For weeks, we have been hearing about the terrible riots on university campuses in the US. Students, fueled by an irrational hatred of Israel, are accusing Israel of genocide against the Arabs of Gaza, while they themselves call for the genocide of the Jews of Israel. The infamous slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free”, is a direct call for the removal of all Jews from any part of the Land of Israel.
Not content with aiming their slogans and statements at the Jews of Israel, many Jewish and Israeli students have been attacked both verbally and physically. Shai Davidai, a professor at the Columbia University Business School, warned Jewish and Israeli students that they were not safe, that the administration that he works for was not protecting them. The rabbi of the campus issued a warning to all Jewish students at Columbia, just before Passover, urging them to go home and not return to campus.
Columbia University was indeed the first to open its doors to radical protestors, who set up an encampment in the center of the campus. Rather than call upon security officers to evacuate the violent protesters immediately, the university engaged them in conversation. Nothing was accomplished. Only after the students took over one of the campus buildings, causing damage to property, did the university call in the local police to evacuate the building. In the meantime, similar demonstrations spread to campuses across the country, from New York to California.
As an Israeli, I was horrified to see the terrifying rise in anti-Semitism in a country that is considered one of Israel’s most important ally. As someone who was born and raised in the United States, I was ashamed at what this wonderful country has become. But I am particularly horrified at what has happened to Columbia University, a campus that was my home for three years and where I studied for six years, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in History and English literature and afterwards, a Law degree.
I first came to Columbia in September 1976, after having spent a year studying Bible in Jerusalem. I loved my year in Israel and was determined to make Aliyah, to make my final home in Israel. But before that, I wanted to study at Columbia, a university with a wonderful reputation for scholastic achievement.
I had grown up in a fairly sheltered environment, having been educated from primary school through high school in an Orthodox Jewish school. Columbia was my first foray into a larger, secular world. I had specifically chosen Columbia, however, because of its warm, welcoming environment for religious Jews. There were Jewish activities on campus, including Shabbat services and festive meals. A significant number of Jews walked around campus with a Kippa, a knitted skullcap warn by Orthodox men. There was a campus Zionist organization, which I ended up running one year. And the Shabbat program was directed by Ed Baras, the man who would become my husband. At Columbia, we received an outstanding academic education and were able to create a wonderful Jewish student community.
How did everything change?
We have all seen the dangerous rise in progressive ideologies which have corrupted lofty liberal ideals and turned them on their head. In the name of protecting minorities from discrimination, the David has become the Goliath. The irony of course, is that Jews were long discriminated against in the US for their minority status, their entrance to Columbia and similar universities severely limited until the 1960’s. Then, when Jews were finally recognized as equal citizens, they were shortly thereafter turned into a white colonial oppressor. The Arabs have become the persecuted minority, even though their numbers and their economic power far exceed those of most ethnic groups in the world! The result – the Arabs could do no wrong and the Jews could do no right.
Video footage from the massacre on October 7th could not dent this narrative. The Arabs were believed and the Jews were spurned. And somewhere along the way, the moral compass of the intellectual elite of the USA (and of many other countries) disappeared.
The Jews of America face a difficult challenge. They are experiencing hatred and persecution like never before in that country. As an Israeli, I call out to my American brothers and sisters and urge them to make aliyah as I did, to join the one Jewish country, where they will always be welcomed, their true home. But many of these same Jews look at our lives in Israel, attacked by murderous terrorists on October 7th, attacked by more than 300 Iranian missiles on a single Saturday night, attacked daily by Hezbollah terrorists in the north, attacked by terrorists in Judea and Samaria. And they ask us – can you really tell me that you are safer than we are/?
This is my answer. Yes, we face terrible threats from vicious enemies on all sides. But in Israel, we can defend ourselves. We are not dependent upon a university president to call in the police when she herself is a Muslim who sympathizes with the anti-Israel bias. We do not have to argue for our place in our own land, repudiating the ridiculous slogan “from the river to the sea”. Yes, things are difficult in Israel. But this is home. Here we are responsible for our own fate. We are not passive. We can act.
As I reflect on what my life would have looked like had I stayed in the US and sent my children to Columbia, I look at the life my husband and I built for our children, here in Judea and Samaria Yes, we are surrounded by hostile Arabs, but our children serve in the IDF and our young men are part of the emergency teams protecting our communities. We may not always have enough funds for all the equipment we need, and for that we are eternally grateful for the support you have given us. You have partnered with us to take an active role in protecting the Jewish people. We are not hiding in campus dorms waiting for the violence to subside. We are taking action. And with God’s help and protection, we will prevail. Here in the Land of Israel.
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