Toxicity Doesn't Rule the Hamas-Israel Debate on U.S. College Campuses

Search Hi, Clare Gift Haaretz Haaretz | Opinion Opinion | Toxicity Doesn't Rule the Hamas-Israel Debate on U.S. College Campuses As Jewish-Israeli scholars who work in U.S. universities, we know that the image of polarization and betrayal on campus is overblown. Most students and colleagues we encounter are curious and open-minded to learn more about the Israel-Hamas war Shachar Pinsker and Arie M. Dubnov Nov 26, 2023 3:31 pm IST Save Zen Read A protester waves a flag at a rally held in support of Palestinians at Columbia University in New York earlier this month. Credit: EDUARDO MUNOZ/ REUTERS Listen to this article now 10:23 Powered by Trinity Audio This is not an easy time for scholars of Israel-Palestine teaching on North American campuses. More than a month into the con ict, there are many reports of a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents on campus and of threats of action and retaliations against people who speak their minds. Many students and colleagues are hurt and grieving; others are in shock or rage. These are all reasons for concern and action. - Advertisment - What characterizes the current discourse surrounding campus culture is the image of toxicity and polarization, accompanied by feelings of betrayal and shattered illusions. In the U.S., as in Israel, an increasing number of critics lament the rise of "progressive trolls" who employ a Manichean rhetoric of villains and heroes, label their rivals as evil, and create a toxic environment by preferring shaming and canceling campaigns rather than dialogue. More than half of Jewish students feel scared on U.S. college campuses, survey shows What is Students for Justice in Palestine, the group igniting U.S. campus wars over Israel U.S. campus antisemitism over Gaza war creates dilemma for college-bound Jewish kids Despite some undeniably ugly attention-grabbing incidents, by both some professors and students, we must warn against a twisted image of the campus environment. Some banal truths need to be told: most of the students and colleagues, most of the time, are open-minded, curious, sensitive, and empathic to others' su ering and pain. Reasoned debate is still alive and kicking. Israel At War: Get a daily summary direct to your inbox Email * ckinbergwjneditor@gmail.com Sign Up Please enter a valid email address Contrary to Bill Maher’s viral satirical sketch, Don't Go to College, which mocked Harvard’s "Woke" culture, we, as Jewish-Israeli scholars who work in American universities, can attest that most of those whom we encounter on our campuses are decent, curious, open-minded individuals who want to learn more about the IsraelHamas war and the issues surrounding it. Pro-Israel counter protestor holds a sign showing Israelis kidnapped into Gaza by Hamas at a pro-Palestinian demonstration held by Harvard Law students at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts earlier this month. Credit: BRIAN SNYDER/ REUTERS Media coverage plays a central role in generating this feeling of gloom and despair. However, in many schools, faculty responded to the challenges of the last month by going out of their way to organize lectures, panel discussions, roundtables and other pedagogical events, channeling frustration into educational initiatives. Often, “teach-ins” were either o ered under the auspices of Jewish or Middle East Studies programs. There were also forums that brought Jewish and Israel Studies professors together with experts on Middle Eastern history and culture or international relations experts who examined policy implications and U.S. involvement in the region. These pedagogical activities and e orts are not "newsworthy" and go unnoticed. They are easily eclipsed by vocal demonstrations or provocations that generate headlines. Similarly, a nuanced academic essay or lecture addressing the situation's complexity will fall under the radar, while paragraph-long statements from university administration or student groups grab all the attention and become contentious ashpoints. Some Jewish students have reported violence or acts of hate targeting Jews on their campus, and some Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students have been doxed, harrased, and targeted . But overall, what we witness is coverage drawn to highlighting the infrequent and extraordinary. The current crisis does invite us to ask: How can we be more accurate and keep open debate about important terms we use in academia in the current climate? And how do we ght the abuse of these terms and the doxing and disciplining of individuals who voice their opinions, using or misusing these terms? Let's rst agree on what we should not do. Policing language and academic vocabulary and dictating which topics are “safe” for discussion is not a solution. In the past month, we have witnessed such demands coming from both camps: proIsraeli activists are calling to ban any reference to “colonialism,” “apartheid,” or “ethnic cleansing,” while some pro-Palestinian statements include an explicit prohibition to refer to the con ict as one of “national con ict” or perennial “religious rivalry.” These censorship mechanisms pose a danger not only to free speech, but also to the very basic idea of the university as a space for investigation and exchange of ideas. Universities are institutions dedicated to the in-depth study of complicated subjects. This mission cannot be achieved once we constrain or ban language, enforce certain codewords, or determine what the “proper” way to investigate touchy issues is. As scholars and teachers, we should re ect on the di erent ways we use words and show how to distinguish between performative utterances and analytical concepts. Many abstract nouns and phrases are in circulation today, both in scholarly jargon and, more broadly, in reference to the Israeli-Palestinian con ict. A partial list includes terms like settler-colonialism, decolonization, nationalism, genocide, Holocaust, Nakba, martyrs, settlers, ghetto, ethnic cleansing, antisemitism, pogrom, and apartheid. Organizers prepare for a pro-Palestinian rally at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts last month. Credit: BRIAN SNYDER/ REUTERS Actors on the ground know that these evoke strong feelings because many of those terms are melded with cultural or national memory and collective trauma. At the same time, some of these terms originate in scholarly investigations and serve as concepts that are used by scholars to analyze, diagnose, and elucidate. We need to talk with our students about what humans do with words, especially ones like this: Words can have an a ective function, helping stir powerful emotions and even becoming battle cries. Breaking news and the best of Haaretz straight to your inbox Email * ckinbergwjneditor@gmail.com Sign Up Please enter a valid email address But words function as concepts once they are used as tools for knowledge and to identify certain features of reality and characterize them. Academics coin them or rely on them to de ne, explain, and analyze the world in which we are living. The few pockets in which we see a dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian researchers today reveal that scholars do not stray away from these charged words, but tackle them head-on. One example of doing this di cult but essential work is The Holocaust and the Nakba, a collection written by Arab and Jewish scholars who examine how and why the two highly charged terms are interlinked. Another thought-provoking and high-stakes debate concerns the uses and misuses of the term antisemitism, which stands at the heart of a recent collection edited by Scott Ury and Guy Miron. Students searching for a vocabulary to describe anti-Jewish sentiment on campus may be surprised to learn that a growing number of scholars of the Holocaust and Jewish history argue that all too often antisemitism is the wrong term for what we try to describe and analyze, not helping us to diagnose phenomenon because it implies links between anti-Jewish prejudices expressed in di erent contexts, without evidence of such a connection. We need concepts, narratives, explanations, and modes of analysis in general and to help us understand this moment speci cally. These are manufactured in universities. And they cannot be easily summarized in a slogan, a hashtag, or a paragraph-long statement. Precisely because we are living in an age where hyperbolic brevity without complexity sells better, we should resist the demand for simple answers that can be posted on social media and invite the public into our world, where we read and investigate, problematize and contextualize, scrutinize and nuance. Pro-Israel student demonstrators at a protest at Columbia University in October, soon after the October 7 Hamas' assault on Israel that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Credit: Yuki Iwamura /AP To accomplish this task, we must rst create an environment in which students do not feel that they are ambassadors or representatives of one side or another, but dare to ask di cult questions and challenge themselves, other students, and their instructors. Much of the angst students feel today is a result of a cultural climate in which they are not expected to ask questions but to “choose a side” – join a camp, support a cause, or defend the tribe. We serve them best by showing that the classroom, unlike the wrestling arena or social media universe, is a space where they can free themselves from these social and cultural expectations. Next, we must not preach but explain what researchers do – and why. Strong opinions don’t require footnotes, but academic studies do. They de ne their terms, gather empirical evidence, construct interpretive models, debate and refute one another’s explanations. We are doing a poor job communicating to the wider public and to our university leadership teams that scholars and instructors are doing a vital job: explaining to students that abstract concepts are inseparable from what one does in academia and, at the same time, that there is no one single catchphrase that serves as a key that unlocks all knowledge. Lastly, we cannot pretend that we are disembodied spirits. We all come from somewhere. In human matters, no one is a detached “objective” observer. This does not undermine one's investigations, but highlights the fact we have created a space for engaging the most pressing and urgent problems which often require conceptual unpacking. This is an essential element of the lofty ideals upon which the American system of liberal education was built. Contrary to what some people have claimed recently, liberal education has not failed. The university will betray its mission once the notion of education as an openended search for deeper understanding and an attempt to address big questions is compromised. Luckily, we are not there yet. There is no need to surrender to despair, dogma, or hyperbole. We must remain true to our mission as scholars and educators and, along the way, teach our students, colleagues, ourselves, and the public at large, some very important lessons that will hopefully resonate beyond the Israel-Hamas war. Shachar Pinsker is Professor of Middle East Studies and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. He is a scholar of multilingual modern Jewish literature and culture in Israel/Palestine, Europe, and North America. On Twitter: @spinsker Arie M. Dubnov is the Max Ticktin Professor of Israel Studies at George Washington University. His research focuses on Jewish and British intellectual history, the Mandate period, and the history of partition politics. Click the alert icon to follow topics: 2023 Israel-Gaza War Gaza Antisemitism You Might Also Like There's only one viable postwar strategy for Gaza, but Netanyahu has other… 'We barely see terrorists. They’re underground': In Gaza with Israeli… Amalia Dayan never encountered antisemitism in N.Y.C. 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