By Ross Beroff, editorial columnist
Next week, our campus will be hosting Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), a series of events hosted by Students For Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters across the country. It is time that this event and this group are exposed for what they truly are. SJP does not stand for justice, instead they are a hate group and a more fitting definition of the acronym would be, “Students for Jewish Persecution.”
Let’s start with the naming of IAW. The use of the word “apartheid” in conjunction with Israel is not only false, but an insult to those who actually experienced true apartheid in South Africa. Most simply stated, there is no country in the Middle East that gives Arabs or other minorities more freedom than Israel does. Arabs can own land, vote, practice their chosen religion and speak their minds.
SJP uses IAW as an attempt to delegitimize Israel as a Jewish State. They promote what they refer to as “the Palestinian narrative,” which is nothing more than an attempt to rewrite history, where true historical facts are rendered irrelevant. All I can say to that is that narratives are what you want history to be. History is what actually happened. The close to 1 million Jews who were thrown out of the neighboring Arab countries at the time of Israel’s founding that are ignored in the “Palestinian narrative.”
In their campaign of terror, instead of advising civilians to take shelter, Hamas requires Palestinian civilians to stand on rooftops to increase their casualty counts. At the same time, Hamas leaders line their pockets with funds from international aid, while redirecting other resources to the construction of terror. Yet, when Israel fights back and defends itself, SJP shares gruesome pictures from other countries such as Syria, ignoring the flagrant violations of human rights. This is done to demonize Israel.
Earlier this semester I had the displeasure of sitting through an SJP chapter meeting. During introductions, everyone went around and said their name and preferred gender pronoun. This is ironic since homosexuality is a capital offense in Gaza and much of the Middle East, while Tel Aviv is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in the world. Sharing such facts has elicited accusations of “pinkwashing” from NU SJP in the past, the irrational idea that Israel hides human rights violations (that don’t actually exist) by promoting their great record of LGBTQ rights.
SJP tries to hide their naked anti-Semitism by partnering with groups with misnomers such as Jewish Voice for Peace. Throughout history, whenever a new group arises to try and destroy the Jews, there have been members of the tribe assisting them. For months, SJP had its Facebook profile picture in support of convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh. Other chapters have held fundraisers for her.
Legitimate criticism of Israel is perfectly acceptable.
Israel is the Jewish State and Zionism is the belief in this state and the right to Jewish self-determination. When you are against the right of the only Jewish State to exist and survive and use all methods to delegitimize and demonize Israel, then you are against the Jewish people. No amount of verbal gymnastics by SJP can deny this fact. Let me be explicitly clear: anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.
It is here that I must commend Hamas. In their charter, they very clearly call for the destruction of the Jewish people. They do not shy away from what their real goals are. So I ask, when will SJP take off its mask and admit its true intentions?
