Time for a Jewish Tea Party?

The Jewish Advocate:

By Charles Jacobs
February 25, 2010

On Feb. 8, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) disrupted a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California-Irvine. It was done cleverly. A Muslim student from the audience stood up and began shouting during Oren's talk. After he was removed from the hall and the talk resumed, another Muslim student stood up and began to shout. This happened about a dozen times. Oren courageously and with eloquence finished his talk.

Though the Irvine disruption was not nearly as impressive as the 2002 Muslim victory in Montreal when students violently prevented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at Concordia University, the California incident demonstrates the growing strength of the MSA; it also is a marker of Jewish political decline on American campuses.

For years, the Irvine campus has witnessed publicly funded anti-Israel and anti-Semitic speakers and programs; and, for years, the established Jewish community has failed to respond effectively. At Irvine, where Jews are sometimes frightened to openly identify themselves, only the stalwart Zionist Organization of America and the valiant grass-roots group Stand With Us have consistently challenged the university to fulfill its responsibility and protect the students and free speech. Hillel, the national Jewish campus organization, created in times of peace to ensure that Jewish boys meet Jewish girls, staffed with warm-fuzzy Kumbaya-niks, remains in denial - or worse.

Across the country, university administrations are notoriously weak actors. While the left and Muslim groups - supported by radical faculty - push hard, the Jewish establishment tries to sweet-talk, and the Jews lose. In 2004, when the David Project produced a film documenting the intimidation and harassment of pro-Israel students by Arab professors at Columbia University ("Columbia Unbecoming"), many Jews on Columbia's faculty were upset - not at the egregious actions of Muslim or Arab professors, but at the David Project for raising the issue. The New York Jewish establishment tried to minimize the conflict and marginalize the problem. They "made nice" with the administration behind closed doors, showing themselves to be the good, reasonable Jews. (We nicknamed the film, "The Marranos of Morningside Heights.")

Since 2004, the problem for Jews on campus has only worsened. The alliance between the left and the Muslim students has gelled, while the Jews are divided and with weak leadership. And increasingly, especially in California, it is the radical Muslim students who are vigorously taking the lead against Israel and Jews.

 

This campus phenomenon - the growth of the Muslim factor, the Jewish establishment's reluctance to respond forcefully to threats and the failure of public officials to protect Jews against Muslim threats - now mirrors the situation developing for Jews off campus: As mosques, funded by Saudi Arabia, and controlled by radical Muslim organizations, expand across America - unopposed - Jewish leaders fail to respond. Here too, "making nice" - through "dialogues" and outreach programs such as "twinning" synagogues and Islamic centers - is the Jewish establishment's primary response. And even when, as in Boston and Buffalo, such naïveté backfires, and Jews find instead of sincere and peaceful partners to shake hands with that they have been hoodwinked by Islamist anti-Semites, Jewish leaders remain silent.

Meanwhile, in contrast to the Jewish community, a significant portion of America is in rebellion against - and is in the process of challenging - its political establishment. Grass-roots frustration expressed first in raucous "town hall" meetings and now in the Tea Party movement defeated incumbent Democrats and influenced elected officials not to run for re-election. Americans are angry with both parties. Why? Former CIA official Herbert Meyer notes that Americans were shocked by "two catastrophes we hadn't imagined our political establishment would allow to happen." First there was 9-11, "when we discovered that for years, Al Qaeda and its allies had been waging holy war against us," and our leaders - who knew - did not tell us. The second was "the 2008 financial crash, which revealed that our economy is a house of cards built on a pile of debt so high we cannot possibly repay it."

Changing America's Jewish leadership is more difficult: Jewish political leaders are not democratically elected - or replaced. As with royalty, we may get lucky from time to time with an outstanding leader. But our "leaders" are mostly selected and controlled by well-intentioned philanthropists. Many of these donors are politically liberal, and even those who are not are inherently conflict-averse and comfortable with the status quo.

Meanwhile, as we wait and pray for more effective leadership, we need to introduce the concept of "accountability" for our sclerotic Jewish leaders - perhaps by lighting grass-roots fires under them. What about a town hall meeting? 

 

Charles Jacobs is President of Americans for Peace and Tolerance

posted by: jrtelegraph

Comments

[Grandma Robby]

It almost seems as if the motto "Never again" has fallen into history's trash heap. I fear this young generation is willingly condeming themselves to repeat past errors of appeasing an enemy which can never be satisfied. The leadership of elders has failed their young, and all will eventually pay the sad, sad price.