By Christopher F. Rufo and Jenin Younes — 05.03.24
We come from two sides of the political spectrum, write Christopher F. Rufo and Jenin Younes. But both of us agree that the Antisemitism Awareness Act is profoundly misguided.
When the presidents of MIT, Penn, and Harvard were brought before Congress last October, they discussed initiatives and "offices" that would protect students against antisemitism. I was already inwardly screaming. So we are adding more DEI to a problem that largely originates in DEI offices.
And no, I'm not saying that the "diverse" students are more likely to protest against Israel, though that might be true. I'm saying that the DEI offices politicize students to think about grievances, color, race, power dynamics through a Marxist lens, and victimhood.
I agree entirely with the premise of this article. What I don't get is the assertion by Jenin Younes that Palestinians have been denied self determination. Why is it that history doesn't count? Palestinians in Gaza voted for Hamas. And they have done nothing to turn Hamas out since that election (although whoever opposes Hamas in Gaza publicly is murdered) many years ago. Who danced in the streets and ululated on 9/11? Wake up! These are the same people. Israel has not dictated who rules locally. Israel has only done what was absolutely necessary to protect her citizens from the horrors of terrorism, and as we know from October 7th, not always successfully.
Are these two things actually incompatible: "We also take very different positions on Israel—one of us believes that Israel deserves America’s support in its fight against Hamas; one of us believes that the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace."
Pieces like this keep the glimmer of hope alive in me that there are still enough of us on both sides that can come together and somehow get us through these upside down times without losing the best of our country.
Any individual who actually believes such ahistorical nonsense as “the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace” simply cannot be taken seriously on any subject involving Jews, which this one certainly does. The second author has no such bizarre bias and his points can be considered.
I disagree. If we can't define something it's too easy to pretend it doesn't happen. Jew hate is like a virus that mutates over time but always comes back to the same old tropes.
The goal of identifying Jew hate isn't to have others view Jews as victims, but demands our unique history, heritage, and contributions be respected - and moreover, that Jews have a right to define our own identity.
Good intentions are paved with the destruction of innocents. I seriously hope that the Israeli war cabinet of Bibi, Benny Gantz, and the other guy, not sure, create a war campaign for the total and complete destruction of the evil of Hamas. In Rafah. Kill them all and allow allah the demon to sort it out later. This is what Isrealis, Palestinians, and their neighbors in the region need to happen. To regain balance and peace and shalom . Then, invite the Abraham Accords partners into Gaza with full powers to rebuild Gaza with peace, prosperity, and love. Make it an Islamic paradise for travel vacations. For the annual Hajj as a beach vacation as an adjunct to visit Mecca. The United Arab Emerites have one of the top airline companies in the world. Let them them bundle travel deals. Saudi Arabia knows how to build enormous projects. My father lived there in the 1980’s for ten years as a world class engineer and helped them build enormous projects there. Let Saudi Arabia rebuild Gaza from scratch. Invite the other Abraham Partners to redesign a prosperous and wealthy future for Gaza. They know what to do now. Let them rebuild Gaza. And get the Nazis from the United Nations completely out of the area. They only wish to kill people and enslave them. Think about the beauty of all that Mediterranean Sea property. Pure beachfront property. Pure gold. I have experienced the Mediterranean Sea at Herzliya Beach several times. It is lovely there. I imagine it is lovely in Gaza also. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia needs to step up now and bring peace and prosperity to this region.
What we need aren’t more laws. We just need existing laws (and the pre-existing rules and policies of the universities themselves) to be enforced. After all, any law, rule, or policy that can be contravened without consequence is not worth the paper it’s written on. And that describes Columbia and many other places lately.
What these idiot school administrators lack in bringing things back into order is not the prescriptive capacity; it’s the moral inclination.
Basically, we need to flush the toilets of woke Nazis in our colleges and universities. And replace them with actual professors who understand the Socratic method of teaching. To teach our children how to think. Not what they must think. Just as we did 50 years ago when America was actually great then.
The devil is in details. How would this proposal qualify, for example, a chant "long live global intifada"? Would it interpret global intifada as a movement to globalize killing the Jews beyond boundaries of Israel or does it fall under a definition of free speech?
In my view, there should be no "hate crimes." Whether a crime was committed should not be determined by how the accused felt about the victim. Thus, there should be no groups singled out for special protection. Once someone is convicted of a crime, the sentencing judge can consider their character, including expressed hate for certain people, but that should not be part of the crime itself, as it gets too close to punishing thought crimes.
What about incitement of violence? is it free speech or not? If somebody says "Zionists do not deserve to live" and somebody else commits the crime of physically attacking a Zionist on the way to the library upon hearing it, would the first person have any responsibility for violence?
Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing. If the TDS idiots kill him, then something far worse will happen to them.
There are about 500 million firearms and 2 trillion rounds of ammunition in civilian hands today in America today. Not counting any government agencies at local, state, and federal levels. Who actually owns , possesses, and controls them? Constitutional conservatives own many. Thugs on drugs and their ilk own or possess some. City people who vote for democrats own few or none. Perhaps they think their nazi overlords will protect them from harm. What a cruel joke that is.
Actual true Americans wish for peace and prosperity. Lunatic leftists do not. The main purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect common Americans from our own government’s overreach. Or from foreign invasion. It seems today that we have both of those things happening today in our towns and villages. Who cares about our cities now? No one. Normal Americans no longer care about cities. Or their people so much anymore. Enjoy your degenerate society now and stay in your cities. We don’t want you to to come to our communities at all anymore. And we will not visit your hell holes anymore.
Trump Derangement Syndrome also exists in large measure among his supporters who "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" when it comes to their leader, an authoritarian wannabe eager to emulate dictators like Viktor Orban.
I greatly prefer Ron DeSantis but that barn door is closed for now. I can’t stand Trump’s big mouth and constant need to demean people. I rarely listen to what he says. I only pay attention to what he actually does. And he was a very effective Potus whose policies were very good for common Americans. Until Covid. The entire country was baboozled by lies from the fake science people. I think that DARPA/CIA created the Covid virus as a biological weapon and then gave it to the Wuhan Institute of Biological Warfare in China after they were caught doing illegal gain of function research.
My understanding of hate speech was not the speech that people hate, which I assume you implied, but the one that communicates or incites hate. Which one is correct?
Either definition is correct. If "hate speech" were outlawed, then someone, probably a federal bureaucrat, would decide what speech qualified. That's the definition of censorship.
“…one of us believes that the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace.”
No. To anyone with eyes and the capacity to think, it is the Palestinians’ (and their allies’) denial of Jews’ right to self-determination in their own state that is the primary impediment to peace.
As for the article itself, I absolutely agree that rules and law should be applied equally regardless of race, religion, class, etc. Perhaps it is the cynic in me, though, that questions why any of those on the left who have gone along with DEI so far suddenly have changed their minds when we’ve started talking about Jews.
After WW1, came the Balfour Declaration of two states. Jordan and Israel. This is the 2 state solution. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a nation called Palestine. The so called fake Palestinians should move to Jordan. Problem solved. I completely understand the irony. Absolutely NOONE wants anyone from Gaza to move to their communities. Why? Because most of them are terrorists who add absolutely nothing to civilization to improve their society. They only wish for violence, hatred, and sustenance from the Nazi UN agencies. Gaza people need a spiritual revival and a new way of thinking with absolutely no Hamas in the discussion in any way. Perhaps the Ottomons should send a delegation to teach them to be more peaceful and calm. Salim…
When the presidents of MIT, Penn, and Harvard were brought before Congress last October, they discussed initiatives and "offices" that would protect students against antisemitism. I was already inwardly screaming. So we are adding more DEI to a problem that largely originates in DEI offices.
And no, I'm not saying that the "diverse" students are more likely to protest against Israel, though that might be true. I'm saying that the DEI offices politicize students to think about grievances, color, race, power dynamics through a Marxist lens, and victimhood.
I agree entirely with the premise of this article. What I don't get is the assertion by Jenin Younes that Palestinians have been denied self determination. Why is it that history doesn't count? Palestinians in Gaza voted for Hamas. And they have done nothing to turn Hamas out since that election (although whoever opposes Hamas in Gaza publicly is murdered) many years ago. Who danced in the streets and ululated on 9/11? Wake up! These are the same people. Israel has not dictated who rules locally. Israel has only done what was absolutely necessary to protect her citizens from the horrors of terrorism, and as we know from October 7th, not always successfully.
Are these two things actually incompatible: "We also take very different positions on Israel—one of us believes that Israel deserves America’s support in its fight against Hamas; one of us believes that the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace."
Pieces like this keep the glimmer of hope alive in me that there are still enough of us on both sides that can come together and somehow get us through these upside down times without losing the best of our country.
Wish I could ask the multiple members of my family, including children, that were killed by the nazis, what they think about
Jew hatred..
Any individual who actually believes such ahistorical nonsense as “the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace” simply cannot be taken seriously on any subject involving Jews, which this one certainly does. The second author has no such bizarre bias and his points can be considered.
I disagree. If we can't define something it's too easy to pretend it doesn't happen. Jew hate is like a virus that mutates over time but always comes back to the same old tropes.
The goal of identifying Jew hate isn't to have others view Jews as victims, but demands our unique history, heritage, and contributions be respected - and moreover, that Jews have a right to define our own identity.
That was an interesting perspective. Thanks!
Good intentions are paved with the destruction of innocents. I seriously hope that the Israeli war cabinet of Bibi, Benny Gantz, and the other guy, not sure, create a war campaign for the total and complete destruction of the evil of Hamas. In Rafah. Kill them all and allow allah the demon to sort it out later. This is what Isrealis, Palestinians, and their neighbors in the region need to happen. To regain balance and peace and shalom . Then, invite the Abraham Accords partners into Gaza with full powers to rebuild Gaza with peace, prosperity, and love. Make it an Islamic paradise for travel vacations. For the annual Hajj as a beach vacation as an adjunct to visit Mecca. The United Arab Emerites have one of the top airline companies in the world. Let them them bundle travel deals. Saudi Arabia knows how to build enormous projects. My father lived there in the 1980’s for ten years as a world class engineer and helped them build enormous projects there. Let Saudi Arabia rebuild Gaza from scratch. Invite the other Abraham Partners to redesign a prosperous and wealthy future for Gaza. They know what to do now. Let them rebuild Gaza. And get the Nazis from the United Nations completely out of the area. They only wish to kill people and enslave them. Think about the beauty of all that Mediterranean Sea property. Pure beachfront property. Pure gold. I have experienced the Mediterranean Sea at Herzliya Beach several times. It is lovely there. I imagine it is lovely in Gaza also. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia needs to step up now and bring peace and prosperity to this region.
Salim…
Great OP.
What we need aren’t more laws. We just need existing laws (and the pre-existing rules and policies of the universities themselves) to be enforced. After all, any law, rule, or policy that can be contravened without consequence is not worth the paper it’s written on. And that describes Columbia and many other places lately.
What these idiot school administrators lack in bringing things back into order is not the prescriptive capacity; it’s the moral inclination.
Basically, we need to flush the toilets of woke Nazis in our colleges and universities. And replace them with actual professors who understand the Socratic method of teaching. To teach our children how to think. Not what they must think. Just as we did 50 years ago when America was actually great then.
Excellent post! Well done!
The devil is in details. How would this proposal qualify, for example, a chant "long live global intifada"? Would it interpret global intifada as a movement to globalize killing the Jews beyond boundaries of Israel or does it fall under a definition of free speech?
The devil is in those chants. these people should be reformed , deported, or exterminated. They are totally toxic to our way of life.
I agree. But how should Germany have dealt with the antisemitism in its elite universities?
Our problem is not Germany . It is us.
You missed the point.
In my view, there should be no "hate crimes." Whether a crime was committed should not be determined by how the accused felt about the victim. Thus, there should be no groups singled out for special protection. Once someone is convicted of a crime, the sentencing judge can consider their character, including expressed hate for certain people, but that should not be part of the crime itself, as it gets too close to punishing thought crimes.
Feelings do not matter. Actions matter. I don’t give two squats about anyone’s “feelz” do the right thing.
What about incitement of violence? is it free speech or not? If somebody says "Zionists do not deserve to live" and somebody else commits the crime of physically attacking a Zionist on the way to the library upon hearing it, would the first person have any responsibility for violence?
Those are pure calls to violence and should be returned with violence.
Our objective is peace, shalom, salim.
If the idiots insist on violence, then they should receive their due.
No. A general statement is protected. OTOH, if the speaker said, "There's a Zionist - go get him," that would be incitement to violence.
So if I say "Donald Trump does not deserve to live" it is not hate speech?
Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing. If the TDS idiots kill him, then something far worse will happen to them.
There are about 500 million firearms and 2 trillion rounds of ammunition in civilian hands today in America today. Not counting any government agencies at local, state, and federal levels. Who actually owns , possesses, and controls them? Constitutional conservatives own many. Thugs on drugs and their ilk own or possess some. City people who vote for democrats own few or none. Perhaps they think their nazi overlords will protect them from harm. What a cruel joke that is.
Actual true Americans wish for peace and prosperity. Lunatic leftists do not. The main purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect common Americans from our own government’s overreach. Or from foreign invasion. It seems today that we have both of those things happening today in our towns and villages. Who cares about our cities now? No one. Normal Americans no longer care about cities. Or their people so much anymore. Enjoy your degenerate society now and stay in your cities. We don’t want you to to come to our communities at all anymore. And we will not visit your hell holes anymore.
Trump Derangement Syndrome also exists in large measure among his supporters who "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" when it comes to their leader, an authoritarian wannabe eager to emulate dictators like Viktor Orban.
Trump in his own words.
https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/
I greatly prefer Ron DeSantis but that barn door is closed for now. I can’t stand Trump’s big mouth and constant need to demean people. I rarely listen to what he says. I only pay attention to what he actually does. And he was a very effective Potus whose policies were very good for common Americans. Until Covid. The entire country was baboozled by lies from the fake science people. I think that DARPA/CIA created the Covid virus as a biological weapon and then gave it to the Wuhan Institute of Biological Warfare in China after they were caught doing illegal gain of function research.
It's hate speech but hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Free speech means nothing if it doesn't protect speech people hate.
My understanding of hate speech was not the speech that people hate, which I assume you implied, but the one that communicates or incites hate. Which one is correct?
Either definition is correct. If "hate speech" were outlawed, then someone, probably a federal bureaucrat, would decide what speech qualified. That's the definition of censorship.
DEI = Didn't Earn It
“…one of us believes that the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination is the primary impediment to peace.”
No. To anyone with eyes and the capacity to think, it is the Palestinians’ (and their allies’) denial of Jews’ right to self-determination in their own state that is the primary impediment to peace.
As for the article itself, I absolutely agree that rules and law should be applied equally regardless of race, religion, class, etc. Perhaps it is the cynic in me, though, that questions why any of those on the left who have gone along with DEI so far suddenly have changed their minds when we’ve started talking about Jews.
After WW1, came the Balfour Declaration of two states. Jordan and Israel. This is the 2 state solution. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a nation called Palestine. The so called fake Palestinians should move to Jordan. Problem solved. I completely understand the irony. Absolutely NOONE wants anyone from Gaza to move to their communities. Why? Because most of them are terrorists who add absolutely nothing to civilization to improve their society. They only wish for violence, hatred, and sustenance from the Nazi UN agencies. Gaza people need a spiritual revival and a new way of thinking with absolutely no Hamas in the discussion in any way. Perhaps the Ottomons should send a delegation to teach them to be more peaceful and calm. Salim…