Defending Israel with David Harris - Columbia Law Students

Columbia Law students Eli Shmidman and Yorai Vardi discuss their experiences on October 7th and the challenges they face as Jews and friends of Israel on the frontline at one of America’s great universities, with JBS strategic analyst David Harris.

[@abrahamlitwin-logan6325]

Great work Eli and Yorai!

[@lennyhendricks4628]

Thanks you for this helpful commentary.

[@scarletsletter4466]

I’m sorry this happened, but I’m proud of you for speaking about it. I attended the law school when it was more balanced re: Israel. Yorai is correct that rational minds can differ on questions of borders & tactics, but I wonder how our universities became so extreme that they’re unwilling to recognize Israeli’s right to exist rather than be abolished “from river to sea.” Westerners are uniquely myopic in thinking our ethics and neoliberal ideals are universal. Everyone presumes that Palestinians must deeply desire a thriving independent nation, even though one has never existed, attempts to create it were refused, and aid is wasted on tunnels & munitions (which are being used to further the stated purpose of the ruling faction, Hamas). Perhaps the professors rationalizing 10/7 as a land dispute and struggle against a colonizer are unable to conceive of the true ideological nature of the conflict.

[@briandfox16]

What is going on with Columbia University has been in the making for over 2 decades. Edward Said, a renowned and gifted Palestinian Scholar opened the door for many Palestinian and Arab faculty. In turn, a substantial gifted middle eastern student base selected Columbia University as their school and a community was established. Everything was largely fine, and for a time it was understood that the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict was complicated because two peoples had mutually exclusive claims to the land, both with legitimate claims of right. Fastforward, the faculty led cultural revolution, which re-frames all matters in terms of Oppressed vs. Oppressors, Strong vs Weak, White vs. Black was no longer taught as "a perspective" or one "sociological theory." It became taught as fact. When you are an 18-22 year old student and these scholars and self-proclaimed experts tell you that this is how the world works, you're at the point in life where you don't even think to question it. These are experts teaching the Ivy League and these are your first experiences learning about the middle east, history, and the sources of the conflict. In effect, much of the faculty are not the neutral and detached scholars of their field, they are self-proclaimed activists who are guiding students in one direction by presenting them with a monolithic narrative on Israel. Anyone who has spent more than 3 decades on the planet earth knows that no social relationship can be reduced to a binary of oppressed vs. oppressors. But these students seize everything these professors say as fact. What you are seeing is how the above extreme leftist framing of social relationships is imposed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as a test case. Unfortunately, everything you know about how great the U.S.A. will be under attack by the upcoming generation. America is the strongest military and economy now, it cannot remain so if it's citizens hate it and believe that it's always been on the wrong side of the moral spectrum since it's inception until now.

[@firaandashpublishers1555]

Powerful

[@zachary813]

Israel must be strong and speak with one voice and declare the rights of World Jewry to Israel/Palestine, from the River to the Sea, declared the Homeland of the Jewish People. (San Remo Resolutions 1920; League of Nations Mandate 1922; U.N. Article 80; U.N. 242. The Jewish people, black, brown red, white, or yellow of Israel are the indigenous people of Judea/Samaria. Arabs are from Arabia, and they have colonized a lot of land. This land belongs to the Jews. Tell them!

[@annechapman-hq4rj]

They need to get rid of DEI and intersectionality agendas and the professors who seed it into all types of curriculum. All alumni and donors should close their wallets