For generations, college students have been encouraged to participate in civic engagement and express their views about causes they care about. Student protest is a proud democratic tradition on our campuses. Many people view it as an integral part of the college experience.
Freedom of opinion and expression are, indeed, cornerstones of human rights and pillars of free and democratic societies. Instilling constitutional values — in particular, the value of free expression — should be a core mission of any college or university.
The current anti-Israel/pro-Palestine protests on college campuses have fired up both sides of the issue – calls for a cease fire and divestment versus calls for police intervention and arrests. But at what point does free speech become hate speech?
At Cornell University, in New York, anonymous threats flooded an online message board: “If you see a Jewish ‘person’ on campus, follow them home and slit their throats,” said one.
Don’t forget the viral video recorded by Khymani James, the Columbia University student protest organizer who said, “…fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world,” adding, “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
Not to be outdone by James’s fellow Columbia protesters screaming at a group of Jewish students, “Remember the 7th of October? That will happen not one more time, not five more times…but 10,000 more times. The 7th of October is about to be every fucking day for you. You ready?”
These are just a few examples of the 843 incidents of antisemitism on college campuses that Hillel International has tracked since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023 – a 700% increase over the same time period last year.
“As a Jew, I’m scared for the first time in my life. After Oct. 7, Jewish persecution is no longer just a part of history.” Congressman Dan Goldman
To be clear, criticism of Israel is not antisemitic. However, when anti-Zionists call for the end of the Jewish state, when Jews are verbally or physically harassed and threatened, that is no longer criticism of Israeli policy. That is antisemitism.
While these comments and others like them have ignited vehement debates about whether they are protected under the First Amendment, most agree that they are alarming and dangerous.
Freedom of speech is fundamental, but it is not absolute. Public universities are bound by the First Amendment, but all students have the right to a learning environment that is physically and psychologically safe.
Threatening the lives of Jews with vitriol that echoes the rhetoric of terrorist and Nazi ideology, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, far exceeds First Amendment protection. Yet, under the guise of “free speech,” these protests have become fertile ground for extremists to propagate hate.
This devastating conflict – the death, destruction, and humanitarian crisis – should compel us all to speak out. But before we praise these protesters for their civic engagement, we should have a clear picture of the hateful rhetoric that is being defended as “free speech” and stoking violence.
- Pamphlets declaring “Death to America” were shared at a growing anti-Israel encampment at the University of Michigan this week.
- At the University of Maryland, the words “Holocaust 2.0” were chalked onto campus sidewalks.
- One Jewish Columbia University student was repeatedly kicked in the stomach as protesters told her to “kill yourself.”
- US-designated terror group flags and flyers are popping up at protests from California State Polytechnic to Princeton.
- Students at the University of Pennsylvania gathered chanting ‘We want Jewish genocide’ and ‘there is only 1 solution’ in reference to the Nazis ‘final solution’.
Many protesters will tell you they are not extremists. They are simply advocating for human rights. But the most common refrains at these events are frighteningly reminiscent of the Nazi worldview. Calling for people around the world to “rise up” against Jews (“Globalize the Intifada”), justifying the kidnapping, torture, and murder of innocent people (“by any means necessary”), and clamoring for the eradication of Israel (“From the river to the sea”) is the antithesis of advocating for human rights.
“There is only one solution, intifada revolution!” is the ideology of Hitler. There is a reason Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups are showing up in growing numbers across the country. It’s not because they care about the Palestinians, but because the hatred of Jews is their unifying animus. This is a golden opportunity for them to foment extremist views and violence.
Historically, Jews have been accused of being alarmists. Today, the threats they face are nothing less than alarming. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism recorded more antisemitic acts in the first three months after October 7 than normally seen in an entire year. As the violence on our campuses escalates, a direct manifestation of “freedom of speech,” so does the permeation of the hate and antisemitism.
There has possibly never been a more dangerous time to be Jewish in America.
We all want a cease fire. We all hope the hostages are released and the suffering stops – for both Israelis and Palestinians. But hope is not the message at these protests. Hate is the message.
When fomenting hate and the violence it breeds is inculcated as a “right,” it should alarm us all.
This situation is not something the Jewish people deserve, Nor is it a situation that the Israeli people brought upon themselves. I believe that Netanyaho is a fanatic who does not have the support of the Israeli people. I believe much of the media, world-wide, have decided that what Israel is doing is an atrocity (which it is not) and are feeding that to people all over the world, especially the young and more impressionable, and they are out there in numbers protesting and threatening Jews around the world. The sad thing is that people are generally sheep. They get all fired up by media and do unspeakable things in their abject ignorance. I believe Joe Biden understands what’s going on which is why his support for Israel is still strong. People have so much anti-semitic media coming at them that they now are being controlled by it, without even trying to get a fair and balanced picture of what is happening, because that would be too much like work. I have been sympathetic to Israel all of my adult life. They are a small but amazing country surrounded by people who hate them and they have created a dynamic Jewish homeland all the same. The trouble is that there is too much ignorance and intellectual laziness in the world. I’m not sure how you fight that, because you’re up against a huge machine that is the greedy, power seeking media who love a good war because that puts bums in seats watching what amounts to war mongering propaganda and tampon commercials every night.
I appreciate the well thought out writing. As a soldier’s mom, free speech is not free. Hate speech is very different from free speech and must not be tolerated. Timing is everything. If America is not careful, the White House may be turned over to an administration that thrives in a place of hate, intolerance, and bigotry.
Thank you, Melissa, for your thoughtful essay.
When I was in college, I participated in the anti-Vietnam War protests on campus and in the march on Washington. It was clear that the participants came for various reasons: some were protesting what they saw as U.S. imperialism/neocolonialism; some were using the protest to promote Communism; and some were protesting what they saw as industrial war profiteers in the U.S.; some hated President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Robert McNamara and had a profound distrust of U.S. leadership; many were outside agitators. Some participants, quite honestly, were just curious.
I suspect it is the same today. There are at least two major differences, though.
(1) Many of today’s protesters are ill-informed. They are largely ignorant of the region’s history, and many get only sound-bite news from social media filled with images of destruction and death.
(2) The anti-semitic rhetoric that you write about, Melissa, is inflamed/licensed by some in government. As reported in the New York Times just this morning, the House passed a bill and forwarded it to the Senate that would crack down on anti-semitic speech on college campuses. Sponsored by Republicans, the bill is also intended to divide Democrats. As the Times reported:
“But in trying to use the issue as a political cudgel against the left, Republicans also called attention to a rift on the right. Some G.O.P. members said they firmly believe that Jews killed Jesus Christ, and argued that the bill — which includes such claims in its definition of antisemitism — would outlaw parts of the Bible.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said she opposed the bill because it “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews. Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, argued that “the Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of the bill,” and included a line from the New Testament about the crucifixion of Jesus. “The Bible is clear,” he added. “There is no myth or controversy about this.””
Sentiments from Greene and Gaetz are published on social media and quickly go viral, further inflaming hate/anti-semitism.
To me, the larger issue is our nation’s historical tolerance of intolerance. In an upcoming episode of my podcast, I interview a principal of a non-profit that helps schools teach about anti-semitism, racism, anti-LGBTQT, colonialism of Native Americans, and anti-immigration. The challenge, he said, is that school leaders often come to them with a single issue. For some reason, he said, they don’t see the connection among these issues.