Written by Max Schwartz
This past weekend, Najma Sharif, a Somali-American writer, sparked outrage on Twitter/X by asking “What did y’all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers.” Many deserve to be outraged by this insensitive tweet, though one group in particular does not—academia. For decades, and especially in recent years, professors across the nation have taught students about “decolonization,” effectively calling for the dismantling of western civilization through violence. The Wretched of the Earth by Frants Fanon, praised as the “Bible of decolonization,” outlines this process in detail, with Fanon detailing how decolonization is “always a violent phenomenon” where power must be taken back from anyone seen as a “settler” by any means necessary.
To suggest that these views are not consistently pushed onto students and promulgated on college campuses is facetious at best and repugnant at worst. This semester alone, I recall a professor of mine commonly citing how two nations, Israel and the United States, were settler-colonial nations multiple times a week. So, why is it so surprising that pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic groups alike are organizing on college campuses across America to stage rallies? Why are students publishing emails in favor of the heinous acts of terrorism that swept across Israel over the weekend? Why are students so misinformed and filled with such hatred towards Israel, such as the president of the student bar association at NYU Law School who claimed Israel bears “full responsibility” for the massacre? It is because anti-Israeli, anti-American ideology is ingrained in every student’s mind from the moment they walk into class and reinforced until they graduate. And it is quite ironic how the president who wrote the NYU letter, a vocal member of the LGBTQ community, would likely find themselves among the thousands of queer Palestinians who flee across the border every year from Palestine to Israel due to the torture and hostility they face had they been born there and not here in America (another country the president lambasts).
NYU Law School is not alone in being ‘home’ to students who praise the massacre of thousands of Jews in Israel. The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the University of Virginia described the massacre as a “step toward a free Palestine” and a win for “colonized people everywhere.” Over 30 student groups at Harvard signed a letter holding Israel “entirely responsible” for the terrorism of Hamas. Even the University of North Carolina has student groups in support of the horrors which unfolded over the weekend.
It also must be stated that the love academia has for “decolonization” goes hand-in-hand with the visceral hatred that radical leftist students and professors have for the Jewish people. And, no, anti-Zionism is not different from anti-Semitism. Even if there were a distinction between the two, pro-Palestine groups never even attempt to draw a distinction. In regards to the UNC advert alone, notice the inclusion of the paraglider graphic used, which is included as a direct reference to the paragliders who murdered 260 young people at an EDM rave. There, pro-Palestine protestors justified the use of the paraglider and held signs claiming that “supporting Israel is supporting colonization” (parroting what is often heard in a typical UNC classroom). Across the country, a Stanford professor was recently suspended for forcing Jewish students to stand in the corner while branding them as colonizers. In Sydney, Australia, a rally was held where pro-Palestinian protesters allegedly were chanting “gas the Jews.” A similar rally held here in America in Dearborn, Michigan saw the speaker claiming that “Hamas is not a terrorist group,” despite the fact that Hamas’s covenant explicitly states that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it,” all in the name of Allah. In his defense, according to those who share his ideology, that is not terrorism.
Despite what professors like to claim, Israel is not an apartheid state, but rather the diamond in the rough. If you were to take the entire population of the Arab nations—that being the Middle East and Egypt—it totals roughly 297.4 million people. As for the total number of Jews living in these lands, it totals roughly 8,000. While in 1945, there were roughly 866,000 Jews living in the Arab world, 856,000 of them were persecuted and exiled from their homes between 1948 and the early 1970s. In contrast, the population of Israel is 9 million. As for the number of Arabs living in Israel? 1.9 million with full civil rights. The number is so large that Arab groups had enough political control where they were able to sway recent elections. The labeling of Israeli Jews as ‘settler-colonizers’ by academia, ignorant of the fact that the majority of these Jews are refugees or descendants of refugees from Arab nations, seeks to further legitimize the international violence and hatred directed towards Jews which has existed for thousands of years. Furthermore, the UN partition plan that offered to split the contested land 50/50 was rejected by the Palestinians, who instead opted for war against Israel, and the only land that Palestine currently occupies today, the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, was handed to them by the Israeli legislature. Once given this land, free of cost and free of bloodshed, Palestinians began spending money to launch tens of thousands of rockets and missiles from these lands towards Israel. Historically, decolonization efforts have resulted in retreat—Belgium retreating from the Congo back to Belgium, France retreating from Algeria back to France, etc. But in a “decolonization” of Israel, where else are these Jews supposed to go? They are surrounded by nations who time and time again express their desire to obliterate them, yet Israel remains standing as the only Jewish state.
Another fact of relevance which must be stated: Hamas actually does represent the pro-Palestine movement. In as recently as 2021, Hamas had the support of 53% of Palestinians, claiming Hamas was “most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people.” Hamas is also savvy enough to take advantage of the West’s disdain for the Jewish people and capitalize on its self-righteousness. Hamas literally located its military headquarters at the bottom of a hospital, so if Israel targets them, they can draw sympathy from the West. Additionally, despite when Israel warns civilians ahead of strikes in order to evacuate them before bombing Hamas bases, Hamas tells its citizens to stay put. Hamas exploits western morality by hiding behind its own citizens in order to further a global anti-Israeli agenda, and academia falls for it every time due to their narcissistic sanctimony.
This is as close as we have come since the Holocaust to repeating the tragic events of World War II. We have major news outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post downplaying the events and refusing to acknowledge or report the targeting of Jews. We have rallies across our major cities in support of literal terrorists. We have people refusing to believe the reports of rape and the beheading of children because they do not have ‘adequate video proof,’ despite the fact that even President Biden confirmed this was taking place. We have massive amounts of people online claiming that Israeli Jews deserve the attacks which came to them. And everybody is jumping on every opportunity to attack Israel as it begins to defend itself.
Truly, it is only a matter of time before this brutal wave of violence comes here to the United States. After all, Black Lives Matter released a statement in favor of the attacks on Israel, claiming the events as a “desperate act of self-defense” and claiming that they “see clear parallels between Black and Palestinian people.” We saw the shocking amount of Americans—and nearly all of academia—show support for the rioting and looting that consumed the summer of 2020, despite the fact that it targeted civilians and small-business owners. Why would that same support not be shown if you or I were targeted in the name of decolonization? Moreover, we have heard for decades about how we live on ‘stolen land’ that to this day belongs to Native Americans (though it is never quite clear which Native American tribes, as they ‘stole’ land from other tribes prior to the arrival of Americans). It begs the question, why should we not be massacred? The average American can easily and coherently answer this question, yet academia simply cannot.
What is occurring today in Israel is not a ‘territorial dispute.’ It is not a ‘conflict.’ It is a coordinated effort to eradicate the Israeli Jewish population by means of attrition. It is the same song with a different verse. It is now in the hands of professors to undo the years of damage they have done in brainwashing millions of students across the country to hate Israel, hate the Jewish people, and hate America. Never again means never again.