For Some Jews, the Campus Wars Over Gaza Suck. But They Are Not a Violent, Antisemitic Nightmare
Haaretz Podcast
May 1, 2024 9:42 pm IDT
In her first visit to Israel since October 7, Berkeley-based author and screenwriter Ayelet Waldman made the news carrying a sack of rice on her shoulder, she was arrested with a group of rabbis participating in a symbolic march to the Gaza border to deliver humanitarian aid.
Neither she nor members of the group, Waldman tells Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, were under the illusion that they would actually get through the Erez checkpoint to feed Palestinians - but she felt it was important to her, while in Israel, to take an action in line with her values "and this struck me as an action that would feel personally meaningful, because the news of the famine has been particularly horrific."
She has little patience for critics painting her as a detached progressive activist, or for right-wingers declaring the group should have been escorted across the border into the hands of Hamas and left there.
"I don't have any illusions about Hamas and their commitment to human and civil rights or gay rights. I know what they are, I know what they do. I know what they've done to their own people. I know what they would do to, you know, a trans rabbi who crossed the border. But that's not the point. The point is that collective punishment is criminal, and that is what's going on right now in Gaza, and it is horrific."
Waldman, the parent of two children in U.S. universities, also weighs in on the "obsession" with antisemitism on campuses in the midst of the pro-Palestinian protests taking place in Columbia University and colleges all over the States. "I really do believe that [the antisemitism] is overstated," she says.
When faced with the terrible images from Gaza, Waldman asserts, Americans, especially progressive Jewish ones, feel "tremendous shame." The way she sees it, painting themselves as victims of antisemitism on campuses is a coping mechanism of sorts. "What makes you feel better when you're forced to think of yourself as a victimizer? A moment when you can feel like a victim," she says.
Israelis, Waldman says, are equally - or even more - obsessed with the clashes on U.S. campuses.
"There's a war going on an hour and 15 minutes away from Tel Aviv... you hear drones, you hear bombs. and all anybody wants to talk to me about is what's going on at Columbia University."
Also on the podcast, Haaretz senior defense and security analyst Amos Harel gives a pessimistic view of the chances of progress when it comes to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government reaching a deal for the release of hostages and a cease-fire, a deal that would stave off an IDF operation in Rafah.
After Hamas released three videos of Israeli hostages in the past week, Harel says, "there were high hopes, especially by the hostages' families and a large part of the Israeli population for good news. And yet, judging from the prime minister's behavior, actions, and statements, I think it will be hard to reach a deal even now. And of course, there's the other part of this puzzle - Hamas itself - the same brutal, ruthless terrorists that we were dealing with before and who are not going to make it any easier for us to reach a deal."
If a Rafah incursion happens - with or without a green light from the Biden White House - Harel says that its success in decisively ending the war is not a given. "It's quite clear that the IDF would have the upper hand because we're much stronger military-wise than the other side. But would that lead to a full-scale surrender from Hamas? I don't think so."
May 1, 2024 9:42 pm IDT
In her first visit to Israel since October 7, Berkeley-based author and screenwriter Ayelet Waldman made the news carrying a sack of rice on her shoulder, she was arrested with a group of rabbis participating in a symbolic march to the Gaza border to deliver humanitarian aid.
Neither she nor members of the group, Waldman tells Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, were under the illusion that they would actually get through the Erez checkpoint to feed Palestinians - but she felt it was important to her, while in Israel, to take an action in line with her values "and this struck me as an action that would feel personally meaningful, because the news of the famine has been particularly horrific."
She has little patience for critics painting her as a detached progressive activist, or for right-wingers declaring the group should have been escorted across the border into the hands of Hamas and left there.
"I don't have any illusions about Hamas and their commitment to human and civil rights or gay rights. I know what they are, I know what they do. I know what they've done to their own people. I know what they would do to, you know, a trans rabbi who crossed the border. But that's not the point. The point is that collective punishment is criminal, and that is what's going on right now in Gaza, and it is horrific."
Waldman, the parent of two children in U.S. universities, also weighs in on the "obsession" with antisemitism on campuses in the midst of the pro-Palestinian protests taking place in Columbia University and colleges all over the States. "I really do believe that [the antisemitism] is overstated," she says.
When faced with the terrible images from Gaza, Waldman asserts, Americans, especially progressive Jewish ones, feel "tremendous shame." The way she sees it, painting themselves as victims of antisemitism on campuses is a coping mechanism of sorts. "What makes you feel better when you're forced to think of yourself as a victimizer? A moment when you can feel like a victim," she says.
Israelis, Waldman says, are equally - or even more - obsessed with the clashes on U.S. campuses.
"There's a war going on an hour and 15 minutes away from Tel Aviv... you hear drones, you hear bombs. and all anybody wants to talk to me about is what's going on at Columbia University."
Also on the podcast, Haaretz senior defense and security analyst Amos Harel gives a pessimistic view of the chances of progress when it comes to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government reaching a deal for the release of hostages and a cease-fire, a deal that would stave off an IDF operation in Rafah.
After Hamas released three videos of Israeli hostages in the past week, Harel says, "there were high hopes, especially by the hostages' families and a large part of the Israeli population for good news. And yet, judging from the prime minister's behavior, actions, and statements, I think it will be hard to reach a deal even now. And of course, there's the other part of this puzzle - Hamas itself - the same brutal, ruthless terrorists that we were dealing with before and who are not going to make it any easier for us to reach a deal."
If a Rafah incursion happens - with or without a green light from the Biden White House - Harel says that its success in decisively ending the war is not a given. "It's quite clear that the IDF would have the upper hand because we're much stronger military-wise than the other side. But would that lead to a full-scale surrender from Hamas? I don't think so."
