From the outside, Western
faculties appear as genteel oases of wisdom and knowledge. In truth,
institutions of higher education are becoming brutal offspring of anti-Jew
hatred. Famous faculties that have been an historical cradle of European
civilization are sacrificing freedom and Israel to barbarism and obscurantism.
Even in America the gloves
are coming off. The Institute for Jewish & Community Research in San
Francisco recently published a report titled "Alone on the quad:
Understanding Jewish Student Isolation on Campus, one of the most
comprehensive surveys of its kind. More than 40% of students confirm
anti-Semitism on their campus; some 41% of students have encountered
anti-Israel remarks made in class by professors.
Florida: Pro-Palestinian
group 'evicts' Jewish students / Ynet
Some 200 Jewish students
attending Atlantic University receive fake eviction notice sent
by pro-Palestinian activists
Full story
Numbers are also telling
in Europe. While boasting large numbers of Muslim students and students from Arab
countries, European universities count very few Jewish or pro-Israeli students
among their population. Whereas 15-20% of young people matriculating in
America’s top universities are Jewish, in Europe only a few faculties
claim even a tenth of this figure.
Today, we are witnessing
the worst wave of anti-Israel hatred since April 6, 2002, when 123 academicians
signed an open letter, published in Britain’s The Guardian, calling for a
moratorium on all cultural links with Israel.
Recently, the University
of Paris VIII closed its doors for two days to avoid a harder stance
about a planned conference against the Jewish State. Elsewhere, while
septuagenarian Israeli novelist and Holocaust survivor Esther Orner has been
banned from the University of Provence, Hezbollah officials spoke at the
Sorbonne University.
Meanwhile, Rotterdam’s
Erasmus University recently hosted events in which Israel was equated
with South Africa?s apartheid regime.
'Israel absolute taboo in
Europe'
But the case of Pieter van
der Horst, the professor of Early Christian History and Judaism at Utrecht
University, is emblematic of the fear and hatred dominating Dutch
academia. The pioneering researcher wanted to argue in his valedictory lecture
that the Islamization of European anti-Semitism is one of the most frightening
developments of the past decades. However, his university’s chancellor
prevented him from doing so by censoring the lecture in advance.
“It should have been
my last lecture”, van der Horst told me. “In the Middle East of
today, the demonization of Jews has reached unprecedented levels. Jews are
accused of every evil under the sun, from cannibalism to the attacks on the
Twin Towers, to causing the tsunami, the bird flu, AIDS and so on. The
University’s committee claimed it was too dangerous to give the complete
lecture because it might trigger violent reactions from well-organized Muslim
student groups. I decided to submit an expurgated text because I did not want
to expose myself and others to potential danger.”
“I capitulated to
self censorship,” he added. “In the country of Anne Frank we accept
that today the Jews don’t walk in the streets with their religious
symbols. We accept that in Holland synagogues are protected by the police. What
will be the end of all this”?
Dozens of academicians
just signed a petition condemning Liverpool University’s
invitation to Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Alon Roth-Snir.
Meanwhile, students at Edinburgh University voted in favor of the boycott of
Israeli goods. At Queen’s University in Belfast,
Palestinian militants violently attacked Israeli attach, Solon Solomon.
Benny Morris, professor at
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was assaulted last year on a street by a
group of Muslims before a conference at the London School of Economics.
When Morris finished his lesson on Israel’s war of 1948, he was
unceremoniously bundled away through the back exit of the faculty, past the
garbage cans, out of fear for his safety if he left the building in the normal
manner.
“I felt like a Jew
in Berlin in the 20s”, a shaken Morris told me. “Israel is an
absolute taboo in Europe. At Cambridge, my class was canceled
after intimidation by Islamist groups. And I think that it will only get
worse.”
Matthias Kuntzel, a German
political scientist, was invited by Leeds University for three
days of seminars. His lecture on Hitlers Legacy: Islamic Anti-Semitism in the
Middle East? was expected to draw a large audience. But when Kuntzel arrived at
the British faculty, he was informed that his lecture had been cancelled
“on security grounds”.
Last autumn, Israeli
professor Ronen Cohen, whose sin is that of teaching at Ariel University, was
expelled from a German academic conference in Berlin (he was later reinstated
after a storm of protest.) Elsewhere, Spain’s Housing
Ministry disqualified Ariel University from participating in the international
competition on solar power because of its address in Samaria.
According to a poll
commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 62% of university
students say they do not want Jewish classmates. These numbers are as surprising as they are
worrying: the most anti-Semitic people in Spain are supposedly the most
educated.
A prominent figure in
Belgium’s Jewish community, Jacques Brotchi, just resigned from the board
of University of Brussels after denouncing grave anti-Semitic
incidents within the campus. A study published by Professor Marc Elchardus of
the Flemish University showed that 50% of Muslim students harbor anti-Semitic
sentiments.
In Italy popular
anti-Semitic websites called for the “blacklisting” of Jewish
professors. An Israeli student at the University of Turin, Amit
Peer, confessed to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Jews here are
hiding their own identity because they risk becoming a target. Israeli attach
Shai Cohen has been prevented from speaking at Pisa University
after a violent attack by students, who called him butcher. The Israeli
ambassador, Ehud Gol, fled Florence University after a similar
“protest.”
A shoe was hurled at
Israeli ambassador Benny Dagan while he was giving a lecture at the Stockholm
University and a Jewish student, Anja Savosnic, was forced to give up
Hebrew studies at the University of Oslo due to anti-Semitic attacks from
fellow students.
Harvard Professor Alan
Dershowitz was banned from Norwegian universities because of his
views on Israel. In an article titled ?Judar, ta avst?nd,? Stockholm University
Professor of Philosophy Torbj?rn T?nnsj? argued that Jews should distance
themselves from the State of Israel, or otherwise they might be subjected to
anti-Semitism.
In 1936, at the beginning
of a new wave of terrorism against the Jews, Zionist leader Berl Katznelson
wrote: “We are called upon to defend ourselves not only from the
physical marauders but also from the spiritual marauders.”
Today the new spiritual
marauders are based in Western faculties. They want to bring the war to the
home of every Jew.
It’s an academic final
solution epitomized by a sign on the walls of London University: “Peace
with Israel is a crime.”
Giulio Meotti, a
journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold
Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism
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