“Israel has the right to defend itself” is a line proclaimed by American presidents and world leaders since the founding of Israel in 1948. This declaration is usually made when Israel finds itself in an armed conflict with an enemy and Israel’s allies wish to cooperate with Israel. Recent battles with the enemy. This line has a supportive connotation, and Israel always appreciates allies reaffirming its rights, but many believe that Israel is an illegitimate country and should not have the right to defend itself. It also highlights people’s opinions.
For more than 2,000 years, Jews have felt persecution from the non-Jewish world even before their exile. Through the Crusades, forced exile, pogroms, and ultimately the Holocaust, Jews suffered from an inability to defend themselves. Due to the lack of national defense, millions of Jews died and tens of millions experienced indescribable trauma. Early Zionists began a movement to ensure that Jews would never again face persecution without the help of national defense. The State of Israel is the realization of the Zionist dream of creating a state where Jews could protect themselves from their enemies.
October 7th and the global reaction
On October 7, when Palestinian terrorists brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped innocent Jews across the Israel-Gaza border, the world was shocked and reacted by defending Israel. US President Biden and other world leaders expressed disgust at the Palestinian attack and the barbarity displayed. Support was expressed even in areas not normally friendly to Israel. The world finally seemed to understand how widespread hatred of Israel was.
Unfortunately, not all voices were supportive. Even after the massacre, some people who hated Israel remained unaware of the error of their position. They argued that the world understood the attack on Palestine “contextually.” Dearborn, Michigan Mayor Abdullah Hammoud tweeted, “Israel’s decades of illegal military occupation and imprisonment in Gaza make peace impossible and tragic violence inevitable. We have locked up millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which we recognize as the world’s largest open-air prison. If we fail to recognize this context, we fail to understand what is happening abroad.”
Jews around the world perceived attacks in Israel as if they were attacks on them in their own cities. They felt vulnerable and the security that the State of Israel had given them seemed to disappear overnight. Many Gentiles recognized how widespread the October 7 attacks were on the world’s Jewish community. They stood up to support local Jews, joined Jewish synagogues, prayed for Israeli hostages, and donated to those in need in Israel.
The rise of anti-Semitism
As Israel launched a defensive offensive in Gaza, anti-Semitism began to grow louder around the world. Demonstrations against Israel began before Israel retaliated and became even more intense after Israel began defending itself. More hatred was on display on American college campuses than anywhere else. Large swathes of American and world Jewry watched in horror as three university presidents testified before Congress about anti-Semitism on their campuses.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked Harvard University President Dr. Claudine Gay. Gays, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules regarding bullying and harassment?” The answer was a clear yes, but Gays said context matters. “Our rules regarding bullying and harassment are very specific. And if the context in which the language is used amounts to bullying or harassment, we will take action against it.”
Later in the hearing, Stefanik asked University of Pennsylvania President Liz McGill whether calling for the extermination of Jews constitutes bullying or harassment, to which McGill answered with context. “That’s a situational decision, Congressman,” she said.
As Stefanik’s time drew to a close, she stated that calling for the extermination of Jews should violate any code of conduct at the university, and that it did not depend on the circumstances. As leaders, politicians, and commentators analyzed the Congressional testimony, people from all backgrounds shared several themes. They are shocked that calling for the genocide of another race, nation, or people is not acceptable or considered a violation of a code of conduct and that context is needed to define it as bullying or harassment. I received it. Jews seemed to be treated by a different standard than other people. Subsequently, Congress made clear that the testimony of University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth McGill, Harvard University President Claudine Gay, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, as well as calls for the extermination of Jews, constituted harassment and a violation. passed a resolution that strongly condemns the government’s failure to address the issue. their institutional code of conduct; ”
Many argue that context should not play a role in understanding attacks on Israel or anti-Semitism. They said Hammoud’s tweet that the October attack should be “recognized in context” and that it was a “contextual decision” to consider anti-Semitic calls to slaughter Jews as harassment. I understand that the explanation given by the university president and others is incorrect. They say hate is hate, rape is rape, and harassment is harassment, and they’re right.
There is important context in understanding the attacks on Israel, the subsequent war Israel is waging in Gaza, and the calls for anti-Semitism around the world. Behind this is the history of persecution that Jews have faced for more than 2,000 years, and the need for a Jewish state to protect Jews from further persecution and attacks. October 7 was not the first time that Jews and the state of Israel were attacked. Like any other nation, Jews have the right to defend themselves and their country. These are the tenets of Zionism and are the only context that matters when understanding the Gaza war.
The author is a Zionist educator in educational institutions around the world and recently published a new book, Zionism Today.