{"id":86707,"date":"2021-06-06T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T15:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=86707"},"modified":"2021-06-05T17:27:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T15:27:06","slug":"06-05-66","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=86707","title":{"rendered":"How Did Hamas Become the Darling of the West?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>How Did Hamas Become the Darling of the West?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Judea Pearl<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Hundreds of protesters and activists shut down part of 2nd Avenue as they gather in front of the Israeli Mission to the United Nations (U.N.) on May 18, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In February 2009, I wrote\u00a0an essay<\/a>\u00a0about a symposium at UCLA that marked the beginning of Hamas\u2019s penetration into academic circles. I also described the culture of fear that had overtaken many of my colleagues who felt it was unsafe to admit to supporting Israel. Twelve years later, in the wake of the most recent conflict between Israel and Gaza and the ensuing antisemitism carried out on our campuses and in our streets, I have revised and updated my original essay, which is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s \u201cRhinoceros\u201d?\u00a0Written in the late 1950s, the play describes the transformation of a quiet, peaceful town into anarchy when one after another of its residents is transformed into a lumbering, thick-skinned brute. Only Berenger, a stand-in for the playwright, tries to hold out against the collective rush into rhinocerism.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, the townspeople notice a stray rhinoceros rumbling down the street. No one takes a great deal of notice other than to say that it \u201cmade a lot of dust.\u2019\u2019 It\u2019s a \u201cstupid quadruped not worth talking about,\u2019\u2019 although it does trample one woman\u2019s cat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before long, an ethical debate develops over the rhino way of life versus the human way of life. \u2018\u2019Why not just leave them alone,\u2019\u2019 a friend advises Berenger. \u2018\u2019You get used to it.\u2019\u2019 The debate is quickly muted into blind acceptance of the rhino ethic, and the entire town joins the marching herd. Berenger finds himself alone, partly resisting, partly enjoying the uncontrolled sounds coming out his own throat: \u201cHonk, Honk, Honk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These sounds from Ionesco\u2019s play have echoed in my ears twice. First in 2009, when Hamas gave its premier performance at UCLA and, second, this past week, when rhinos roamed the streets of Los Angeles shouting, \u201cHonk, Honk, Honk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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THESE SOUNDS FROM IONESCO\u2019S PLAY HAVE ECHOED IN MY EARS TWICE. FIRST IN 2009, WHEN HAMAS GAVE ITS PREMIER PERFORMANCE AT UCLA AND, SECOND, THIS PAST WEEK, WHEN RHINOS ROAMED THE STREETS OF LOS ANGELES SHOUTING, \u201cHONK, HONK, HONK.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s start\u00a0in January 2009,\u00a0when an e-mail from a colleague at Indiana University queried: \u201cBeing at UCLA, you must know about this symposium\u2026pretty bad.\u201d Attached to it was Roberta Seid\u2019s report on the now infamous \u201cHuman Rights and Gaza\u201d\u00a0symposium<\/a>\u00a0held a day earlier at UCLA.<\/span><\/p>\n

To refresh readers\u2019 memory, this symposium, organized by UCLA\u2019s Center for Near East Studies (CNES), was billed as a discussion of human rights in Gaza. Instead, the director of the center, Susan Slyomovics, invited four speakers with long histories of demonizing Israel for a panel that Seid describes as a reenactment of a \u201c1920 Munich beer hall.\u201d Not only did the panelists portray Hamas as a guiltless, peace-seeking, unjustly provoked organization, but they also bashed Israel, her motives, her character, her birth and conception, and led the excited audience into chanting \u201cZionism is Nazism,\u201d \u201cF\u2014, f\u2014 Israel,\u201d in the best tradition of rhino liturgy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the primary impact of the event became evident the morning after, when unsuspecting, partially informed students woke up to read an article in the campus newspaper titled, \u201cScholars Say Attack on Gaza an Abuse of Human Rights,\u201d to which the good name of the University of California was attached, and from which the word \u201cterror\u201d and the genocidal agenda of Hamas were conspicuously absent. This mock verdict, presented as an outcome of supposedly dispassionate scholarship, is where Hamas culture scored its\u00a0first triumph\u2014the first inch of academic respectability, the first\u00a0inroad into Western minds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, when students complained to me about how abused and frightened they felt during the symposium and how concerned they were about the direction taken by the Center for Near East Studies, I felt terribly guilty. \u201cWe should have anticipated such travesties,\u201d I told myself, \u201cwe, the Jewish faculty at UCLA, should have preempted it with a true symposium on human rights, one that honestly tackles the tough moral and legal dilemmas that the Gaza situation presents to civilized society: How does society protect the human rights of a civilian population in which rocket-launching terrorists are hiding? How does one reconcile the right of a country to defend itself with the wrong of killing women and children when the former entails the latter? What is a legitimate military target?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2009, these were\u00a0new dilemmas that had not surfaced\u00a0prior to the days of rockets and missiles, and we, the Jewish faculty, ought to have pioneered their study. Instead, we allowed Hamas\u2019s sympathizers to frame the academic agenda. How can we face our students from the safety of our offices, I thought, when they deal with anti-Israel abuse on a daily basis\u2014in the cafeteria, the library and the classroom\u2014and as alarming reports of mob violence are arriving from other campuses?<\/span><\/p>\n

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HOW CAN WE FACE OUR STUDENTS FROM THE SAFETY OF OUR OFFICES, I THOUGHT, WHEN THEY DEAL WITH ANTI-ISRAEL ABUSE ON A DAILY BASIS\u2014IN THE CAFETERIA, THE LIBRARY AND THE CLASSROOM\u2014AND AS ALARMING REPORTS OF MOB VIOLENCE ARE ARRIVING FROM OTHER CAMPUSES?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Burdened with guilt, I called some colleagues but quickly realized that a few had already made the shift to a strange-sounding language, not unlike \u201cHonk, Honk.\u201d Some had entered the debate phase, arguing over the rhino way of life versus the human way of life, and the majority, while still speaking in a familiar English vocabulary, were frightened beyond anything I had seen at UCLA in the 40 years that I\u00a0had served on its faculty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Colleagues told me about lecturers whose appointments were terminated, professors whose promotion committees received \u201cincriminating\u201d letters, and about the impossibility of revealing one\u2019s pro-Israel convictions without losing grants, editorial board memberships, or invitations to panels and conferences. And all, literally all, swore me into strict secrecy. Together, we\u00a0entered the era of \u201cthe new Marranos.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Exaggeration? Jewish paranoia? Hardly. I invite skeptics to repeat the private experiment that I conducted among Jewish faculty in a reception hosted in 2008 \u00a0by the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA. I asked each of them privately: \u201cTell me, aren\u2019t you a Zionist?\u201d I then counted the number of times my conversant would look to the right, then to the left, before whispering: \u201cYes, but\u2026\u201d I am sure that anyone who repeats this experiment will be as alarmed as I was about the level of academic terror that descended on U.S. campuses, especially in the humanities and political and social sciences.\u00a0Our generation of Jewish students\u00a0are paying dearly for the failure of our academic leadership to acknowledge, assess and form a unified front to combat this academic terror.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this brings me to 2021 and to the latest war in Gaza. To the New York Times front page depicting the victims of Israel\u2019s defense operation, as if they had never heard the word \u201cHamas\u201d or read Hamas\u2019s charter.\u00a0To CNN\u2019s anchor Fareed Zakaria asserting that Israel is a military superpower, hence Hamas does not pose an existential threat to it. To NYT analyst Nicholas Kristof asserting (in an interview with Bill Maher)\u00a0that Israel, too, positions its military headquarters among civilians. To UCLA Department of Asian American Studies\u00a0stating<\/a>\u00a0(on its official University website) its \u201cSolidarity with\u00a0 Palestine\u201d and its authoritative understanding that such\u00a0\u201cviolence\u00a0and intimidation\u00a0are but the latest manifestation of seventy-three years of settler colonialism, racial apartheid, and occupation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To the Statement of\u00a0scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies\u00a0from various universities who, in the Forward,condemned \u201cthe state violence that the Israeli government and its security forces have been carrying out in Gaza.\u201d To members of If Not Now, saying Kaddish for\u00a0fallen\u00a0Hamas fighters (among other victims). And, finally, to the mob\u00a0roaming the streets of\u00a0<\/a>Los Angeles and shouting<\/a>, \u201cHonk, Honk, From the River to the Sea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back on the past 12 years, there is no question that Hamas has gained a major uplift in status and respectability. It has become, in fact,\u00a0the darling of the West. True, seasoned commentators remember to add the obligatory, \u201cWe are not condoning Hamas, of course, but\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut what?\u201d I ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t Fareed Zakaria imply that it is not the end of the world if\u00a0300,000 Israeli children continue to bleed sleeplessly for another 20 years under Hamas rockets? Didn\u2019t Nicholas Kristof imply that if those children suffer post-traumatic\u00a0scars for the rest of their lives that it is Israel\u2019s problem\u00a0because\u00a0Israel, too, positions its headquarters in civilian areas?\u00a0 Western analysts will go to any absurd lengths to fabricate symmetry between Israel and Hamas, because\u00a0symmetry is our new goddess of right and wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

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BUT LET\u2019S NOT FORGET\u00a0THAT IT ALL STARTED IN ACADEMIA, WITH A HERD OF PASSIONATE INTELLECTUALS\u00a0WHO MANAGED TO HIJACK THE NAME OF THEIR ACADEMIC INSTITUTION, WHICH\u00a0HARDLY CARED.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But let\u2019s not forget\u00a0that it all started in academia, with a herd of passionate intellectuals\u00a0who managed to hijack the name of their academic institution, which\u00a0hardly cared. Do not blame them. After all, intellectuals are trained to cheer their peers\u00a0when the marching band starts playing, and academic institutions are too slow to understand what\u00a0is being done in\u00a0their names. Sadly, as Ionesco understood so well, we are all herd-honking\u00a0organisms. Please take another look at the rhinos roaming the streets of Los Angeles,\u00a0here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and see for yourself\u00a0how hard it is to hold back and not join them with: Honk, Honk!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Judea Pearl<\/strong> is a Chancellor professor at UCLA, co-author of \u201cThe Book of Why,\u201d and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation (www.danielpearl.org), named after his son. He and his wife, Ruth, are editors of \u201cI Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl\u201d (Jewish Light, 2004), winner of the National Jewish Book Award.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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How Did Hamas Become the Darling of the West? Judea Pearl Hundreds of protesters and activists shut down part of 2nd Avenue as they gather in front of the Israeli Mission to the United Nations (U.N.) on May 18, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images) In February 2009, I wrote\u00a0an essay\u00a0about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86707"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86712,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707\/revisions\/86712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}