Video of incendiary comments by one of the leaders of the student protest encampment at Columbia University surfaced online Thursday evening, forcing the school to again confront an issue at the core of the conflict rippling across campuses nationwide: the tension between pro-Palestinian activism and antisemitism.
The student, Khymani James, said in the January video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
Mr. James made the comments during and after a disciplinary hearing with Columbia administrators that he recorded and then posted on Instagram.
It's not as though that turdlet is being sandbagged. He recorded himself making those remarks and then posted them, himself, online.
Only when there is now significant blowback does he try to disavow what he said. But believe what he said to be what he believes.
Meir Kahane was a thug and a terrorist. But he had the right of it when he advocated that every Jew should have weapons and know how to use them. When Mr. James decides it is time to go out and start murdering people, he might come down with a serious case of bullet wounds.
I think that the core of the problem is a failure to distinguish Zionism from Jewishness.All Zionists are Jews, but not all Jews are Zionists. The Naqba is the Israeli equivalent of US slavery. and they eventually will have to deal with it, hopefully better than we have.The Likud Israelis have been pissing me off for decades now, interfering in our domestic politics,completely taking us for granted as an ally, and even killing American service people. The Israeli right wing (the West Bank settlers, Netanyahu etc.need to be decisively checked in a way that doesn't endanger Israeli security but does convey that enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteThis idiot deserves all he gets, as he’s preventing a real message from being made. As MarkS says, there is a reckoning that needs to occur, but not the one the anti-semites suggest. Israel has been thrall to the far right elements of its society, and is likely a snapshot of how the U.S. might end up if Trump and Co. have their way. A progressive Israel, using its Arab population as opposed to oppressing and deriding it, could make a huge difference in the region, and potentially reconcile the decendents of Abraham.
ReplyDeleteBibi doesn't exist in a vacuum. He may have fudged an election or 3, but there are Israelis who support his hard-line policies. There will never be peace in that land as long as there are land greedy warmongers in control, and that includes both sides. The way they covet that land you might think there was oil under it.
ReplyDeletew3ski
W3ski, It certainly doesn't help that that region is populated by people who can REALLY hold a grudge. IMO, GWB's biggest mistake in Iraq ( after invading in the first place), is thinking that Muslims are one religion, ignoring that the Sunni and Shia have been enthustiacally murdering each murdering each other over a 2000 year old succession dispute and show no signs of moderating.They have to decide for themselves to abandon the Hatfields v. MCcoys that they've got themselves stuck in.I think Oct.7th was the Hatfield/MCcoy fanaticstrying to derail a rapprochement between Israel and SA and the Gulf states trying to de- escalate.
ReplyDeleteThere are those that enter the fray with brain unconnected
ReplyDeleteand adrenalin fueled stupidity. Should we feel sorry for
them, not at all. They do so willingly, then the pain begins.
As to Zion, That's another name for Jerusalem and home of
the three major religions. Each has its take but the
compass point to one spot.
We have a problem with Hamas,
as do many others, even the Palestinians.
Eck!