(Jewish Group) A Texas-Size Conspiracy Theory [View all]

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

As members of the Hillel Student Board, we keep an eye on campus relations and how they affect Jewish students at The University of Texas at Austin. In recent years, Student Government (SG) elections have become flashpoints for airing issues unrelated to student government, such as current national politics. In last year’s campaign, for example, Jewish students who were running for student body president and vice president were victims of anti-Semitic flyers and hate speech. Texas Hillel, the largest Jewish student organization on campus, often takes the brunt of conspiracy theories. The organization is sometimes accused of “running Student Government from the shadows,” or as happened in this year’s election, of “propping up” Zionist, non-Jewish candidates to run.

In this year’s election, which ran from February to March, the two front-running tickets had two weeks to campaign before an online election period of 48 hours. One ticket consisted of two women of color; the other consisted of a white male and a Muslim female. The all-female ticket aimed to help students who feel “ignored, tokenized, overlooked, exploited, or like this campus was not built for [them].” Employing inclusive rhetoric, these women made it clear that each student deserved to be represented, in theory.

As the election played out, a current SG representative and member of the women’s campaign team tweeted derogatory remarks. They included the phrases “F*** Israel and f*** the Zionists on this campus.” The campaign’s Twitter account favorited a tweet expressing being “tired of white Zionist men in power.” Additionally, one of the female candidates retweeted, in 2017, “imagine a world without Israel and the colonial ideology of Zionism.”

While many of the tweets surrounding this year’s election only mentioned Zionists, they contained anti-Semitic undertones of powerful Jews monopolizing power. When Jewish students voiced concerns over these campaign tactics, they were told by non-Jews that this was in no way anti-Semitism. Jewish organizations and students had our experiences as Jews invalidated; Judaism was equated to Zionism, and Zionism was equated to racism. Much of these mental gymnastics was done by members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), which publicly campaigned for the all-woman ticket. During a protest, committee members who began handing out flyers that listed their definitions of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism side by side and claimed their activity only fit the former. They verbally harassed Jewish students who tried to engage them in conversation. Protesters actually claimed that the “Zionist Establishment” was trying to silence this Student Government campaign.

more...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even when we aren't involved, it is still our fault?! WTF?!

This, however, is one of the best lines in the piece, and should be thrown in the face of anyone touting the mantra of "intersectionality";

Anti-Semitism takes different forms than any other prejudice, and even for white-passing Jews, privilege in one context does not invalidate marginalization in another. People should not have their oppression explained to them.