Victoria, what you’ve ‘learned’ in college about Israel is not true

By Steve Kramer

KFAR SABA, Israel — The British Independent (independent.co.uk) internet newspaper recently printed an article by a very ignorant young American who had just finished her freshman year in college. Normally I wouldn’t be bothered by yet another anti-Israel internet article, but this one really caught my attention because of the terrible propaganda college students are targeted with – and often absorb.

Victoria Gagliardo-Silver, a self-described black, Jewish American, didn’t take the recommended post-graduation year of study in Israel that a number of her fellow students at her Jewish high school did. When they returned, she says she no longer “recognized” many of them because they had become religious. In the meantime, she had been “educated” in college how terrible Israel’s behavior is. What did Victoria learn?

Victoria: It was at college that I realized that myself [sic] and my fellow high school students were fed a religious narrative of why Zionism is right and good, and why taking this land away from our Palestinian “enemies” was just.

Steve: Victoria is so shallow that she doesn’t realize that she was fed a pro-Palestinian Arab narrative. She chooses to believe everything that the Jew haters say and disbelieve everything that the Jews say.

V: It was at that point that, as a Native American, black Jew, I realized I could not support an active settler occupation just because we were told it was justified by God.

S: Now we know that Victoria is also a Native American, a partly indigenous American. Well, the Jews are also natives, the indigenous people of the Land of Israel. Other peoples who predated the Jews in Israel, e.g. the Canaanites, disappeared about 3,000 years ago, leaving only the Jews. We also know that she rejects the religious argument for the Jews’ right to its native land, one of a number of reasons why Israel is the Jewish State. Does she doubt that Judeans lived in Israel 3,000 years ago, which is attested to by contemporary historical documents and archaeological artifacts? Can one really say that Jews are “occupying” Judea?

V: I learned how Israeli forces slaughtered over 30 children in a protest for Palestinian rights. I read about the closure of the Gaza Strip, and how Palestinians have to apply to work or seek specialty medical care in Israel, and oftentimes have their application denied. And in one night of reeducating myself, I became a pro-Palestinian Jew.

S: Congratulations, another self-hating Jew – and in only one night, without ever visiting the area. Israel hasn’t slaughtered over 30 children. The IDF is second to none in restricting its soldiers’ behavior towards non-combatants. It’s the Palestinian Arabs who don’t hesitate to push their children in front of them, instead of putting themselves in front of the kids for their protection. The parents also allow, even encourage, their teenagers to participate in dangerous riots at the border. This is totally immoral.

Both Egypt and Israel strictly police their borders. This is necessary because of terrorist attacks emanating from Gaza. If the Gazans were to stop their terrorism, Gaza’s exits wouldn’t be subject to frequent closures.

Since when do countries give medical care to their enemies? As far as I know, only Israel. Of course, if medical care or a job is permitted for a Gazan within Israel’s borders, strict controls are required to minimize terror attacks. E.g. female patients at Israeli hospitals have concealed bombs under their clothes.

V: I care about a system of equity and fairness being fostered in the region, where all people can live in peace, and I will not support Israel until that has been achieved and sustained.

S: Who doesn’t care about equity and fairness? But is Israel to blame for the Palestinian Arabs’ lack of interest in either? Her professors or peers neglected to tell Victoria about the failure of Palestinian Arab leaders to accept any of Israel’s peace offers. Nor was she enlightened about the abysmal lot of Arabs in their own states, nor the general Muslim failure to make peace among their antagonistic sects.

V: I do my best to avoid Israeli-sourced technology and products, in line with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction [BDS] movement.

S: Excellent. I assume Victoria no longer uses mobile devices, personal computers, certain medicines and medical procedures, or any other of the many wonderful Israeli inventions and innovations that the world utilizes. She doesn’t even realize that the goal of the BDS movement, mentioned above, is the destruction of Israel and its replacement by yet another Arab dystopian state.

V: [We pro-Palestinian] Jews, organizing in groups like IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, believe protecting the indigenous Palestinian people who are abused, pushed out of their homes to make way for Israeli real estate, and disenfranchised at the order of the Israeli government, should be more important than having a settler state as their “homeland”.

S: The “Palestinian people” are not the indigenous people of Israel. There is no history of a Palestinian People. The idea of a State of Palestine did not emerge in earnest until the 1964 creation of the terrorist PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), which was at the forefront of fomenting world wide terror and remains so. This is worth remembering while waiting in line to be x-rayed or patted down before your next flight. The “settler state” that Victoria mentions is the Land of Israel, the homeland of the Jews.

V: I understand the importance and significance of Israel – all Jews do…But for now, under the Netanyahu administration, I see Israel as just another colonial state ruled by supremacy and violence that I will not support.

S: No, Victoria doesn’t understand Israel’s significance. Far from being a “colonial” state, Israel is the realization of indigenous, native rights. Israel is the source and heart of the Jewish religion, which Victoria learned about in high school. Israel is the much-needed refuge for Jews fleeing Jew hatred and the only deterrent to state-sponsored malevolence against Jews. Because of Israel, a regime like Nazi Germany is no longer possible, because the much-maligned IDF stands ready to stop it.

Conclusion:

If you have a child or grandchild in college, be aware of the pressure they might be under to join the other “liberals” in their causes, because of the phenomenon of  “intersectionality.” This new paradigm requires all “liberals” to support the Palestinian Arabs, along with support for a litany of other causes, such as climate change, Black Lives Matter, multi-gender equality, and more. It’s up to the older generations to ensure that the younger generation has enough knowledge and common sense to resist brainwashing, which has become a major problem from junior high schools through graduate schools.

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Kramer is a freelance writer based in Kfar Saba, Israel.  He may be contacted via steve.kramer@sdjewishworld.com