All University Protests Must Stop, Period

“Holding myself to this standard, I am comfortable in saying that in each and every one of those scenarios, my view would be unchanged: The protests, all the university protests, must be stopped.”

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” – Bertrand Russell

Much of the crosstalk concerning the contemporary university protests centers on the substance of the protesters’ slogans, views, and demands. Conservatives are concerned by the protesters’ support for terrorism, anti-American invective and opposition to Israel, a longtime American ally and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Many Jews, including traditionally liberal Jews rapidly fleeing rightward due to the lack of love they are encountering among former allies, see the protests as troubling due both to many Jews’ support for Israel and also to the disturbing frequency with which plain-old anti-Semitic sentiments keep bubbling up to the surface. Many Palestinians and other Muslims, along with progressives and socialists on the Left, see the protests as a popular outcry against oppression and European colonialism.

For all the know-it-alls who claim truth is on their side, what should be obvious to anyone who cares to think a moment past the inflammatory headlines is that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated and no simplistic narrative fits the bill. Historically, the Jewish diaspora has not had an easy time of it over the centuries and was, of course, victimized by one of the worst acts of genocide in human history during World War II. Due to these happenings in Europe and the historical and Biblical links between the Jewish people and the Holy Land, many Jews migrated to—or, in the view of some, back to—Israel after the War, joining those who had initiated that immigration movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a smaller number who had been living in the region even before, including some from time immemorial, since before the days of the Ottoman Empire.