The widespread campus protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza has resulted in some claims that it is driven by antisemitism and that as a result some Jewish students claim to feeling unsafe, even if they have not themselves have not been attacked verbally and physically. Some politicians have used that to demand harsh crackdowns on the protests, even though many Jewish students and faculty have allied themselves with the protestors in their condemnation of Israel’s actions that have left a massive trail of death and destruction.
The Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST), a center at the University of Chicago, has issued a report based on survey of whatis actually going on. The report is titled Understanding Campus Fears After October 7 and How to Reduce Them: A non-partisan analysis of Antisemitism and Islamophobia among College Students and American Adults based on National Surveys Fielded December 14, 2023 to January 16, 2024. Its Executive Summary says:
The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known. As a consequence of the conflict, numerous students are fearful because of their support of one side or the other:
· 56% of Jewish college students felt in personal danger
· 52% of Muslim college students felt in personal danger
· 16% of other college students felt in personal dangerThis equates to 2 to 3 million college students. The findings also show that Jewish and Muslim students report fearing for their physical safety, and other students fear being caught in the crossfire. Many are additionally concerned about academic discrimination and loss of professional opportunities.
Different perceptions of intent are likely contributing to these fears. 66% of Jewish college students understand the pro-Palestinian protest chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” to mean the expulsion and genocide of Israeli Jews, while only 14% of Muslim students understand the chant that way; of Jewish students who understand the phrase this way, 62% report feeling afraid. About 10% of college students would permit student groups to call for genocide against Jews, and 13% of college students say that when Jews are attacked, it is because they deserve it. When these same questions are asked about Muslims, we find the same percentages: 10% and 13%.
Campus fears are occurring in a national climate of increasing antisemitism: violent antisemitism has increased 13% nationally since Spring 2023, when CPOST conducted its previous probe of antisemitism.
The findings are concerning. College students of various backgrounds feel personally unsafe on college campuses, and there is a disturbing trend toward greater acceptance of violence, even calls for genocide, than befits the mission of the university to enable all students to flourish.
The CPOST report lists nine major conclusions
- Campus fears are intense and widespread after October 7. Up to one in five (12–19%) of college students report feeling in personal danger due to their support of Israel or Palestinians.
- Campus fears are a response to real danger
- Students more likely than the general public to engage in activism for Palestinians than for Israel.
- Protest chants contribute to the fear.
- A significant proportion of college students blame American Jews and American Muslims for the violence in the current war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
- Violent antisemitism among Americans is higher after October 7, and a significant minority of college students tolerates calls for genocide and violence against Jews.
- College students are less Islamophobic than the general population, but significant minorities tolerate calls for genocide and violence against Muslims.
- There are real, but modest double-standards among college students related to relative acceptance of violence against minority groups.
- Students and general population support actions on calming actions on college campuses.
One of the most frequently cited pieces of evidence that some of the protests are driven by antisemitism has been the occasional occurrence of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” that has been construed by some Jewish groups as calling for genocide against Jews. But as Richard Eskow writes, things are not that simple, since that slogan has more than one interpretation.
Most students do not use it in anything approaching a genocidal way. The CPOST study found that only 14 percent of Muslim students, or roughly one in seven, interpret that slogan “to mean the expulsion or genocide of Israeli Jews.” That figure is too high, as is the 13 percent of students who believe that violence against Muslims is sometimes justified. But it also tells us that most people who use the slogan are not calling for harm against anyone.
Does antisemitism exist among [protesters]? Since it is pervasive in this society, the answer is yes. But amplifying a comment or two from a couple of isolated individuals is a totalitarian smear tactic.
That makes sense, since the phrase can be interpreted nonviolently in at least two ways. One is that a two-state solution should include the territory ceded to Palestine in 1948, which touched both the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Another is that Israel and Palestine should become a single, democratic, non-racial and non-theocratic state, with rights and safety for all. Under that interpretation, “Palestine will be free” is no more a call to genocide than “South Africa will be free” was a call to kill whites during the anti-apartheid struggle.
The study does note that the slogan makes two-thirds of Jewish students feel unsafe. For that reason, [Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science, and Director of CPOST] recommends avoiding it.
It should go without saying that no one, whether they be a student or not, should be made to feel unsafe and a target simply because of who they are based on their identity, whether it be their religion, gender, sexuality, nationality, or ethnicity. But it is important to keep in mind exactly what the problem is and not simply react to hyped-up news reports or inflammatory remarks by self-serving politicians.
I have to wonder how many students are actually afraid and how many are weaponizing their imagined fear as a weapon to bully those they disagree with who seem to be weaker than they are.
Back in the 1990s when there was an upswelling of interest in things Pagan (including witchcraft), there was a situation that made it onto the news: at a middle school, one girl claimed another girl was putting spells on her. The other girl’s family was Pagan, but (as the girl and her mother explained) didn’t curse anyone.
I had a middle school-aged daughter and I was co-leading a Girl Scout troop, and it was obvious to me that the girl who was rolling her eyes and mewling about being “so SCARED” was really just a mean girl, bullying the other girl--as bullies do, she had just found a weak spot (the victim’s faith) to bully her. And, indeed, it worked: the victim was suspended from school and ended up being homeschooled. Faced with the “scary” non-Christian faith, the administration of the school coddled the bully and got rid of the victim.
Came here to say something that would likely have been verbose, and found Katydid had said it succintly in their first paragraph. So…. that.
Yeah, another +1 to Katydid’s comment.
Also, in neither part quoted here did that study try to specify what or who was making either of those groups of students feel afraid. Were the Jewish and Muslim students hearing actual threatening rhetoric from other groups? Or is this more a case of some people repeatedly saying things like “this group feels threatened” or “there’s a climate of fear” or “people are reporting feeling threatened?” I ask this because I keep reading about Jewish students feeling threatened and “antisemitism” on the rise everywhere, with no reference to specific incidents causing such fears.
Another example of this study potentially lying by vagueness: “…a significant minority of college students tolerates calls for genocide and violence against Jews.” First, how “significant” is that minority, and is it more “significant” than it was before 10/7? And second, what sort of “calls for genocide and violence against Jews” are they “tolerating,” exactly? Are there really calls for indiscriminate killing of Jews, or is this yet another case of criticism of Israeli policies being conflated with antisemitism and calls for genocide?
RB, you’ve missed stuff.
Yes, it did. Right at the beginning. The conflict is the cause
“The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known. As a consequence of the conflict, numerous students are fearful because of their support of one side or the other:” is hardly unclear.
That’s one of the nine conclusions. Significant to the authors of the study.
I quote from the actual study (accessed via the link in the OP):
“Violent antisemitism among Americans is higher after
October 7, and a significant minority of college students
tolerates calls for genocide and violence against Jews.
About one in ten adults (8%) – equal to 20 million Americans
– are more willing to tolerate violent attacks against
Jews today compared to spring 2023. About 10% of college
students would permit student groups calling for genocide
against Jews and find similar calls by friends and relatives
acceptable. Notably, “prejudicial antisemitism” as measured
by belief in traditional “anti-Jewish” tropes did not
show a comparable rise.”
Some clarification:
“To be clear, these fears go beyond discomfort with controversial
political ideas and include fears of personal danger among a
significant portion of the study body. These fears are highly
common among Jew and Muslim students, but 16% of non-Jewish
and non-Muslim students also feel threatened. This indicates
the wide scope of fears among college students for being
targeted whether as Jews, symbols of Israel, Muslims, symbols
of the Palestinian cause, or simply caught in the crossfire.
Widespread fears should not be taken to mean “equivalent”
fears. Feelings of personal danger are just that – personal – and
cannot be compared across individuals or groups of people.”
(ibid.)
Yes, it did. Right at the beginning. The conflict is the cause
The conflict is on the other side of the planet. Were students in the US afraid because they thought Ivanyahu and Hamas would launch military attacks in the US? Or because of specific rhetoric by other people inside the US? “The conflict is the cause” is not an answer.
…but 16% of non-Jewish and non-Muslim students also feel threatened. This indicates the wide scope of fears among college students for being targeted whether as Jews, symbols of Israel, Muslims, symbols of the Palestinian cause, or simply caught in the crossfire.
This still doesn’t specify who or what, exactly, are making them feel threatened. Based on this, it could be Jews, or Muslims, or White Christian bigoted thugs.
Violent antisemitism among Americans is higher after October 7, and a significant minority of college students tolerates calls for genocide and violence against Jews.
I already read that, and it still doesn’t answer the question of what, exactly, is being counted as “calls for genocide and violence against Jews.” I’m not saying the study’s conclusions are false — I’m only noting that both sides in this conflict (but especially the Israel lobby) have been deliberately and blatantly misrepresenting what their opponents have been saying for a very long time; so statements like the above should be considered suspect, at least until more specifics are provided — in particular, the exact wording of the questions asked in whatever polls were conducted for this project.
It must also be noted that the political party who have been pretending to care so much about Israel and their “antisemitic” critics, is the same party who are both attacking a cause that many Jews support, and loudly calling for Jews who question their stance to “have their heads examined” or get a “good talking-to.” So if Jews are feeling unsafe or threatened in the US, it’s not just the fault of pro-Palestinian activists and critics of Israeli actions — it’s also the fault of White Christian Republicans who have, at least since the Reagan years, been trying to keep Jews divided from other American ethnic groups.
Raging Bee, I can but repeat the obvious.
“The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known.”
It’s hardly obscure. That’s the what.
“The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known.”
OK, I’ve put emphasis on the what that so eludes you.
Perhaps first read the linked study and then opine about what it contains and its failings.
You know, the opposite of what you just did.
(Also, I get vibes of that game small children play called ‘but why’)
Good grief!
“The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known. As a consequence of the conflict, numerous students are fearful because of their support of one side or the other:
· 56% of Jewish college students felt in personal danger
· 52% of Muslim college students felt in personal danger
· 16% of other college students felt in personal danger”
Do you truly not get it’s not entirely about Jews??!
(It’s those who are linked to either culture/ethnicity/religion/sympathy)
For the sort of disingenuous dishonesty in question, look no further than this elected representative who called into a UK radio show annoyed that they were talking about Islamophobia.
@ ^
As opposed to the not disingenuous dishonesty. X-D
I’m quite certain the vast majority of protesters of both sides don’t actually expect any physical danger for their stance. A campaigner for one team or the other, I forget which, made a heartfelt plea to the university she attended to refrain from forcibly preventing food deliveries to the encampment. Upon very gentle questioning, it turned out the university had not done or even hinted at doing that; the idiotic interview was just an opportunity to imply that it was.
@11: look, everything they’ve been taught to believe tells them they have to be victims of something, and if that something demonstrably doesn’t exist then they’ll damn well invent it if they have to.
Do you truly not get it’s not entirely about Jews??!
Where did I say it was?
I quoted that to which I responded, Raging Bee.
The comment beneath that quotation relates to it.
sonofrojblake:
Original Sin?
—
St. Ignatius Loyola: “St. Ignatius Loyola”
Me: <snicker>
—
Anyway. Way to deny them agency, way to overgeneralise, way to patronise them.
Every single generational cohort going back to ancient times has thus been inculcated.
Every single generational cohort has had its non-conformists.
(Like me)
Considering the violent attacks on pro-Palestinian camps by the police, or in the case of UCLA by a vigilante mob while the police stood by, fear of physical danger would be completely rational from those in such camps.