Campus Anti-Semitism Made Me a Zionist // Sickened that this is happening on our campuses.
As an undergraduate at the new school, a very liberal college, I would roll my eyes whenever my dad talked about Israel and its importance. He is the son of Holocaust survivors, so it’s no wonder why he saw Israel as necessary for the survival of the Jewish people. On the other hand, I was content being a white New York City girl with Jewish heritage. When I went on a Birthright trip in 2014 (at the behest of my mom), I was incredibly skeptical, especially when our Israeli tour guide told us he identified as a Zionist. That was a loaded term I could not imagine claiming.
Now, I can.
This past fall, I started law school at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. I knew CUNY’s undergraduate institutions were a collage of leftist anti-Semitism. But I figured graduate school, especially law school, would be different. People would be older and perhaps more interested in engaging with differing points of view. I could not have been more wrong.
Maybe it was my fault for not doing enough research into this issue. If I had, I would have found out much earlier about how one of the law clinics here was in hot water for allegedly partnering with a Palestinian rights group with ties to terrorist organizations. I admit that coming here as a Jew who doesn’t hate Israel was likely a mistake — but one I didn’t discover until I was already in the brunt of it.
At the beginning of the semester, there was a fair for all the on-campus student groups. I saw SJP had a table, which many people visited. I noticed someone wearing a hoodie that in my eyes, promoted the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Israel. It featured a map of Israel with the words “Free Palestine,” and Palestinian flags. On top of being a divisive message, the design was just really ugly. I snapped a picture not thinking I caused any harm. There were no faces or identifying information in the image. I posted it to my Twitter and to r/baddesigns on Reddit.
Little did I know that my fellow students, including members of the JLSA, would look me up online, take screenshots and send my posts to the Muslim and Palestinian students at my school
https://jewishjournal.com/first-person/309725/campus-anti-semitism-made-me-a-zionist/
