Against the background of the demonstrations against Israel at universities in the United States, my visit to Columbia University in New York was designed to debate publicly with Rashid Khalidi, perhaps the world's most important historian of Palestinian history. The intention was to bring me, as a historian who can criticize the Israeli government and believe in the right of the Jews to a state as well, together with a Palestinian historian who sees Zionism as a distinct project of settler colonialism, but is open to listening to other perspectives. Right at the beginning of the war, he claimed that, from a historical perspective, the IDF's request that Gazans move from the north to the south should be understood as preparation for the continuation of the Nakba of 1948, not as an attempt to protect them. I intended to ask how Israel can be accused of both the blockade that prevents the Gazans from leaving and the plot to deport them and why, as a close associate of the former PLO, he does not reject, for the benefit of the Gazans themselves, the rule of Hamas.
Finally, due to schedule constraints, Khalidi was absent, and it was decided that I would speak with the Dean of Humanities, Prof. Bruno Bosteels, in the presence of students and lecturers. Before I arrived, Prof. Rebecca Kobrin, head of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, told me that in all her 18 years at the university, she had never experienced anything like this. She suggested I wander the campus alongside Julie Feldman, her deputy, who also seemed upset. And indeed, the cliché "hostile atmosphere" has never felt more true to me.
In the center of the campus, one of the most beautiful places in the city these days, about a hundred protesters gathered, including the daughter of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, some of them with masks that have become a political statement here. The chorus was conducted by a student who claimed to be originally from the West Bank. The rallying cry was "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." What is interesting about the rest of the chants lies in the connection they created between Israel and a host of injustices from the world—for example, the treatment of Black Americans and the wall that Trump began to build on the Mexican border. They promised to demolish it, just as they would demolish the border that had already been breached on October 7.
About 20 Jewish students stood in front of them. In terms of the students’ fashion, which also has weight in conflicts, it was clear who represented the geek and who the dominant voice. Doubtless amazed, doubtless frightened, the Jews were debating: to respond or to face them in resounding silence. A Palestinian student approached and shouted: "What are you afraid of? Our existence? We stand for truth and justice, and no one will stop us. I say to the Jews: whoever wants to fight anti-Semitism should join us. If you don't listen to our demand—no one will be well off. Why do you oppose a ceasefire ?"
The call for a ceasefire is a focal point in the debate. Both the Dean of Humanities and the comedian John Oliver, who tried to be balanced in his show this week, claimed that this position should be acceptable to any decent person. Indeed, it is difficult to seem fair when you want to fight hard. It's just not clear if the demand for an unconditional cessation of hostilities is based on naïve ignorance or if those proposing it are aware that a complete ceasefire means, in the current case, the continuation of Hamas rule. That evening, I heard about students who stopped coming to classes and a student who was beaten in the dorms for hanging a mezuzah outside their room.
At the end of the discussion, a professor of psychology in the crowd asked if the dean would approve of proclaiming "From the river to the sea," even if it were invoked by white people to mean that Black people have no right to self-determination in the region. At this point, the dean, who claimed that the original intention of the phrase was to demand freedom and justice for all, began to hesitate. The next day, the university announced a ban on these types of demonstrations on campus. The Jewish students felt a particular sense of victory, but the story has already gained traction beyond the borders of the university. Kobrin sadly concluded, based precisely on her research concerning Jewish narratives and Jewish immigration in the previous two centuries, "I fear that we are at a crucial point in Jewish history: Israelis must wrestle with their trauma, and we with the consequences of an unmistakable anti-Semitic outbreak, on campuses and across the United States."
Avi Shilon has taught with the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University and the Taub Center for Israel Studies at New York University. He also has been a postdoctoral fellow at The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and at Tsinghua University, China. He has published the books The Decline of the Left-Wing in Israel: Yossi Beilin and the Politics of the Peace Process (2020), Ben-Gurion: His Later Years in the Political Wilderness (2016) and Menachem Begin: A Life (2012) as well as articles in Middle Eastern Studies, The Jewish Quarterly Review, and Middle East Journal. Dr. Shilon also writes for the Ha’aretz newspaper. He received his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University, Israel in 2015.
