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Hours before the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover on Monday evening, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said in a message to the school community that she was “deeply saddened” by what was happening on campus.
She said, "I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday. Faculty and staff should work remotely, when possible," and that "students who don’t live on campus should stay away."
What is "going on?"
Colleges and universities across the nation are experiencing violent protests against Israel.
What is at the heart of the protests?
Be informed, not misled.
Associated Press explains it like this:
Protests have roiled many college campuses since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. In response, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.
Keep in mind the "local health ministry" is run under the authority of the terrorist group Hamas, who represents the political leadership in Gaza.
The demonstrations on U.S. campuses have tested the line between free speech and inclusivity. They’ve also stoked friction, with some Muslim students and their allies calling for schools to condemn the Israeli assault on Gaza and some Jewish students saying they no longer feel supported or safe on campus, with antisemitic sentiment running high.
Anti-Israel protesters at Yale University tore down an American flag on Friday night as they occupied the campus in what Jewish students have called an act of intimidation against them and against the university.
The video circulated on social media on Saturday and Sunday, with kaffiyeh-clad activists whooping and cheering as they tore down the Stars and Stripes.
A mob of Yale students shout "VIVA VIVA PALESTINA" as they tear down an American flag on campus, cheering when it hits the floor.
— Sahar Tartak🇮🇱🇺🇸 (@sahar_tartak) April 21, 2024
(Oh, and university cops do nothing in response. Nor does the administration) pic.twitter.com/4aghYw1NBo
The mob at Yale was shouting "VIVA VIVA PALESTINA" as they tore down the American flag---cheering as the US flag fell to the ground engulfed in flames.
Many anti-Israel protesters also hold anti-American views and have also targeted Christian symbols.
The Jerusalem Post reported that a Jewish student had been jabbed in the eye with a flagpole and that the Yale protesters were holding signs honoring a dead Palestinian terrorist who had kidnapped and murdered an Israeli.
This demonstration is continuing to spread across the nation.
Why do people hate the Jews? And America?
He noted that the hatred isn't new -- it's old. But this current Jew-hating is different.
Halpern wrote, "The October 7 Hamas massacre and subsequent war, which should have turned a horrified world against these barbaric terrorists, instead turned into a massive Jew hatred fest."
The show of support for Hamas across the United States and Europe has exploded while support for Jews – the victims, is now low-key and, in many circles, very politically incorrect.
As Jews know all too well, Jew-hatred is not new. It’s there – often, it’s usually bubbling under the surface.
"Today," he says, "this Jew-hatred is different."
He lists several possible reasons why people hate Jews, like "they are accused of killing Jesus," etc., but adds even that reason for hating Jews is rarely heard anymore.
Halpern concludes with this:
"Post-October 7, Jew-hatred is here for the long haul. Stopping it requires a strong effort at re-education. It requires social media. It requires good people to enforce codes of conduct and laws to punish people who violate those codes. It requires accountability. The masses have forgotten that the right to freedom of speech is limited when it amounts to incitement."
"That’s why they hate us so much."
Certainly, we are living in a time of lawlessness, and the masses have indeed forgotten that the right to freedom of speech has limitations.
However, the scourge of antisemitism is rooted in something more and older than lawlessness.
Takeaway
In the late 1800s, German race theorist Wilhelm Marr coined the term “antisemitism.”
Marr believed that Jews were diluting “pure” German culture and made up the term as a way of stressing the Jews’ racial inferiority. Though other peoples also claim to be “Semites,” the term antisemitism refers solely to Jews.
The term stuck, and today, “antisemitism” is used universally to describe hatred and bigotry against Jews.
But why the hatred---the "antisemitism?"
The Jewish people received the Ten Commandments from God and embraced the tenets of ethical monotheism: concepts like the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of life, equality and justice, and many other ideals that today most people hold to be “self-evident.”
Antisemitism is a rejection of those values, or as Hitler, an infamous antisemite, once said, “Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish like circumcision.”
Antisemitism is attacking the messenger who brought the values and morals of the Ten Commandments into the world.
Yet those same values are also the solution to antisemitism.
They are the same values upon which our Founding Fathers created the United States of America.
Christianity was birthed by the coming of Jesus to a manger via a virgin mother, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a replacement for Judaism; it's the fulfillment of it. A "New Testament."
The unique mission of the Jewish people is to know those values and to teach them.
So surprisingly, Judaism teaches that antisemitism is a reminder to the Jews of what they stand for - morality and conscience.
The same can be said of the persecution of Christians.
Matthew 5:11-12:
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Bold. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.