When Fascism Was Trendy on Campus | Part Two
Read “When Fascism Was Trendy on Campus” | Part One here.
Israel | 7 June 2024, 10:45 am IST
1 | Litmus Test
In this era of orchestrated Jew-hatred exploding across campuses worldwide, the response given by each individual university student represents a litmus test of that individual’s virtue or lack of same.
I say each individual because it has been too damn easy for students to meld into a conformist mass — therein to seek safety in numbers, and to receive external validation from peers and profs for amplifying vile attitudes toward Jewish classmates targeted for demonizing, ostracizing, and violence.
It has also been too easy for Western university heads to echo each other’s excuses for placating and emboldening racists who are taunting and physically intimidating Jewish students while gloating over lethal gang rapes and mass abductions targeted at Israelis a world away. This callousness toward Jewish students was on full display in the disgraceful televised performances of the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on December 5th.
2 | Dear Fascist Campers
If you are a student who has participated in pro-jihad street theater, I can imagine your having preened before your dorm room mirror — perhaps even snapped a selfie in full jihadist regalia? — before your skipping class to attend the Two Minutes Hate. (That’s an allusion to 1984, by the way, which you of course will not have read. But you should! Seriously, you should.)
Having neglected to read Orwell and presumably also having skipped out on chem lab and Intro to Rhetoric, you also won’t know what the term litmus test denotes or connotes — although by herd-hating on your Jewish classmates, guess what? You’ve already taken the test and failed its every parameter measuring strength of character, motivations, and courage to withstand peer pressure.
Just to be sure we’re on the same page, here is the question that you’ve ignominiously flunked: “If you had been at university in mid 20th-century Europe when fascism was trendy, what would you have done?”
Answer: “You’re doing it right now.” You’re blocking Jews’ entrance to campus and campus buildings; creating judenrein zones (the tent encampments); taunting and threatening Jewish classmates with hate speech and blood libels; beating up the nearest Jew.
MIRROR, MIRROR
Narcissistic self-love is presumably what you see mirrored back at you in the approving eyes of peers with whom you are in lockstep — whereas when I look at you, I see people in their late teens and their twenties who are college “kids” only in the sense that you have failed to launch!
There is nothing mature in thought or action about your having joined a racist rabble whose members dress alike (costumed in de rigueur keffiyehs), speak alike (in bloodthirsty slogans), and march and chant in unison — all aspects of fascist street theater in mid 20th-century Nazi Europe and trendy again today.
You have fully dodged adulthood by joining a political sect that rewards social conformity and the cultivation of a hive mind. And this you have done during the college years when you should be daring to explore what you independently think and feel at the authentic core of self:
- Has any student among you truly individuated from a version of Mommy or Daddy if you now seek the favor of a charismatic, doctrinaire professor who is telling you what to believe and whom to hate? (Optional essay question for philosophy majors: Why should you hate any individual or nation?)
- Is any female student among you who is celebrating or contextualizing jihadist rape culture in touch with her authentic self? (I refer to Hamas’ mass gang-rapes, mutilations, and murders on October 7th and their sexual enslavement of hostages.)
- Is any LGBTQ student among you who is marching on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxy Hamas in the least in touch with his/her/their authentic self? (I refer to both regimes’ torture-executions of gays).
3 | Toddlers & Coddlers
The history is yet to be written of early 21st century Western universities’ shameful role in appeasing — and thereby emboldening — the illiberal aims of political Islam and the extreme Left.
When the time is ripe to write this history, scholars will comb through print and online journalism and social media postings to nitpick the names of university “leaders” who have caved to and negotiated with pro-jihad bullies.
Meanwhile, the images keep coming! Two images have recently caught my eye, both issuing from the University of Amsterdam. Feast your eyes on scowling Islamists who feel entitled to strut through campus armed with wooden planks. These arrogant haters radiating male aggression have “graduated” from violent rhetoric to physical violence IRL and are openly and actively on the hunt for Jewish bodies to bash.
These thugs are not wannabees; they are jihadists! In the heart of Amsterdam. In the heart of Europe. In the heart of Western civ.
PETER-PAUL AND LIZ
And meanwhile, who is grinning the sick, foolish smile of cowards fawning over aggressors and bullies and sacrificing targeted victims?
Meet Peter-Paul Verbeek, the rector of the University of Amsterdam, who has slapped an ingratiating (translation: scared shitless) rictus on his face as he negotiates with terrorists:
You know those airbrushed high school yearbook photos? I would love to see a contemporary artist publish a Class of ’24 Yearbook featuring the headshot of every single university president around the globe who has chosen to betray the least Jewish claim to on-campus personal safety and free speech in favor of protecting Israel eliminationists’ asserted “right” to hate speech, incitement, and physical violence.
A simpering Peter-Paul will appear in that yearbook under “V.” Liz Magill, flashing her foolish smirk, will appear in that yearbook under “M”:
Lucky for them that these are only headshots; you won’t see Peter-Paul and Liz and their ilk shitting their pants — or creaming their panties — while desperately coddling jihadists.
Yes, I said coddling (a version of political appeasement) by Western university heads modelling cowardice in the face of totalitarian-fascist (in this case, Islamist-fascist) mob rule.
4 | A Hybrid-Fascist Threat
Islamic Republic of Iran Spokesman Prof. Foad Izadi: “These [American students] are our people.”
Liberal democracies are apparently not yet prepared to remove their blinders or (worse) their rose-tinted glasses and look straight at the hybrid-fascist threat posed to the West — from within the West — by totalitarians spanning the political spectrum from extreme left to extreme right. These strangest of bedfellows are:
- Political Islamists, whose LARPing stormtroopers signify Iran’s — and its proxies’ (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis et al) and allies’ (Russia and China et al) — having established a subversive (fifth-column) foothold in cities and on campuses throughout the West
- “Progressive” (!) Leftists, who march beside anti-democratic, anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ Islamists while amplifying bloodthirsty Israel-eliminationist slogans
- White Supremacists, who have partnered with Islamists and extreme Leftists in a three-pronged assault on Western pluralism and democracy
5 | Unicorns & Rainbows
When they say freedom, justice, and peace, it’s Orwellian doublespeak for jihad
If I thought that any of the obnoxious little fashits peopling these protests were part of a good-faith humanitarian solution to a war in which two peoples — Israelis and Gazans — are horrifically suffering, I would be writing differently about them, with gratitude even.
But these encampments and marches, which pretend to be spontaneous and grassroots and virtue-driven whereas they are anything but, are not about humanitarianism nor are they for peace!
On this subject, please read Gazan-Palestinian peace advocate Hamza Howidy. When he says peace, he means a sustainable peace inclusive of the State of Israel — which is emphatically not the future sought by the Israel-eliminationist NGO axis orchestrating campus demonstrations. When they say freedom or justice or peace or yadda, it’s Orwellian doublespeak for jihad aka terrorist war in perpetuity.
Do any of the budding jihadists following protest organizers’ script agitating for the State of Israel’s destruction truly believe that a judenrein Near and Middle East will usher in an epoch of rainbows and unicorns? In this unstable era? Given the intergenerational, internecine bloodletting among Palestinian factions, and the Muslim world’s violent Sunni-Shia divide, and an already raging Middle East regional war, and a WWIII brewing between beleaguered liberal democracies and a proto-Caliphate (Iran) whose ayatollahs and proxies aren’t shy about declaring their imperialist-colonial designs on the entire region and the West?!?!?!?!
6 | Spontaneous My Tuchus
Sean Eren, NSJP steering-committee member, December 2023: “S.J.P. is oriented in a special way. The idea is to appeal to people who know nothing.”
A Big Lie told by the October 7th massacrist-rapists and abductors and parroted by their Western cheer squads is that Islamist terrorism, and Western protests celebrating October 7th and baying for more jihad, are a “spontaneous” response to (cue the clichés coding the smear campaign) apartheid/genocide/settler colonialism.
“Orchestrated” is this essay’s fifth word, which I have applied to encampments and marches that pretend to virtue-driven spontaneity. See Part 7 of this essay should you care to fact-check.
Is it possible that among students clamoring for the State of Israel’s obliteration, some or many are clueless simpletons who have been attracted into the encampments by their kumbaya vibe and are unaffiliated with protest co-organizers BDS, JVP, SJP, WOL, Samidoun et al? Sure — although such students’ lack of due diligence re who’s pulling their strings is nothing for a university-educated person to crow about.
At what point will any student with genuinely (not performatively) benevolent, empathic instincts understand with pure revulsion what the mobs marching across their campuses and through their city streets stand for: jihadist rape culture and the Hamas-ISIS version of political violence (intimate, sadistic, psychopathic, nihilistic).
7 | Sources
Whatever has caused today’s campus antisemitism, it was already baked in before Israel’s military response began. — Prof. Jon Haidt —
a. | CAMPUS ISRAEL-ELIMINATIONIST NGOS
NGO Networking
“The NGO Network Orchestrating Antisemitic Incitement on American Campuses.” NGO Monitor. 25 April 2024, updated 8 May 2024. <https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/ngo-network-orchestrating-antisemitic-incitement-on-american-campuses/>.
“Unmasking the Puppeteers Behind the Pro-Palestine Protests on Campus.” [Jonathan Schanzer interview.] YouTube, uploaded by Dr. Phil Primetime. 25 May 2024. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aU7DDz6s8Y>.
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)
“BDS (Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions).” NGO Monitor. 2024. <https://www.ngo-monitor.org/key-issues/bds/about/>.
“Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).” InfluenceWatch. 2024. <https://www.influencewatch.org/movement/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions/>.
Diker, Dan. “BDS Unmasked: Radical Roots, Extremist Ends.” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. 2016. <https://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Unmasking_.pdf>.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
“Jewish Voice for Peace.” ADL. 4 June 2018, updated 25 October 2023. <https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/jewish-voice-peace>.
“Jewish Voice for Peace.” InfluenceWatch. 2024. <https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/jewish-voice-for-peace>.
“Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).” NGO Monitor. 29 May 2024. <https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/jewish_voice_for_peace_jvp_/>.
Johnson, Pat604. “Performative Pacifism’s Subtext: In the Name of Peace, Kill the Jews.” Medium.com. 29 April 2024. <https://medium.com/@patjohnson_71862/performative-pacifisms-subtext-in-the-name-of-peace-kill-the-jews-ca482776897b#:~:text=This%20is%20an%20example%20of,to%20the%20ultimate%20altruistic%20values.>.
“Profile: Jewish Voice for Peace.” Anti-Defamation League (ADL). 2014. <https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/adl-report-jewish-voice-for-peace.pdf>.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
Diker, Dan and Jamie Berk. “Students For Justice in Palestine Unmasked: Terror Links, Violence, Bigotry, and Intimidation on US Campuses.” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. 15 June 2018. <https://jcpa.org/book/students-for-justice-in-palestine-unmasked/>.
“National Students for Justice in Palestine.” InfluenceWatch. 2024. <https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-students-for-justice-in-palestine/>.
“National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP): Antisemitism, Anti-Americanism, Violent Extremism and the Threat to North American Universities.” ISGAP. 2024. <https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Student_Justice_Palestine_Report.pdf>.
“Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).” NGO Monitor. 11 March 2024. <https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/students-for-justice-in-palestine-sjp/>.
Samidoun
“The Global Samidoun Network: Mapping Branches in Europe and North America.” NGO Monitor. 15 November 2022, updated 21 January 2024. <https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/global-samidoun-network/>.
“Samidoun (Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network).” InfluenceWatch. 2024.<https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/samidoun-palestinian-prisoner-solidarity-network/>.
Within Our Lifetime (WOL)
Carmona, Sergio. “Report links New York City attacks on Jews to activist group Within Our Lifetime.” JNS. 16 June 2023. <https://www.jns.org/antisemitism/assault/23/6/16/296034/>.
“Nerdeen Kiswani and Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine: What You Need to Know.” ADL. 2 March 2023, updated 26 April 2024. <https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/nerdeen-kiswani-and-within-our-lifetime-united-palestine-what-you-need-know>.
Shaked, Or. “Within Our Lifetime (WOL).” Jewish Virtual Library. 10 May 2024. <https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/within-our-lifetime-wol>.
“Within Our Lifetime.” Canary Mission. (n.d.) <https://canarymission.org/organization/Within_Our_Lifetime>.
b. | CAMPUS HOTBEDS OF HATRED (shortlist)
“Columbia University from the Classroom to Campus Politics: The Normalization of Antisemitism, Anti-Democratic Politics, Marginalization and Intimidation.” ISGAP. 2024. <https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Columbia_University_Report_2024_.pdf>.
“Cornell University’s Ten Billion Dollar Sale: Soft Power, Qatar, The Muslim Brotherhood and an Antisemitism Crisis on Campus.” ISGAP. 2024. <https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Cornell_Ten_Billion_Dollar.pdf>.
“The Soil Beneath the Encampments: How Israel and Jews Became the Focus of Hate at Harvard.” Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA). May 2024.<https://harvardjewishalumni.org/docs/Final%20HJAA%20Report.The_Soil_Beneath_the_Encampments.pdf>.
c. | FOLLOW THE MONEY
“Follow the Money: Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood Funding of Higher Education in the United States.” ISGAP. 2024. <https://isgap.org/follow-the-money/>.
“Networks of Hate: Qatari Paymasters, Soft Power and the Manipulation of Democracy.” ISGAP. 2023. <https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Networks-of-Hate_5DEC.pdf>.
“The Qatari Regime, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood: The Globalisation of Antisemitism and Anti Democracy.” ISGAP. 2023. <https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/QATAR-REGIME_HAMAS_MB_FINAL.pdf>.
Schanzer, Jonathan. “From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing.” Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 15 November 2023. <https://www.fdd.org/analysis/testimonies/2023/11/15/from-ivory-towers-to-dark-corners/>.
Sherman, Shimon. “Who is paying for the American campus protests?” JNS. 3 May 2024. <https://www.jns.org/who-is-paying-for-the-american-campus-protests/>.
d. | HATE SPEECH
These sources probe Israel-eliminationist rhetoric’s history, cognitive biases, tactics, strategies, and ultimate goal:
“Douglas Murray’s Fiery Take on Antisemitism and Global Hypocrisy.” YouTube, uploaded by DaJobnik. 2 June 2024. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5uu9JCILV8>.
Haidt, Jon. “Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus: Chapter 3 of The Coddling explains how the oppressor/victim mindset created fertile ground for hate.” After Babel. 21 December 2023. <https://www.afterbabel.com/p/antisemitism-on-campus>.
Haidt, Jon and Greg Lukianoff. “What is the oppressor/victim mindset and how did it conquer the academy? A condensed version of Chapter 3 of The Coddling of the American Mind.” After Babel. 21 December 2023. <https://www.afterbabel.com/p/victim-oppressor-mindset>.
Howidy, Hamza. “Message From a Gazan to Campus Protesters: You’re Hurting the Palestinian Cause | Opinion.” Newsweek. 26 April 2024. <https://www.newsweek.com/message-gazan-campus-protesters-youre-hurting-palestinian-cause-opinion-1894313>.
Hurt, Brett A. “In the wake of Hamas’ gruesome slaughter, the banality of evil lurks in one simple word — ‘but.’”Medium.com. 7 November 2023. <https://databrett.medium.com/in-the-wake-of-hamas-gruesome-slaughter-the-banality-of-evil-lurks-in-one-simple-word-but-6da5fe37f619>.
Lake, Eli. “Frantz Fanon, Oracle of Decolonization.” The Free Press. 1 November 2023. <https://www.thefp.com/p/frantz-fanon-decolonization-israel-hamas>.
Montefiore, Simon Sebag. “The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False.” The Atlantic. 27 October 2023. <https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/decolonization-narrative-dangerous-and-false/675799/>.
Schaletzky, Julia. “College Presidents Are Lying About Free Speech.” Tablet. 12 December 2023.<https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/college-presidents-are-lying-about-free-speech>.
Sharansky, Natan. “3D Test of Anti-Semitism: Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization.” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. 21 October 2004. <https://jcpa.org/article/3d-test-of-anti-semitism-demonization-double-standards-delegitimization/>.
Tabarovsky, Izabella. “Soviet Anti-Zionism and Contemporary Left Antisemitism.” Fathom. May 2019. <https://fathomjournal.org/soviet-anti-zionism-and-contemporary-left-antisemitism/>.
