Steven Salaita
by James A. Bacon
I’m very pro-Israel, which like every country on the planet is flawed but is more committed than most to democracy and human rights. Likewise, I have little sympathy for Palestinians, whom I regard as, for the most part, the authors of their own miseries. Therefore, I am inclined to take a dim view of someone like Steven Salaita, a far-left scholar of partial Palestinian descent, who courted controversy as a Virginia Tech professor several years ago when he refused to endorse the “Support our Troops” slogan, and later got himself unhired from the University of Illinois after posting a series of anti-Semitic (or anti-Zionist, if you will) tweets.
But as repellant as Salaita’s views may be to me personally, others want to hear them. That includes organizers of the Graduate and Professional Student Research Symposium (GPSS) at Virginia Tech, an event that provides visibility for graduate-student research. I cannot fathom why they would want to give a platform to someone with Salaita’s views, but they do.
Now some Jewish students at Virginia Tech want to dis-invite him. “Steven Salaita does not promote respectful or healthy dialogue,” Briana Schwam, president emerita of Hillel at Virginia Tech and a GPSS senator told Jewish News Syndicate. “[His] public statements threaten my identity as a student because he promotes hate and violence towards individuals who share my identity or who do not share his exact perspective.”
JNS gave an example of one of Salaita’s tweets in 2014, which he posted after three Jewish teenage boys were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas: “You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the f***ing West Bank settlers would go missing.”
Yeah, pretty heinous. If he were a White supremacist, he’d be banned in an instant.
The article also mentions anti-Semitic (or anti-Zionist) actions at Virginia Tech. Some Jewish students and alumni were blocked from the GPSS public Instagram account, Schwam charged. The student senate passed a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. Schwam also cites “numerous acts of anti-Semitism on campus in the past year,” without providing details. Collectively, she says, these incidents make Jewish students feel unsafe. “Hate should not be allowed on campus.”
We have three different issues here. First is the right of students to hear Salaita speak. Second is the right of student government associations to signal their virtue by passing resolutions that no one will pay attention to. Third is actual discrimination or harassment directed at individual Jews on the Virginia Tech campus.
Regarding free speech: conservatives should fight to uphold Salaita’s right to speak at Virginia Tech, no matter how reprehensible we find his views — and even if the lefties who wish to hear him will not reciprocate the courtesy. I’m sorry, but the fact that Jewish students would feel “unsafe” is as unfounded as the gays at the University of Virginia who wish to de-platform Mike Pence on the grounds of his alleged homophobia. No one has a right to not feel “unsafe.” The tendency to profound disagreement is deeply rooted in the human condition, and everybody needs to deal with it.
Regarding the BDS resolution: this is standard idiocy for a student government association. Student governments in universities across Virginia and the U.S. have become leftist cabals as radicals assert themselves everywhere and moderates/conservatives seek refuge from the madness in fraternities, sororities, and other havens. SGAs enact all manner of resolutions supporting the latest lefty causes du jour. The appropriate response is to get involved and elect sane people to student government.
By the way, Jews have a proud history — from two revolts against the Roman Empire to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis to Israel’s innumerable wars of survival — of refusing to be intimidated. You don’t feel “safe”? Get over it. Fight back!
Regarding discrimination: the only tangible example provided is Jews being denied access to the GPSS Instagram account. I hesitate to comment, not knowing the whole story. However, if Jewish students believe they were subject to discrimination, they should explore existing mechanisms at Virginia Tech to address that discrimination. If the bureaucratic apparatus is unresponsive, then speak out. Bacon’s Rebellion will be happy to air your concerns.
In the meantime, Jews at Virginia Tech ought to be defending everyone’s right to free speech. Given the totalitarian proclivities of campus radicals, Jews are likely to find themselves on the receiving end of the de-platforming mob one day. The worm will surely turn.
