Semester after semester, at UC’s Irvine campus, Muslim student groups equate Israel with Nazi Germany and use Holocaust language and imagery to criticize the Jewish state.
Jewish students say they understand that “the university has to protect free speech and can’t stop [these groups’] programs”; however, they also point out “the university has its own free speech” and wants university leaders to speak out against these events. “Silence,” they say, sometimes makes a statement.” Another observer notes: “Jews here have no issue with questioning Israel’s policies. But this is about things that incite hate and that make people feel unsafe.”
Campus administrators and trustees should set an example by engaging in these debates in a civil and principled way. When called for, they should also condemn false and vicious propaganda–and all the more so in the increasingly irrational and precarious Middle East campus wars.