By Steve Kramer
KFAR SABA, Israel — We all have, or should have, concern about the prevalence of Jew-hatred on American college campuses. Previously it was couched in anti-Israel phrases, but lately it’s become blatantly about Jews in general. Frankly, this is the attitude in the U.S. towards Jews in the 1930s, coinciding with local isolationist feelings and the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.
I grew up in the 1950s and ‘60s, when most of us experienced little or no antagonism as Jews. That period has even been called the “golden age” of American Jewry. Well, it’s over. Now, we must all take a stand against this age-old hatred, which has penetrated our educational systems and state and local governments and even our major political parties.
Below is a letter I’ve just sent to the Hopkins Hillel at Johns Hopkins University, my alma mater. It was occasioned by the statement of the president of the Hillel chapter on October 7, a statement which exhibits an ignorant and shallow understanding of the reality in the Middle East. For me, this smacks of the agenda against the Jews, which I am sure wasn’t Casey Brody’s intention.
Dear Monica,
I’m very unhappy to read the following excerpt in the newsletter from Hopkins Hillel president Casey Brody: “In an email to The News-Letter, Casey Brody, president of Hopkins Hillel, explained the complexity of the conflict. She recommended students obtain information from a variety of sources to get a full picture of the situation [sic, pogrom] instead of sharing infographics on Instagram without checking their factual information.
‘It is important to realize that the situation in Israel is not black and white,” she wrote. ‘It is a highly nuanced conflict with many points of view and decades of trauma for both sides.’”
As an American Israeli citizen living in Kfar Saba, and a Krieger School graduate in 1967, I am outraged by this “weasel” description of a full blown massacre, the worst since the Holocaust. Trauma for both sides? Did not Hamas, which is the elected government of Gaza, attack Israel on a Jewish holiday on virtually the same day that the Yom Kippur War, another sneak attack, was perpetrated 50 years ago?
With campuses across the U.S. exploding with Jew-hatred (aka antisemitism), what is needed is blunt, straightforward declarations of the right of Israel to defend itself from the Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah terrorists, and other enemies of the Jewish people. More than that, Israel has the right to preempt these attacks when confronted with evidence that attacks on Israel are imminent.
I discontinued my decades long support of the university several years ago, after a Jew-hating TA was found to be mistreating her Jewish students and the university basically did nothing about it. I wrote two letters to President Daniel – with no reply from Mr. Daniel or anyone.
I’ve been supporting Hillel monetarily for a number of years. I even did a presentation there years ago when my classmate Jerry Schnydman was Assistant to the President. I’ve written more than 1,000 articles about Israel since moving here in 1991. In all that time I’ve never seen anything that makes our situation here “nuanced.” It’s us against them and I prefer us! I know that not every Palestinian Arab venomously hates us, but the vast majority do, and they are vocal and violent about it. I don’t call that nuanced.
When I looked at the Hillel website, I didn’t see any mention of Casey Brody, so I’ve written to you. I’m copying this letter to a number of my former classmates who graduated around the same time as I did.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jay Kramer (Steve Kramer) originally from Margate, N.J.
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Steve Kramer is a freelance writer based in Kfar Saba. He may be contacted via steve.kramer@sdjewishworld.com