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Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute
Volume 9, Number 6 June 2017
CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM
A special report by Joshua Sharf, Fellow,
the Haym Salomon Center
Protestors lie on the ground at IsraelFEST to symbolize those killed over Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. (Photo by Jacob Schaperow. Reprinted with permissionUMDMitzpeh.com)
How Things Stand Now
What if you were a college student, and you woke up one
morning and found that a group of fellow students had
posted a fake eviction notice on your door because you
were Jewish?1,2
What if students disrupted your fundraiser for a pediatric
cardiac care non-profit, just because it was
based in Israel?3
What if someone called you a baby-
killing Jew because you were a member of
a Jewish fraternity?4
What if your speech at the home of the
Free Speech Movement had to be moved,
because Jewish students there didnt feel safe exercising
their free speech?5
All of these, and more, have happened on U.S. college
campuses in the last few years, according to the AMCHA
Initiatives Anti-Semitism Tracker.6
A few weeks ago, a Tel Aviv University report on worldwide
anti-Semitic incidents found that the biggest increase over
the last few years hadnt been in France or Sweden or
Britain, but on U.S. college campuses. In part, this was a
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Publisher, Dr. Donald W. Sweeting
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Editor, Jeff Hunt
result of increased security in those countries, which treat
the symptoms, not the disease.
The increase in incidents on U.S. campuses is real, and
worrisome. Much of it is simply anti-Semitism disguised
as anti-Zionism.
U.S. college campuses have become some of the most
hostile places in the country for Israel, Israel-supporting
students, and by extension, Jewish students. While pro-
Israel speakers are driven off campuses or prevented from
speaking altogetheroften violentlyanti-Israel speakers
are welcome. Linda Sarsour, one of the leading organizers
of the so-called Womens March, has said in an interview
that feminism is incompatible with Zionism, and has
nevertheless been invited to give the commencement
speech at the City University of New York.
An increasing number of student governments have passed
resolutions in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions movement (BDS), which seeks to economically
and culturally isolate the Jewish state. At two schools, Tufts
and Claremonts Pitzer College, the votes were specifically
scheduled on Passover in order to limit participation by the
schools Jewish students.
The BDS movement styles itself after the anti-Apartheid
movement of the 1980s that successfully targeted that
countrys harsh racial laws. In doing so, it
slanders Israel as an apartheid state, and
Anti-Semitism has promoted the idea of Israel Apartheid
Disguised As Week on college campuses worldwide,
where students engage in street theater and
Anti-Zionism other forms of anti-Israel activism.
By contrast, pro-Israel activity is often
scattered and disorganized. Organizations such as Stand
With Us are underfunded and undermanned. Campus
Hillels are more suited to providing a social and religious
life to Jewish students.
Joshua Sharf is a fellow at the Haym Salomon Center, a news and public
policy group that combats anti-Semtism and Islamic terrorism, and defends
Western values.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom,
teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776.
 College campuses are not uniformly hostile to Israel, but Orientalism, Said used cherry-picked data to assert that all
when they are engaged in the subject, that is usually the Western scholarship concerning non-western cultures was
viewpoint they take. deliberately biased. Not some, but all. A newly-radicalized
Where We Came From faculty eagerly seized on Saids work, delegitimizing work
by western scholars, and arguing that only Muslims, for
How did we get to this point, where college campuses in instance, could adequately write about Muslims. The west
arguably the most pro-Israel country on earth are hotbeds wasnt capable of acting without cultural imperialism,
of hostility to the Jewish state and increasingly hostile to and Israel was the example par excellence of that
Jewish students? What are the intellectual underpinnings imperialism. Said would later admit that Orientalism was
of this hostility? How has it been so successful in organizing an implicitly political work, whose purpose was to further
anti-Israel coalitions? the Palestinian cause.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United
At the same time, Yasser Arafat was working to align the
Kingdom, has pointed out that anti-Semitism is like a
PLO and Fatah with various other international leftist
virus, mutating around whatever defenses may be put in its
movements. He forged close ties with the North Vietnamese,
way, and attaching itself to the zeitgeist of any era.
Fidel Castro, various African liberation leaders, and both
It has been empire based (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, China and the Soviet Union. In particular, his alliance
Rome), religion based (some early and medieval Christian with the Soviets gave him the benefit of their substantial
polemic, Islamic radicalism), race based (the National propaganda machine. Arafat also worked to equate the
Socialism of the Nazi era), and now nation based (in our Palestinians cause with the anti-apartheid cause of South
allegedly post nationalist era). African blacks. These efforts would cement
The current logic is this: We must hate College Campuses, Israel as a racist, western colonial outpost
hatred, and the Holocaust is the ultimate in the minds of the political left.7
expression of hate. Israeli Jews, by Hotbeds Of Not covered by Muravchik, but detailed
oppressing the Palestinians because they Hostility To The over the years by Martin Kramer, has
are not Jewish, are the current purveyors
of hate. Therefore, if one opposes genocide Jewish State been the steady inflow of Saudi money
to universities Middle East Studies
and the Holocaustand what civilized departments.8 Dependent on their
person doesnt?one must perforce oppose Israel. benefactors, these departments have deeply politicized
This idea didnt find acceptance in academia by accident. the Middle East Studies Association9, and served as both
Its popularity is a result of a confluence of the savvy intellectual armories and organizing tools for on-campus
alliance-building, the political corruption of scholarship, anti-Israel efforts.10
and the current race-obsession of academic intellectual life, The current academic fad, intersectionality, ties all of these
in particular the notion of Intersectionality. pieces together in a coherent whole. As an academic idea,
Joshua Muravchik lays out much of the history in his intersectionality is the notion that various discriminations
Making David Into Goliath. I cant possibly do justice to dont merely coexist, they overlap and reinforce one
three chapters in three paragraphs, but without at least a another. Someone who is a member of more than one
30,000-foot view, the current terrain is incomprehensible. disadvantaged group suffers disproportionately.
I strongly encourage those interested to read Muravchiks The idea is not ludicrous. The recent movie Hidden
entire book. Figures, which shows the struggles of black women at
The corruption of scholarship begins with Edward Said, NASA in segregated Virginia, demonstrates the problem
a Cairo-born U.S. academic. In his celebrated book quite realistically. Surely black women who were trying to

CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. The authors views are not necessarily
those of CCU. Designer, Justin Jones. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W.
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Centennial Review June 2017 2

get ahead in the 1960s or 1970s faced the dual problem of
anti-black racism and sexism, and often that sexism came
from within the black community itself.
All well and good. In its practical application, however,
intersectionality amounts to a call for all oppressed
groups to stick together. The construct isnt about fairness
or opportunity; its about power, and this works decisively
to Jews disadvantage.
Mark Yudof11, president emeritus of the University of
California system, and David Bernstein12, CEO of the
Jewish Council on Public Affairs, both would like to
put together a bigger, better civil rights alliance, more
representative of recent immigrant groups. But in the
grievance culture of intersectionality, with its hostility to
the U.S. and to Israel, Yudof and Bernstein have nothing
to offer.
Some Palestinians and other anti-Israel Muslims have
been extraordinarily successful in building bridges to
other U.S. identity groups. Often, they have helped stir
racial tensions13 as part of their pursuit
of allies. Instead of other groups having
to choose between Jewish support and Blaming Israel
hostility to Israel, all too often its the For US Police
Jewish students who have to choose
between being included and abandoning Shootings
their support for Israel.
Two examples show the precarious position that Jewish
students find themselves in on campus. At the University
of Wisconsin-Madison, the student government had
considered a resolution on police violence and other issues
that included language harshly critical of Israel. In return
for the support of Jewish students, that language was
removed. Then, at the last minute, Students for Justice in
Palestine and their supporters on the Council re-inserted
language blaming Israel for U.S. police shootings. When
Jewish students complained that the previous arrangement
was being abandoned, they were verbally attacked at the
meeting for not being team players, and refusing to support
the resolutions.
The resolution passed 20-0 with two abstentions.
When push came to shove, they had no real support on
the council.
Then, in advance of this years Israel Fest at the University
of Marylanda campus that according to Hillel is 20%
Jewisha coalition of Muslim, Arab, Latino, socialist,
and union groups demanded that the festival be cancelled.
Little chance of that, but they did feel bold enough to state
that they would accept a Jewish Festival, as long as it were
shorn of any support for Israel. In other words, they literally
tried to define support for Jewish national aspiration as
being un-Jewish. Israel Fest went on unimpeded.
Where We Are Going
And so, what is to be done?
By now, readers who have made it this far may be
thoroughly discouraged. How on earth are we supposed to
combat this?
With facts, confidence, humility, wit, and vigilance, and
not always necessarily in that order.
A friend of mine used to confidently walk up to the
Apartheid Wall on his campus, and without breaking
stride, blow right through the thing, waving aside the
students manning the wall and saying, dismissively, Oh,
thats not for me, Im Jewish, leaving them helplessly slack-
jawed. Nobody can really make a student walk through
a fake checkpoint on campus, but all too many students
forget this and buy into the street theater.
To be sure, that sort of in-your-face
confrontation-not-confrontation takes a
certain personality to pull off. Most of
us will have to settle for the mundane but
indispensable effort of learning the facts
and the history knowing how to argue
them with people who are persuadable,
without being intimidated into silence.
We must be willing to ask, Why Israel, and why not X?
where X is one of dozens of countries with human rights
records orders of magnitude worse, who have contributed
little to nothing to the planets well-being.
We must also never forget that Jews are members of a group
that has succeeded in the U.S.. Couple that with Israeli
success as a nation, and the story of the Jews in the second
half of the Twentieth Century stands as a great rebuke to
intersectionalitys victimhood narrative. Theres no reason
that Jews or our friends should want us to be a part of that.
Instead, Einat Wilf, former member of the Knesset, argues
that Israels success should be seen as an intersectional
success story.14 We must remember that while the faculty
will be what it is, these students will grow up and need
to live in the real world. Many campus leftists grew up to
be Reagan Republicans. Ultimately, they may find appeals
to success to be more inspirational than identification
with failure.
Last, we must resist the temptation to overlook certain
expressions of anti-Semitism in order to focus on others.
Centennial Review June 2017 3

CENTENNIAL INSTITUTE
IS HONORED TO SHARE
THIS PIECE FROM JOSHUA
SHARF ADDRESSING THE
RISE OF ANTI-SEMITISM
ON AMERICAN COLLEGE
CAMPUSES.
Joshua Sharf is a fellow at the Haym Salomon Center, a news
and public policy group that combats anti-Semtism and
Islamic terrorism, and defends Western values. His writing for
the Salomon Center has focused on state-level opposition to
the BDS movement. He has also published op-eds about the
Charli Hebdo/Hypercache shootings, the Susan Abeles Case,
campus anti-Semitism, and other related topics, and has been
published in The Hill, JNS, Algemeiner, the Observer, and the
Washington Times.
Mr. Sharf is also a Fiscal Policy Analyst for the Independence
Institute, a Colorado free-market think tank, where he focuses on
PERA, the states public pension plans. He has also represented
the Denver Academy of Torah on the local Jewish Community
Relations Council, and has twice been his districts Republican
nominee for the State House of Representatives.
Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, he lives in Denver with his
wife Susie.
The campus is not generally a hospitable place for the Klan
or followers of Louis Farrakhan, but that is only because
strenuous efforts have been made to keep it that way.
Likewise, groups on the left must not allow anti-Semitism
to hide behind anti-Zionism.
Ultimately, Jews thrive when America is at The Israeli-
its most American. The Israeli-American
relationship, founded on a broad array of
American
common values, thrives when America is Relationship
most American. If we want to reverse the
trend of campus anti-Semitism, and prevent it from leaking
out into the country as a whole, well work to restore our
countrys foundational values. n
Centennial Review June 2017 4
Centennial Institute
Colorado Christian University
8787 W. Alameda Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80226
Return Service Requested
1
Fake housing eviction notices and Michigan irk students, Cleveland Jewish News, December 18, 2013, http://
www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/national_world/fake-housing-eviction-notices-at-michigan-irk-students/
article_64538254-6752-11e3-97a5-001a4bcf887a.html
2
Campus eviction notices are fake, but their anti-Semitism is real, experts say, Jewish News Service, June 22,
2014, http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2014/6/22/campus-eviction-notices-are-fake-but-their-anti-semitism-
is-real-experts-say
Jewish students stand in solidarity against intolerance on campus, Daily Texan, March 9, 2017,
3
http://dailytexanonline.com/2017/03/09/jewish-students-stand-in-solidarity-against-intolerance-on-campus
Ibid.
4
5
Melanie Phillips, Melanie at Berkeley, May 4, 2017, http://melaniephillips.com/melanie-at-berkeley/
http://www.amchainitiative.org/antisemitism-tracker
6
7
The Soviet-Palestinian Lie, Judith Bergman, The Gatestone Institute, October 16, 2016.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9090/soviet-union-palestinians
8
Martin Kramer, Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Easter Studies in America,
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 1, 2001
9
Middle East Studies Professors Back Antisemitic BDS Campaign, The Algemeiner,
November 15, 2016, https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/11/15/middle-east-studies-
professors-back-antisemitic-bds-campaign/
10
Western Universities: The Best Indoctrination Money Can Buy, The Gatestone
Institute, June 26, 2016, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8331/universities-
indoctrination
11
BDS and Campus Politics: A Bad Romance, Inside Higher Ed, December 14,
2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/12/14/colleges-should-commit-robust-
12
debate-about-middle-east-conflicts-essay
BDS and the Rising Danger of Intersectionality, The Forward, January 4, 2016, http://forward.com/opin-
ion/328585/bds-and-the-rising-danger-of-intersectionality/
13
For Israel boycott movement, racial tension is a feature, not a bug, Legal Insurrection, May 11, 2015, http://
legalinsurrection.com/2015/05/for-israel-boycott-movement-racial-tension-is-a-feature-not-a-bug/
14
The Intersectional Power of Zionism, The Tower, December 15, 2016, http://www.thetower.org/4304-the-
intersectional-power-of-zionism/