Donors to Penn and Harvard angered by pro-Palestinian activity on campus catalyzed pressure to take down the schools’ presidents. Their message is clear and helps explain Joe Biden’s passivity in the face of Israeli war crimes too.

Israel’s racism against Palestinians has subsumed official Jewish life. American Jews have abandoned their best traditions out of deference to a militant state that exists in constant fear of those it subjugates.

In a dangerous precedent, the House of Representatives passed a controversial bill equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Pro-Israel lawmakers quickly followed with a bill to establish a congressional commission aimed at Palestine solidarity.

The Anti-Defamation League’s call for the FBI and IRS to surveil, investigate, and possibly prosecute student activists is a new level in its McCarthyite campaign to silence any and all criticism of Israel. 

Thousands gathered in Washington this week to support Israel. The Israeli Consulate announced 290,000 people attended, while estimates show they were off by about 265,000. Still, support for Israel from elected officials was clear.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are partnering with campus police to combat antisemitism on campuses across the United States. Advocates fear this will include Palestine solidarity activism.

Appearing alongside PM Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden said the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital attack “appears as though it was done by the other team.”

The Anti-Defamation League is fueling war with its attacks on those trying to stop Israeli assaults on Palestinians, and its pernicious charge that “anti-Zionism is genocide.” 

Despite near unanimity of support for Israel in the US political establishment these days, some voices are making it into the mainstream media to explain the causes of violence and state that while they condemn the Hamas attacks on civilians, they were not “unprovoked.”

There is tremendous blame to go around for the ongoing violence and bloodshed in occupied Palestine. We must begin to acknowledge it.