The president of Barnard College wrote she is “appalled and saddened” to see anti-Zionism spreading on campus. In doing so, she made clear who is considered a valued member of the Barnard community and who the institution is willing to sacrifice.

Professor Nadia Abu El-Haj responds to a recent Ha’aretz column by Israeli anthropologist Dan Rabinowitz who argued against the Palestinian academic and cultural boycott of Israel by saying the BDS movement surreptitiously promotes the “endgame” of “a future with no Israel.” Abu El-Haj writes: “Nearly 70 years later, however, Israel does exist so the question shifts: What do we do now? BDS insists that Israel cannot—and should not—continue to exist as it exists today. Yes, this is a challenge to the state’s future—that is, those of us advocating for boycott and divestment think that the Israeli state has no right to continue to exist as a racial state that builds the distinction between Jew and non-Jew into its citizenship laws, its legal regimes, its educational system, its economy, and its military and policing tactics. What the day after will look like remains an open question.”