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Los Angeles Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Anti-Zionism is antisemitism — university leaders settle the question
For too long, the debate over antisemitism on college campuses has bogged down over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Endless ink has been spilled over the distinction (or not) between the two. Last week, in their testimony to the House Committee on Education & Workforce, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons, City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Georgetown interim President Robert M. Groves cut through all this academic hairsplitting. 'Is denying the Jewish people their rights to self-determination … antisemitism? Yes or no?' asked Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah). All three university leaders replied simply and unequivocally: 'Yes.' The right to Jewish self-determination is a textbook definition of Zionism. The clarity with which the university officials pegged anti-Zionism as antisemitic is much-needed and long overdue. For years, progressives have raised consciousness about the need to recognize and repudiate bigoted dog whistles, microaggressions and misgendering. Yet many of those same progressives have been shockingly silent when it comes to decrying the macroaggressions of antisemitism that have become increasingly commonplace at anti-Israel protests. They've insisted that the now-familiar chants — 'From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!' 'We don't want no two states! We want all of '48!'— are not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist, with some who are Jewish concurring and providing cover. Yet just as there can be 'racism without racists' — that is, racist results without racist intents — so too can there be antisemitism without antisemites. Not all anti-Zionists are antisemites, but anti-Zionism, in its most basic form — denying to the Jewish people the right to self-determination, a right recognized as inherent to countless others, including Palestinians — is itself a form of antisemitism. Moreover, because anti-Zionism singles out the Jewish state alone for elimination — among the dozens of ethnonational or ethnoreligious states in the world, including myriad Islamic ones — that, too, makes it a form of antisemitism. Declaring anti-Zionism to be antisemitic, as the university leaders did, was an important development for the dignity of Jewish students, one that echoed and amplified a federal district court's preliminary injunction last year that said UCLA could not allow anti-Israel activists to exclude 'Jewish students … because they refused to denounce their faith,' of which Zionism was a central component, from parts of the campus, as happened during protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Zionism, at its core, is a belief in Israel's right to sovereignty as a Jewish state on part of the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. That's a millennia-old article of faith for Judaism, as reflected, for example, in daily Jewish prayers, the Passover Seder and the ritual of breaking a glass at weddings. Those claiming the mantle of Zionism for far more aggressive or exclusionary aims don't change that core fact, nor do those treating Zionism as a uniquely malevolent expression of national liberation or nation-building. Recognizing anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism is an important step forward for combating the discrimination and ostracism that many Jewish students have experienced for expressing their support for Israel's right to exist in the face of those who call for its elimination. Such recognition, in turn, can help concentrate campus conflicts about Israel and Palestinians on what matters most: fruitful debate over Israel's actions (including its prosecution of the war in Gaza) rather than fruitless shouting matches over Israel's existence and neo-McCarthyite litmus tests ('Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist?'). As this happens, we would be well-served to cease and desist using the terms 'Zionism' and 'anti-Zionism,' except as historical artifacts. After all, 'Zionism' refers to the aspiration to create a nation that is now nearly 80 years old. And anti-Zionism thus perpetuates a fantasy that Israel's long-settled place among the family of nations is still open for debate. It isn't, any more than, say, the existence of Russia under Putin or the United States under Trump, however much we might deplore their policies, is open for debate. We owe the Berkeley, CUNY and Georgetown leaders a great debt of gratitude for helping to elevate the intractable campus conflicts about Israel and the Palestinians to a higher plane. Mark Brilliant is an associate professor of history and American studies at UC Berkeley.
News18
17-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Stefanik Grills Cuny Chancellor Over Swastika & Antisemitism: 'You Have Failed Jewish Students' N18G
During a House Committee on Education & Workforce hearing titled "Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology," Representative Elise Stefanik ripped Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, the Chancellor of the City University of New York, for what she said was his failed response to antisemitism on campus – including when Jewish students were forced to enter a campus building under a swastika. News18 Mobile App -
New York Post
11-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
NY lawmakers condemn CUNY chancellor after anti-Israel melee at Brooklyn College: 'Step up or step down'
A bipartisan group of nine New York City and state lawmakers is demanding Brooklyn College take swift action after a mob of anti-Israel protesters brawled with cops on campus Thursday, resulting in more than a dozen arrests. 'It is unacceptable but not surprising that almost two years after October 7th — after an investigation into CUNY and several public hearings — we are still grappling with disruptive and criminal behavior against Jewish students, encampments and masked agitators on campus,' reads a May 9 letter to Brooklyn College chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez exclusively obtained by The Post. 5 NYC councilmembers and state assemblymembers penned a scathing letter to Brooklyn College chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez after a violent fracas on campus Thursday night culminating in 14 arrests. FreedomNewsTV 5 The bipartisan letter was penned by NY councilwoman Inna Vernikov and signed by eight of her colleagues in the council and state assembly. Stephen Yang The letter was signed by Councilmembers Inna Vernikov, Farah Louis, Mercedes Narcisse, and Robert Holden, and Assemblymembers Kalman Yeger, Lester Chang, Eric Ari Brown, Jamie Williams and Alec Brook-Krasny. The chaos erupted around 4:50 p.m. Thursday after a group of agitators attempted to start a tent encampment on the Bedford Avenue campus as students were studying for finals. The protesters 'erected tents on the Brooklyn College quad in violation of college policy,' a Brooklyn College spokesperson said in a statement. 'After multiple warnings to take the tents down and disperse, members of CUNY Public Safety and NYPD removed the tents and dispersed the crowd,' he added. 5 The melee began after anti-Israel demonstrators attempted to set up a tent encampment on the Bedford Avenue campus as students were studying for finals. Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Shutterstock 'The safety of our campus community will always be paramount, and Brooklyn College respects the right to protest while also adhering to strict rules meant to ensure the safe operation of our University and prohibit individuals from impeding access to educational facilities.' The NYPD arrested at least 14 people during the fracas. However, police waited 'for hours' outside the school's gate before they were allowed on campus to disperse the rioters, the lawmakers' letter said. Judge Jonathan Lippman — a highly respected, retired state chief judge — conducted a damning 10-month probe into antisemitism at CUNY schools at Gov. Kathy Hochul's behest last year. 5 The letter was addressed to CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, whom Vernikov said to either 'step up or step down.' AFP via Getty Images Among the findings were that the state schools' own professors at times fanned the flames of campus antisemitism, and that the CUNY system needs a major overhaul to address the 'alarming' problem. The lawmakers pointed to an incident on Thursday in which faculty members 'stood in lockstep' with the anti-Israel protesters chanting 'We don't want no Zionists here,' including a staffer named Zeno Wood — who the group claims 'showed the middle finger' to a Jewish student. The school's website lists Wood as a piano technician at Brooklyn College. He did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on Sunday. Among the demands outlined in the letter is an investigation into Wood, as well as any other faculty members who took part in the protest. The pols further called for those who are alleged to have engaged in misconduct to be terminated. 5 The anti-Israel demonstration at Brooklyn College came a day after another chaotic protest at Columbia University, in which 80 people were arrested and the Ivy League school meted out dozens of suspensions. Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Shutterstock The group also requested extra security at the school's Hillel house, the college's off-campus home for Jewish life, which they say protesters targeted after cops escorted them off campus. Additionally, they said the school must 'immediately' prohibit facial coverings except for medical reasons across the CUNY system, and allow NYPD to enter campus grounds as soon as safety officers secure the buildings during unlawful disruptions. The letter requires a response no later than the end of business on Monday, May 12. Vernikov went a step beyond the letter and called on the chancellor to resign if he didn't sort out the chaos. 'There are only two ways to end the pro-terror anarchy that has infested our campuses: for the CUNY Chancellor to either step up or step down,' she told The Post Sunday. 'We are far past the time of allowing leadership at the top to play politics with the lives of Jewish students. Inaction isn't going to slide anymore.' The incident at Brooklyn College came a day after dozens of masked anti-Israel radicals stormed Columbia University's Butler library, resulting in 80 arrests. The Ivy League school handed out dozens of interim suspensions to students involved in the takeover pending further investigation. In March, Columbia agreed to adhere to a series of Trump administration demands aimed at curbing campus antisemitism, under threat of losing around $400 million in federal funds.
