But some are objecting. Dov Ben-Shimon, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWestNJ, said he and many of his members were “shocked by the shameful, disgraceful, pathetic and reprehensible capitulation to lawbreaking Jew-haters at Rutgers.” But he was unable to site incidents of antisemitism at Rutgers, beyond one offensive tweet. For the record, I saw no expression of hatred towards Jews, and neither did a Jewish professor I spoke with at the protest who held a sign saying, “Another Jew against Bombing Children.”
Tom Moran himself – recently expressed his outrage with Israel over the killing in Gaza and called for an end to US armaments to Israel while Israel is continuing its operations. His perspective is different than that of the organizers of the Rutgers protesters but he too could in the future end up with false smearing accusations of anti-Semitism due to his own criticism of Israel.
This editor is thankful for Tom Moran to cut through the BS coming now from pundits and elected officials of both parties with rampant claims that the students across the USA are anti-Semitic. The main reason for the false discourse is the attempt to make out opposition to Israel’s policy as anti-Semitism – a dangerous conflation that is already causing harm to students across the country.
Israel claims a right to dispatch those who disagree with its policies – pro-Israel advocates accuse everyone challenging US armaments to Israel as “Hamas” which is the justification Israel uses to slaughter people. The Hamas accusation being widely wielded against the students will lead to the protest movement which is non-violent to be labeled terrorist and targeted as such.
I do not believe Tom Moran fully understands these dangers. He made reference to his anti-apartheid activism in the 80s (this editor has similar history with that cause) – but the times were different then. South Africa was considered a pariah and there was significant discourse opposing apartheid – the Rutgers President Bloustein even got arrested at a civil disobedience sit in then. Now FBI and IDF and likely other intelligence, as well as militarized police are in the beginning stages of a war against the students who oppose the genocide in Gaza – 2000 arrested so far, 5 shot in the head with rubber bullets and no doubt 100s of injuries across the nation. So my message to Tom Moran would be do not underestimate this repression – you are not the one endangered by it and just because you once protested on your campus in your younger days does not mean you fully understand the state of repression today’s activist students are facing.
So what if the protesters do not want to be photographed. This editor understands that there is a right – an important one – to take photos of people when they are in public and in a place where privacy can not be expected. However individuals also have a right to try to avoid the photo’s including blocking the path of the photo devices. The press needs to understand and respect this situation – it is not an esteemed opinions editor who was facing the scenario of possible police repressive violence but journalists can work a bit to fully understand the reasons why the protesters might be camera shy.
