Students who blamed Israel
Ryna Workman, the NYU Student Bar Association president, penned a statement siding with Hamas — the very terrorists who mounted that devastating attack against Israel last week. She condemned Israel’s “violence of apartheid” against Palestinians and declared her “unwavering and absolute solidarity” with them.
Winston & Strawn, where Workman worked as a summer associate, immediately rescinded its full-time offer for her after graduation. Other student activists are facing a similar fate. Scores of Jewish CEOs are demanding the names of students who sided with Hamas, aiming to blacklist them as well.
I stood in unwavering solidarity with Black South Africans during Apartheid. Had Black militants done to White South Africans what Hamas did to Israelis, I doubt any White CEO would have dared blacklist me as these CEOs are doing to these students.
Yet, there’s no denying the analogy between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and apartheid South Africa’s treatment of Blacks. Even so, I draw the comparison advisedly. But I know no less an authority than former President Jimmy Carter drew it too. Not to mention the millions of Israelis who have done the same.
Still, I appreciate the solidarity with Israelis that motivates these CEOs. Students have every right to side with Hamas, but CEOs also have the right not to hire them.
This is what free speech and freedom of association in a democracy look like. Students at NYU, Harvard, and other American colleges are scrambling to disavow their support for Hamas. They’ve learned the corporate lesson about selling out principles for profit.
Harvard president learns a hard lesson
President Biden famously bemoaned that “silence is complicity” in light of the atrocities Hamas perpetrated. And, of course, universities are places where students should feel free to express a cacophony of opinions.
Gay promptly posted a video condemning the “barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.” But she looked like a hostage, especially when she offered a feckless defense of students who blamed Israel for those atrocities. After all, not just the names but even the faces of those students had already gone viral.
In recent years, Reverend Al Sharpton has made a public show of championing common cause with the Anti-Defamation League. They have pledged to combat antisemitism, racism, homophobia, and all other forms of discrimination.
Therefore, it must have distressed him to see Gay in this dilemma. After all, university presidents walk the ultimate tightrope, balancing donor checks and public opinion.
Again, speech might be free, but it’s not without costs. What’s more, Jews have even greater moral authority to withdraw their financial support from universities than Blacks had to call on them to divest from South Africa.
Incidentally, I’m sure Israel is even more grateful than Ukraine is for America’s military and moral support. But America can only sustain that support if Biden emulates FDR by ordering all US industries to transition from peacetime to wartime production. To say nothing of the deterrent effect that would have on bellicose enemies like Russia and China.
Beware the Jewish stereotype
No one can blame Jews for using their power to control this narrative of the unfolding cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. However, the irony cannot be lost on them that they spent centuries fighting off racist stereotypes about them masterminding global affairs.
Because here they are controlling public debate on this hot topic, so much so that they’re forcing even Harvard’s president to toe their line. It’s like a Kafkaesque twist in a story that’s already more complicated than the US tax code.
I mean, Biden is decrying silence, and these CEOs are silencing voices. Canceled Kanye would be forgiven for yelling, “Ya’ll believe me now!”
It’s complicated. Especially since NYU’s Workman and those Harvard students are saying things Israelis themselves have said for decades. But, as the proverb says, timing is everything.