That is the continent that promised never again. The men and women who were in the concentration camps, who are tattooed, some are still here. And it is happening again.
Watching Crossing the Line 2: the New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus, was like having a bucket of ice water being poured over my head. I saw the film last week. And I watched it again last night. And I couldn't sleep. The more we pretend that this is happening somewhere far away, the more hopeless and helpless we feel. But this is not happening far away. This is happening on American campuses, British campuses, Canadian campuses. The filmmakers who made this film made it because it is important that we listen to this message while it is at a smaller stage.
Two Jewish teens in France were robbed and beaten after leaving their Marseille synagogue.
The teens were attacked on Tuesday by two assailants who they described as youth “of African origin,” according to the National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA.
According to the victims, the assailants said, “Dirty Jews, we will exterminate all of you,” before they were robbed and beaten. The Jewish teens required medical attention.
One of the victims told BNVCA that he recognized the attackers.
The bureau called on police in the southern French city to “do everything possible to identify and question the attackers,” and for the assailants to be severely punished to act as a deterrent to future attacks.