Last month, Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers caused quite a stir when he linked anti-Semitism with the movement to get colleges in the United States to divest from companies who do business with Israel. Summers got it right, and these issues need to be addressed by examining the issue of anti-Semitism on the anti-Israel movement.
Since last year, petitions have been circulated asking universities to stop doing business with Israel. I wrote a column last year attacking one such European petition; however, that petition called for European institutions to sever ties with Israeli cultural and research institutions. Recent petitions have focused on getting American colleges to divest from companies that do business with Israel.
I believe that the majority of professors who have signed such petitions are not in fact anti-Semitic, but are firm believers in the Palestinian cause. These intellectuals are misguided, to say the very least, and haven't left their ivory towers long enough to see how the real world works.
Any attempt to label all such professors or students who support these petitions or the Palestinian cause in general as anti-Semitic is ridiculous. It is like the argument which has been used in the past for labeling whites "racists" who do not agree with certain ideas or goals advocated by some members of the African American community. But at the same time, the extreme charge of anti-Semitism or racism can be necessary in order for people to examine their own beliefs, and in Summers' case, he did the right thing.
Alan M. Dershowitz -- Harvard professor of law, famed attorney and Israeli supporter -- congratulated Summers for "telling it like it is," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education ("A surge of anti-Semitism or McCarthyism?" Oct. 4). Dershowitz then went on to make a key point on the issue of divestment and why it is so controversial. According to the Chronicle, he said, "There is no rational basis why a university would want to divest from Israel but not from Jordan or from China. Singling out the Jewish nation for this kind of de-legitimization is bigotry."
Dershowitz has hit the nail on the head. Even if one is to believe all of the Palestinian claims of atrocities, which are dubious at best, Israel would still have a human rights record that much of the world should look up to. One doubts that those in favor of divestment are really claiming that a country like China or Pakistan has a better human rights record than Israel. The divestment advocates don't ever mention the fact that Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which Arabs can actually vote. This all raises the main issue as to whether those who favor divestment are such strong supporters of the Palestinian state that they ignore facts that would discount their argument or whether they really are anti-Semitic.
Many professors bristled at Summers' speech because it could be viewed as an attack on academic freedom. Ken Nakayama, the Harvard psychology professor who created a petition demanding that Harvard divest from companies who do business with Israel, told the Chronicle that he was disturbed by the speech. He said "It is upsetting, because it is the president of the most important university in the United States, and one would hope he would have a more balanced view about the free exchange of ideas, rather than questioning the motives [of those who signed the petition] and linking them in a vague way with terrorists and anti-Semites."
Nakayama brings up a good point: Because Summers is the president of Harvard, his speech could serve to censor the academic freedom universities value so much. But this is not how Summers' speech should be viewed. Seventy-one professors at Harvard signed the divestment petition, but it is very unlikely that any one of them will be fired for this. Harvard is one of the most
-- if not the most -- prestigious university in this country, and it seems doubtful that it would hurt its reputation by firing professors for their views.
Summers' speech should instead be looked at as one by an intellectual who is rightfully concerned with the recent surge of anti-Semitism on college campuses. According to the Chronicle, recent outbreaks of anti-Semitism have occurred at San Francisco State University and Montreal's Concordia University.
Oftentimes anti-Semitic statements and actions accompany anti-Israel protests, but the two issues must be separated. Summers should be commended for his bravery in raising an important issue. Hopefully, should the time come, University President John T. Casteen III will do the same thing.
(Harris Freier's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at hfreier@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PARTING SHOT: No man is an island
By Ava MacBlane | May 16, 2024Retirement, as you can tell, has been treating me well. When people ask me now if I miss it, I laugh and tell them some things I definitely don't miss. But I don't always get to tell them about the things I really do miss.
PARTING SHOT: You never know unless you try
By Lexi Baker | May 16, 2024My time at the University was shaped by the people who showed me grace and kindness and by those who had confidence in me, even when I struggled to have it in myself.
PARTING SHOT: A love letter to Cav Daily and Connection
By Ava Proehl | May 15, 2024My time here taught me to look for the genuine, human connection in every moment.
