The Palestine Writes Literature Festival, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania on September 22 to 24, was light on both literature and actual Palestinians, but heavy on anti-Israel propaganda and nut-jobs. What, as the Russian revolutionaries used to say, is to be done?
Wearisome as it may be, we should note the scheduled lead speakers at this event. Roger Waters, who claims he was disinvited but participated on Zoom, is prone to musings on the “Zionist cabal” and floating giant inflatable pigs bearing the Star of David over the crowds at his stadium gigs.
Marc Lamont Hill is a Farrakhan fan and Al Jazeera presenter who was fired from CNN for calling for Israel’s destruction (“Free Palestine, from the river to the sea”). He plays to smaller crowds these days. No wonder he calls all mainstream media “Zionist outlets”.
roger waters
Roger Waters participated on Zoom (Photo: Getty Images)
There were some actual Palestinians there. The Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah calls Israel a “demonic, sick project” and says she “can’t wait for the day we will commemorate its end”. Susan Abulhawa, the organiser of this lovely event, thinks “Zionists are to Palestinians as Nazis are to Jews”.
If American support for Israel is values-based, then this shower don’t represent a serious challenge to public opinion. They do, however, have the sympathy of the liberal professoriat: faculty from four departments, none of them sciences and all of them in the humanities, sponsored the conference.
The students of these top-flight universities get to swim in what Joe Biden calls “the river of power” that runs from the Ivy League to Washington DC. So there are grounds for concern if the future leaders of America are drip-fed lies about the Jews and Israel. But again, what should be done?
There is no point in appealing to the conscience of people who lack any conscience. The “activists” justify their means by their ends. They seem to enjoy bullying Jews. Why would they give it up?
There is no point in appealing to the conscience of the UPenn administrators. They are terrified of their faculty and students.
Nor is there any point in invoking the idea of “hate speech”. First, the idea has no legal status in America. The glories of the First Amendment include the right to talk rubbish. Second, Americans cling to that right. They will not abandon it to assuage the feelings of 2 per cent of the population, and nor should they.
palestine writers festival pennsylvania state university Taken from www.facebook.comPalestineWrite KEEP OFF WEB Palestine WritesTwotter
The Palestine Writers Festival at Pennsylvania State University (Photo: Facebook)
Third, the only places in America where the words “hate speech” are taken seriously are universities, and these are the places that are encouraging it.
The American campus is a paradise of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is why everyone is scared to say what they think. There are more trigger warnings on campus than in The High Chaparral’s Christmas special, yet incitement against Jews, and not always under the guise of “anti-Zionism”, is now constant.
This also being America, universities are susceptible to financial and legal pressure.
The ceaseless expansion of private universities depends on alumni donations. Excuse my Latin, but Jewish alumni should withhold donations if their alma mater has turned against the Jews.
The other effective way to fight this is through the law. Universities take federal funds. That means they must comply with the Civil Rights Act. The Trump administration extended its coverage to Jews and Sikhs. Under the Biden administration, the Department of Education has been disgracefully slow to put that ruling into practice.
Anti-Israel activism is deeply entrenched on campus. The law moves slowly. Jewish Americans, and especially their communal leadership, must acknowledge the emerging reality. The way things are going, Israelis will be more accepted in Riyadh than on the elite campuses of Europe and North America.
