In the weeks following the terrorism of Sept. 11, overtly anti-Israel activity on Bay Area college campuses seemed to disappear. But has it really?
Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there, local Jewish students and leaders warn.
Pro-Palestinian groups are playing a prominent role in campus anti-war coalitions, grafting their anti-Israel messages onto anti-war platforms.
“Since the attacks, I would say there is still the same anti-Israel sentiment on campuses. They just don’t call it ‘anti-Israel’ now; they call it ‘anti-war,'” said Avner Even-Zohar, director of the San Francisco Israel Center’s campus division.
Jewish campus observers across the Bay Area have reported a spate of anti-Israeli discourse emanating from anti-war rallies and literature. Speakers at those events claim U.S. support of Israel prompted the terrorist attacks and urge severing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. In fact, at San Jose State, a long letter printed in the campus paper blamed the attacks on undercover Mossad agents, and urged the atomic destruction of Israel.
Tensions are still running high at several Bay Area institutions, most notably U.C. Berkeley. Adam Weisberg, executive director of Berkeley Hillel, contends there is “much more anti-Israel activity, rhetoric and sentiment at Berkeley than any other campus” in the nation.
“A lot of the anti-war coalition’s rhetoric is certainly hateful [toward] Israel,” he said. “I think a group like the Students for Justice in Palestine has hitched its wagon to the anti-war coalition.”
The largely pro-Palestinian component of many campus anti-war movements has placed Jews who oppose the bombing of Afghanistan in a precarious position.
“That’s the problem we’re facing right now,” noted Seth Brysk, executive director of San Francisco Hillel, who said the situation reminds him of the Gulf War. “What do you do if you’re fundamentally against war yet you don’t question the state of Israel’s right to exist? We’re trying very hard to reach out to those students.”
Brysk, whose office is adjacent to San Francisco State, said Jewish students on the campus who oppose war have taken part in Hillel-sponsored blood drives and raised money for relief. But he and others worry that students on his and other campuses are lumping pro-Palestinian sentiment with other “liberal” causes.
“The anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements heard at [SFSU] anti-war rallies were not made by Palestinian groups or even people who are associated with them. That’s even more devastating,” said Brysk. “Over the last several years, [students] have absorbed the message that the Palestinian movement is a liberal cause. Unfortunately, many expressions of Palestinian nationalism, especially on the world stage, are not through democratic or liberal means. They’re through violent means.”
Adds Even-Zohar: “We want to see Jewish representation in the anti-war movement as well. We just want to make sure people aren’t using or abusing that platform for anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic statements.”
While pro-Palestinian campus groups are participating in anti-war coalitions, fears of an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim backlash have put large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations on hold.
In Berkeley, for example, an Israeli divestment conference, a funeral march to mourn Palestinians killed in the intifada, and a mock war crimes trial of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon all were canceled.
In the absence of major pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations, Jewish student groups have shifted their focus to the anti-Israel criticism coming from anti-war groups. As a result, Jewish groups may find themselves in the position of making untraditional alliances.
“We could side with people who are very patriotic on campus, the Davis College Republicans,” said Josh Horwatt, a U.C. Davis senior and member of the Jewish Student Union.
“Personally, I’ve never had anything to do with them and I’m not a Republican, but we’re looking for groups on campus we’ve never had any connections with who share our view that we have to fight terrorism,” added Horwatt, a member of U.C. Davis’ Aggies for Israel club (the former agricultural college calls its teams the Aggies).
“This is a bad time to look like you’re against America. Looking ‘pro-peace’ is much easier. That’s why [pro-Palestinian groups] are tagging their political issues onto the anti-war agenda.”
While observing that it’s certainly more difficult in these times to be identifiably Arab or Muslim, some Jewish students said it’s also difficult to be overtly Jewish.
On the U.C. Berkeley campus, a number of Jewish students have told Hillel leaders they have been verbally harassed when wearing kippot or passing out Jewish literature. And some fear physical repercussions.
On Oct. 9, to cite one example, 23-year-old Aaron Schwartz, who was participating in a Simchat Torah celebration, was beaten by a trio of men who were earlier chanting “Heil Hitler” and making Nazi salutes, witnesses claim.
Yet at SFSU, Brysk describes pro-Palestinian students as “keeping a low profile.”
In the early and mid-1990s, when anti-Israel activity was rife, some contend SFSU was the most anti-Semitic campus in the nation.
At Stanford, meanwhile, Israel Alliance President Josh Saidoff describes students as “still living in a beautiful little bubble. Stanford is as nice now as it’s ever been.”
In a positive sign at U.C. Berkeley, members of the Students for Justice in Palestine participated Oct. 18 in a predominantly Jewish protest at Sproul Plaza following Schwartz’s beating. In addition, Jewish and Muslim students have co-sponsored several other area campus peace events since Sept. 11.
At San Jose State, Jewish students and the Muslim Student Association hosted a September peace rally. And though Jews were frustrated by Muslim objections to the use of the word “terrorist” to describe the Sept. 11 attacks, the campus’ Jewish Student Union president thought the rally was a step in the right direction.
“I’ve really tried to use this as an opportunity for us to get our two ideologies together and keep the dialogue going,” said David Goodman, an SJSU senior. “Even though we disagree on the Israel situation, there’s enough we do agree on that it’s important we communicate with each other.”
The Israel Center’s Even-Zohar agrees. At a retreat he organized for more than 100 Jewish campus leaders set for this weekend, students will not only learn how to promote Israel and combat anti-Zionism but will participate in a new workshop on how to start up a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group on their campus.
“We do have more openness and willingness to engage in dialogues on campus. I think the Jewish side was open even before Sept. 11, and now even more so,” he said. “Maybe, after Sept. 11, we’ll have more partners on the other side, which we lacked before.”