Is the US higher education inherently anti-Israel? - opinion

On campuses of public universities like The City University of New York, and of “elite” private institutions such as New York University, Columbia, and Harvard, chaos abounds. Student activists, supported and incited by outsiders, occupy large swatches of these ivory towers preventing unobstructed passage, freedom of speech, and access to classes for their fellow students.

Violent actions such as looting, destruction of property and bodily harm to pro-Israel students accompany protests in support of the Palestinians. The American and Israeli flags are burned and replaced by the flag of the Palestinian people. Monuments commemorating important milestones in the history of the United States are wantonly defiled. Academic administrations are frozen and either do not respond or in some cases have begun to capitulate to student demands. Unrest in the Academy is at a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam War some 50 years ago.

In response to the protests, many faculty members have waved the flag of Academic freedom. A group of activist faculty members can be seen supporting protesting students who scream out “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

I am not impressed. These faculty members are advocates for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions and stifle dialog with Israeli and Jewish students. As a CUNY faculty member for nearly 50 years, I experienced this behavior firsthand. On my campus, I saw members of Students for Justice in Palestine refuse to shake hands or even dialog with Jewish students from Hillel. This was years before October 7. I heard a feminist lesbian professor advocate for Hamas in Gaza even though homosexuality is outlawed in this terrorist enclave and that women are subject to discrimination and unchecked brutality.

Faculty response to the Israel-Hamas war

How does one understand the anti-Zionist anti-Israel activism prevalent on college campuses? Given the violence now accompanying the student protests and their efforts to squelch civil counter protests and debates, why is the American Academy not up in arms against this behavior? To answer these critical questions, one must scrutinize the development of American higher education since World War II, particularly since the 1960s and the Vietnam War.

At about that time, a document “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities” was issued by the American Association of University Professors, the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. The statement spoke to the issue of shared governance and the balance of responsibilities between faculty and administration. Issues such as tenure, academic freedom and the roles of staff and the professorate in the university were addressed.

Without going into detail, a playing field was established for academia and rules of conduct were put in place. Most important was the issue of who would hold the power in a university setting: the Board of Governors, the faculty, the students? After this document, the faculty fought, often through faculty unions, to wield the ultimate power on key decisions at many institutions.

For many years the curriculum and pedagogy were the sole purview of the faculty. Now, in addition, faculty often demand involvement in budgeting, hiring of administrators, and the final word on reappointment and tenure decisions. Since the 1960s, the faculty has gained significant power, especially at institutions that have faculty unions. In parallel, the number of unionized colleges has increased dramatically since 2020 and the graduate students, an important cohort of the instructional staff, have voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionization.

The concept of shared governance seems quite reasonable. If carried out on a high professional level it would benefit both the faculty and the colleges. In reality, however, shared governance often leads to mediocrity, cronyism and reciprocal back scratching. Years ago, a major scandal was uncovered in the NYC police department defined as the Blue Code of Silence. Police officers would not testify against other officers who were corrupt or delinquent in their duties. This silence was shattered by Frank Serpico who almost lost his life because of his brave stand for integrity. Al Pacino portrayed him in the 1973 film Serpico.

Although different in degree and impact, in many unionized colleges there is an unwillingness of faculty to make critical evaluations of their colleagues in a public setting. At certain institutions it is rare for a faculty member hired on a full-time budget line to be denied tenure by her/his peers. This cronyism, in my view, is a significant contributor to the failure of large numbers of faculty to stand against the activist faculty and students who are driving the anti-Zionist/antisemitic campaigns now prevalent in the United States.

The delegitimization of Israel

The SJP and BDS movements, have been waging a political war against the existence of the State of Israel since their founding in the 1990s and early 2000s, respectively. In the beginning, these groups couched their anti-Israel and antisemitic activities in language that was appealing to large numbers of academics by highlighting racism and apartheid. Although Israel is a diverse multiracial country, which by law guarantees the rights of all its citizens, the BDS and SJP have hammered on these falsities. By spreading the big lie repeatedly, and with the assistance of the media, SJP and BDS leaders made inroads among young idealistic college students.

Numbers do not lie

Arab Israeli students recently represent approximately 17%, 20%, and 40%, respectively, of the student bodies of The Hebrew University, The Technion, and Haifa University. In 2023, Arab Israelis were reported to constitute some 25%, ​30%, and 60%, respectively, of the physicians, nurses, and pharmacists in Israel. There are 10 members of the current Knesset who are Arab Israelis, and an Arab party (The United Arab List) was part of the previous coalition government. Is this consistent with an apartheid, racist State? The answer is “no,” but BDS proponents repeat the lie because it gains them sympathy and support.

The real goal of BDS, however, is revealed by scrutiny of the charter that emphasizes the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. These refugees are the result of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. That war was initiated by the attack of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq on the United Nations-established nascent State of Israel. They were numbered at about 700,000 in 1948-1949. According to various sources the number of “refugees” has now swelled to six to seven million Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) specifically deals with Palestine, including the hereditary passage of refugee status over generations of descendants, including those holding other citizenships. Their return to Israel would end the existence of the Jewish state, which is the ultimate objective of the BDS movement.

Do the majority of US academics seek the demise of Israel?

Are the majority of the American faculty against a national homeland for the Jewish people? Are putatively highly intelligent and highly educated scientists, engineers, and humanists inclined to stand for terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and their Iranian sponsors rather than back a democratic nation struggling to survive? Are my colleagues really in favor of those who violate every principle of civil dialog and intercourse and call for murder of Jews and Israelis, while failing to criticize the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023?

Personally, I do not think so. However, by failing to stand up, by not criticizing their activist peers, and by not opposing radical members of those in the academy who gravitate to antiestablishment activities, Academia is losing its moral high ground.

The public concludes that the American professoriate has anti-Zionist leanings and we in the Academy are allowing a distorted picture to be broadcast from college campuses and classrooms. Most faculty members are primarily devoted to their research and teaching, and to pushing forward the frontiers of knowledge. I was a member of this cohort. Only a small percentage of the faculty gravitate to activism and political machinations.

Nevertheless, as demonstrated during the atrocities of World War II, remaining silent and not speaking out against students and faculty who spread antisemitic and anti-Zionist diatribes, is equivalent to supporting them. Academia must unshackle the bonds of intersectionality, political correctness, and the woke culture and reestablish its moral leadership before doing irreparable damage to itself and the societies it should be leading. The time to be heard is now.

The writer is a distinguished emeritus professor of biochemistry and chemistry at the City University of New York. He lives in Rehovot and has two grandsons in the IDF. The opinions in this article are his own.