I do not know Dov Waxman, professor of Israel Research at UCLA, besides by status. And his status is of being ideologically on the left, hostile to Israel and sympathetic to the Palestinian trigger, and as somebody who downplays the prevalence of antisemitism amongst “antizionists.”
Subsequently, I discovered a latest tweet of his explaining why he will not help the “encampment” at UCLA of particular curiosity:
I can’t be a part of this protest as a result of it isn’t only a protest towards the battle in Gaza. Among the many calls for of the protest organizers is the demand to “sever all UC-wide connections to Israeli universities, together with examine overseas applications, fellowships, seminars, and analysis collaborations, and UCLA’s Nazarian Heart.” Evidently, I oppose the demand to boycott the Nazarian Heart, which I direct. The Heart is dedicated to the tutorial examine of Israel and has no ties to the Israeli authorities. I additionally oppose boycotting Israeli educational establishments and educational boycotts normally.
Nevertheless it is not solely the calls for of the [UCLA] protest organizers that I’ve an issue with. One of many organizations behind the protest, College students for Justice in Palestine, has expressed help for Hamas and has even celebrated the bloodbath of Israelis on October 7. [David notes: This is true of both the national organization and individual campus SJPs.] Being in solidarity with Palestinians doesn’t necessitate supporting Hamas. Quite the opposite, Hamas oppresses Palestinians and has no concern for the lives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They’ve overtly said that they’re keen to sacrifice numerous Palestinian lives—”martyrs”—for his or her trigger, which is the final word eradication of Israel. They’ve spent billions constructing an unlimited underground community to guard themselves and their weaponry, however they have not constructed a single bomb shelter for Gazan civilians or sheltered them of their tunnels. They’re prolonging the devastating battle in Gaza, and the humanitarian disaster there, so as to preserve their energy and authoritarian rule in Gaza.
I do know that many individuals within the pro-Palestinian motion do not help Hamas and do not reward the October 7 bloodbath, however teams like SJP lead the motion on many school campuses, exploiting the sympathy that many college students rightly really feel for the struggling of Palestinians. College students and college demonstrating in help of Palestinians should not ignore the truth that the organizers of those demonstrations are, in lots of instances, ideologically dedicated to eradicating Israel and expelling Israeli Jews, supportive of violence towards Israeli civilians, and keen to disregard and even justify Hamas’ technique of sacrificing Palestinian civilians for his or her political ends.
I’d add two factors to Waxman’s submit. First, SJP is the main group behind the protests on the overwhelming majority of campuses. SJP, as Waxman famous, is pro-Hamas. This makes the protests successfully pro-Hamas, similar to a protest organized by the KKK towards affirmative motion can be racist, whatever the intent of particular person protesters. And two of the opposite most important teams concerned in organizing the protests, Inside our Lifetimes and (the wildly misnamed) Jewish Voice for Peace are additionally pro-Hamas. If pupil protestors do not wish to their reputations to be dirty with the inference that they’re at the very least detached to if not supportive of Hamas’s genocidal goals and conduct, they need to type protest organizations that disclaim help for Hamas. In any other case, they’re in “there are some very fantastic individuals on the protests” territory.
Second, as I famous repeatedly on X, whereas there are actually pro-Palestinian people, there isn’t a pro-Palestinian motion. There’s a hate Israel motion that brings collectively individuals of assorted ideologies who hate Israel for various causes–Palestininan nationalism, pan-Arab nationalism, radical Islamism, anti-colonialism, antisemitism, amongst others–and that facilitates solidarity amongst teams which may in any other case be at one another’s throats, like radical Islamists and radical secular leftists, amongst many different unusual bedfellows. The Palestinians are a prop for this Israel-hatred. When “the motion” has the selection between supporting one thing that might profit each Israelis and Palestinians, or one thing that might hurt each, it is going to all the time select the latter. Professional-Palestinian people have had a golden alternative since Oct. 7 to type organizations that help Palestinian rights however explicitly reject Hamas and the violent destruction of Israel. However they to this point have not taken it.