Rabbi's Blog

You may be aware that there is an anti-Israel bias on some college campuses in the U.S. and elsewhere.  There are some well-funded groups that agitate against the Jewish State, sponsoring events such as “Israel Apartheid Week.”  Such activities often make pro-Israel students, especially Jewish students, feel uncomfortable or even threatened.  I offer here two pieces from the plethora of material that is available that address this phenomenon.

The first is a letter by Dr. Denis MacEoin, a (non-Jewish) professor, to the motion put forward by The Edinburgh Student's Association to boycott all things Israeli, in which they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime. Dr. MacEoin is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly. While Dr. MacEoin’s response appeared last April, it is still quite pertinent.  My thanks to Jonathan Rappaport for bringing it to my attention.

The second is an article by Seffi Kogen, the assistant director for campus affairs of the American Jewish Committee.  While we have heard much about the “alt-right,” Kogen describes the extreme anti-Israel views of what he calls the “alt-left.” Kogen argues that “alt-left” views thrive on the college campus, and cites a few of the repugnant anti-Israel attitudes that have been expressed by certain faculty members.  “The political spectrum,” he argues,  “bends at the ends. The alt-left, with its skewed moral values, resembles nothing more than the alt-right.”