How Civics Can Counter Antisemitism on Campus – By Pete Peterson & Jack Miller (Real Clear Education) / Jan 22, 2024
The shocking scenes of college students, faculty, and staff defending Hamas’s October 7th massacre of Israeli civilians as a “legitimate act of resistance” have rightly been called antisemitism.
Our father’s antisemitism was the centuries-old hatred of Jews just because they were Jews, different in their beliefs and customs. But this new form of antisemitism is different, and there are reasons why we’re seeing it revealed on our college campuses today. It’s an antisemitism based on an ideology of the oppressed versus the oppressors, which is also being used against people of other races and ethnicities. Because Israel is seen as strong it is viewed as the oppressor, and Hamas, because it is weaker, is seen as the oppressed.
As two Americans (one Jewish, the other Christian) who are deeply concerned about the future of our country, along with our cherished institutions of higher education, this ideological antisemitism has implications for America as a whole. The antisemitic outbursts at our nation’s colleges and universities are the canary in the coal mine, a warning sign of how this radical worldview regards America, and the West more broadly.
