In the last decades, the post-colonial approach on campuses according to which the world is divided according to gender, sexuality and race has been gaining popularity; Those who suffered from colonialism (blacks, Africans, Muslims, Asians) and those who initiated it (whites).
The whites were seen as “victims” or “privileged” and the “indigenous” minorities, as victims, the new heroes and there is leniency towards them when they break the law or engage in terrorism. The Jews are identified as white-privileged and therefore their country, Israel, is also perceived as such and therefore should be protested against, because it is part of the old order.
academy
The principles of post-colonialism and identity politics were promoted in academia with over-enthusiasm. The concepts of ascertaining the truth and facts have become dependent on race and gender and those who violate them are condemned to be dismissed. Since the beginning of the century, one can find courses that promote hatred of Israel, conferences and intensive activity by Palestinian organizations and by progressive Jews who joined human rights organizations and other minorities to promote an academic boycott of it.
Alongside this, huge donations flowed from Arab countries to the academy with the aim of improving their image for promoting “recommended” research topics, financing activities against Israel, recruiting “suitable” faculty and promoting a boycott of universities in Israel.
the boycott movement
About twenty years ago, a global movement was established that came to promote an economic, cultural, diplomatic and academic boycott against Israel, with the hope that the boycott would bring an end, as happened to South Africa. The movement focused its activity on campuses, using terminology from the world of human rights and creating collaborations with left-wing, human rights, environmental and Muslim organizations.
Traditional and new communication
One of the significant factors in the hatred of Israel is related to the media, especially the progressive ones to which the students are exposed, when Israel is presented as the “bad” side and the Palestinians as the “good” side; This while focusing on the Palestinian suffering without explaining its part in creating the suffering, the background to Israel’s actions, which is presented as the sum total of global evil, presents Hamas as legitimate.
Alongside this, there is intense activity on social media against Israel and the spread of fake news to which young people are exposed on campuses. These patterns were also found in previous conflicts, but now the large number of casualties, the length and damage of the war created a sharp reaction.
Official Israel denied the activities of the boycott movement and what happened in the academy over the years, believing that addressing the phenomenon would strengthen it, but just as our propaganda has failed over the years, so has the fight against anti-Semitism.
The powers of information and dealing with Israel’s image have been divided for years, according to political and partisan interests, to a number of government ministries which operated without coordination between them, conveying conflicting messages and a horrendous lack of professionalism. The time has come to establish a national authority for information and the fight against anti-Semitism, detached from politics and based on research and professional management, which will fight against all the factors mentioned as taking part in the phenomenon.
Activity against anti-Semitism can be based on collaborations with Jewish and Christian communities and organizations, research institutes, political parties, sympathetic local government and others while providing tools to activists regarding effective response strategies, learning from success and failure stories and above all providing assistance to dozens of civil society organizations, which feel like they are operating in a vacuum.
Prof. Eli Avraham, Department of Communication, is in charge of the fight against the academic boycott on behalf of the University of Haifa