I'M WITH THE STUDENTS

 

Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, I’ve been flummoxed about what to think about the Gaza War. And, most recently, about growing campus protests. But after Israel has killed 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, it’s gotten too much to ignore.

I called a Jewish friend yesterday, and asked how he felt about the student demonstrations over the Gaza War. “I’m completely with the students,” Rick replied immediately.

I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. Before he could continue, I interrupted and asked him to repeat it. After all, Rick is serious about his cultural identity; his personal heritage includes Zionism.

As he expounded to me his criticism of Israel’s handling of the war, using words like “genocide” and “mass starvation,” I felt a surprising surge of relief. You’re not crazy, Wayne, I told myself. Until that moment, I had been afraid to admit what I knew to be simple truth: What Israel is doing is wrong; what the protesters are doing is right.

As a news junkie, I’ve listened to the criticisms of the students and college presidents. At first, I was sympathetic with broadsides that the universities were waffling about anti-Semitism on campuses. Yet, the more closely I watched, the more familiar the protests felt. These were the same kind of naïve, anti-war chants I’d shared during the Vietnam War protests of the Sixties. (Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?) Like today’s pro-Palestine students and Arab-American protesters, we didn’t understand the complexities of international politics. We were told we didn’t respect the threat – then of Communism, now of Hamas. It’s not that we were stupid; we were young. The mainstream media and most of the public saw us as hippie freaks, Commie peaceniks; now, all protesters are simplistically branded as anti-Semites.

The most important lesson from those long-ago anti-war protests: we were right. Eventually, Walter Cronkite agreed. LBJ agreed. The public agreed. And finally, that awful war ended.

Today, like then, the future for peace appears hopeless. Unspeakable humanitarian horrors are being rained down on Palestinians, not just by Israel’s military, but by supporters of Jewish apartheid, particularly on the West Bank. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu, is revving up his war machine to attack Rafah, in southern Gaza, where 1.5 million Palestinians are cowering and starving. He has no credible plan to protect civilians, says the U.S. Maybe Netanyahu’s pulling a bluff on the world to further his own agenda; we’ll see.

As another Jewish friend, Peter, explained to me in rational detail about Gaza and the student protests, it’s complicated. It is certainly that, and I don’t claim to know answers to the centuries-old hatreds and religious bigotries in the Middle East. Palestinian extremists are evil. Hamas’ October 7 atrocities, killing 1,269 and kidnaping 240 hostages, was evil.

But Israel’s response: 35,000 dead, 78,000 wounded, thousands of Arab families destroyed, hospitals and water supplies bombed, incalculable agonies of Palestinian innocents, and no end in sight. Where does that fit with the humanistic values of Judaism? It’s insane.

As the student protests continue and the mountain of civilian casualties in Gaza grows, I’ll try to keep an open mind and learn more. I know I can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be Jewish in this world where anti-Semitism is rife. (Hell, my paternity is German – fortunately, they were Mennonite pacifists so my genetic guilt is minimal. But still…)

Meanwhile, protests and crackdowns on demonstrations promise to get more violent. Texas’ governor (and others) is ready to send in the National Guard. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe that’s because he was only twelve years old during the Kent State University shootings of student protesters by the Ohio National Guard back in 1970. Or maybe it’s because, like a lot of the self-righteous Republican critics of the protests, he’s just a fascistic asshole.

There are rational solutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict (see “Israel: The Way Out,” by David Shulman, The New York Review, May 9, 2024). Shulman (Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University of Jerusalem), though not optimistic for early peace, explains that the only way for Israel to survive as a state in coming decades “…is for Israel to make a decent peace with those who share the land with us.”

Those crazy campus protesters may not know everything, and their tactics may be naïve, even counter-productive in the short-term. But the immediate need for peace in Gaza is one thing they do understand. I’m with the students.

# # #