Jewish students at Columbia University penned an open letter this week defending Israel in the wake of intense pro-Palestinian protests on campus that delivered waves of antisemitism.
As Breitbart News reported last week, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) mobilized against an encampment of anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University who had taken control of a building before demanding that the school provide them with meals.
“The New York Police Department (NYPD) reportedly began a raid on Columbia University hours after the university restricted access to its campus,” noted the report.
RELATED: NYPD Clears Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall of Anti-Israel Occupiers
“Columbia University informed students to ‘shelter in place’ hours after the university had restricted access to its campus in the aftermath of anti-Israel protesters seizing control of Hamilton Hall, an academic building, in the early hours of Tuesday morning,” it added.
Viral video captured the moment that police stormed in with riot gear.
In the open letter released on Wednesday, Jewish students, many of whom signed their name, declared themselves “proud of Israel” while defending Zionism.
“Most of us did not choose to be political activists. We do not bang on drums and chant catchy slogans. We are average students, just trying to make it through finals much like the rest of you. Those who demonize us under the cloak of anti-Zionism forced us into our activism and forced us to publicly defend our Jewish identities,” the letter said.
After defending the concept of Zionism and “the Jewish People’s right to self-determination,” the letter then when on to explain Judaism’s link to Israel and its being a haven against anti-Semitism. On the issue of anti-Semitism, the letter notes that Jewish people often get put into a corner wherein they are guilty for every societal ill regardless.
In every generation, the Jewish People are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time. In Iran and in the Arab world, we were ethnically cleansed for our presumed ties to the ‘Zionist entity.’ In Russia, we endured state-sponsored violence and were ultimately massacred for being capitalists. In Europe, we were the victims of genocide because we were communists and not European enough. And today, we face the accusation of being too European, painted as society’s worst evils – colonizers and oppressors. We are targeted for our belief that Israel, our ancestral and religious homeland, has a right to exist. We are targeted by those who misuse the word Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We know all too well that antisemitism is shapeshifting.
The letter not only celebrated Israel’s defense of Jewish people but also it being a democracy in the Middle-East that also serves as home to Muslims and Christians. It concluded with a call for peace and understanding.
“We came to Columbia because we wanted to expand our minds and engage in complex conversations. While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides,” it wrote.
“Our tradition tells us, ‘Love peace and pursue peace.’ We hope you will join us in earnestly pursuing peace, truth, and empathy. Together we can repair our campus,” it concluded.
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