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The Violence is Real
I have a kid at Rutgers. The daily intimidation is real. It makes no difference what he thinks about Israel: nobody is asking. They just want to attack Jews. I am not actually afraid for #5’s physical well-being on account of his size and training – but if he was a more likely target (or a petite girl), then I may have done what other parents have done, and forced him to transfer or otherwise drop out.
VDH put it well:
When pro-Hamas thugs chase Jews into libraries, block their entrances on campus, and scream “beat the Jew” as they hit piñatas, they do not first ask Jews whether they support Israel—because they could care less. For the Islamist Middle Easterner on a student visa or green card and his useful American student, it is enough that their targets are Jewish—period.
Remember, the protests started on October 7, not on October 27, when the IDF went into Gaza. At that point, campus and street protests merely changed from euphoric triumphalism on the news that Hamas had slaughtered, decapitated, mutilated, raped, or kidnapped hundreds of Jews (“exhilarated,” a Cornell professor gushed of the carnage), to furor and violence.
You want to see violence against Jews? Here is a pretty blatant case. I can tell you that being attacked by other people in the street is extremely clarifying, and deeply unsettling, not to mention potentially life-threatening.
For years I downplayed reports of anti-semitism: I have no interest in any Jew being a victim. Every person has the duty to defend themselves and the people they love. I thank America and G-d for the Second Amendment, and pray that, because we have the right and the means to defend ourselves with deadly force if necessary, that we never have to do so.
But nobody with an ounce of integrity should be able to claim (as some have done here), that there is no violence in these protests.
Published in General
Thank you for sharing.
I cannot belive anyone would deny this.
Stay safe, iWe.
Amsterdam of all places!
I have a Jewish friend who teaches Russian at Rutgers. She’s told me something of how ugly it is. She gets to Israel whenever she can, and finds it wonderfully uplifting.
Israel did not ask for this war. Beginning in 2007 they have been leaving Hamas alone in Gaza to govern the country any way they wanted. Hamas attacked Israel.
I would be sympathetic to the protesters if this situation were not so simple to see.
With respect, the person or persons making the claim that there is no violence seemed to be speaking specifically of ‘protests’ taking place on US schools.
I’ve been involved with both riots and non-violent protests. There are always individuals in the mob that are there for vandalism and fights. Whether it’s a barfight or crowds in the hundreds there are some that are there because they enjoy assaulting people.
What I’m seeing right now at some schools is an organized effort to impose their will by violent means on Jews and anyone else that interferes with breaking up their self-absorbed and entitled nonsense.
When a group is carrying homemade shields, wearing helmets, carrying fireworks, and bottles they are dressed for a fight, and there will be a fight.
I’ve carried the long stick and have used it to reach out and touch someone on several occasions, it’s called pain compliance for a reason, especially useful for slow learners that haven’t heard the word “no” as often as they should have from their parents.
Jews, and everyone else, have a right to live in peace and go to school wherever they want. I support peace and freedom for the Jews, and I think they bring a tremendous benefit to the USA – economically, intellectually, and morally.
However, just because you have a right to do something, doesn’t make it prudent. There are better universities out there than Rutgers, that are also safer and less hostile to Jews. Have your son apply to better schools.
You’re sounding kinda Bushie there.
Only moral cretins and other scumbuckets. Of which we seem to have a few, lamentably, in our membership.
Which makes the claim all the more risible.
Amsterdam especially.
This has been developing for decades, as Muslim immigrant populations grew. We Americans hear almost nothing about this, however, because our liberal- and left-dominated news outlets carefully refrain from reporting what has been happening. And also because liberal and leftist government officials want to conceal the truth.
See Bruce Bawer’s 2006 book While Europe slept : How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within.
Bruce Bawer is an American ex-pat who has been living in Europe since 1998, first in the Netherlands and then in Norway. He has first-hand experience with the reality of Muslim immigration.
From the closing pages of the book:
Remember the “fiery but mostly peaceful protests” lie?
Regarding the Netherlands, here’s a Tweet from Geert Wilders:
“This is why you should vote for the PVV” (Wilder’s party).
And from the Simon Wiesenthal Center:
https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/swc-denounces-uc-berkeley.html
Note the date: February 28th.
Again, the “peaceful protest” lie is indefensible.
I know American “liberals” who strongly believe that Geert Wilders should be in prison. I don’t know any American liberals who have defended him.
Also from that book, about the aftermath of the murder of Theo Van Gogh:
Here are some “peaceful protesters” in 2020, harassing and intimidating random restaurant patrons in Washington DC, demanding that they raise a fist in support of Black Lives Matter:
And here are some more “peaceful protesters” being their usual thuggish selves:
Here is a pro-Israel demonstrator being assaulted on the Upper East Side of NYC.
@iwe‘s son is a courageous young man. As @iwe says, the fellow can protect himself, and yet I can’t help being concerned for him. On the other hand, he is demonstrating that the terrorists can’t drive him out. That is a good thing.
What was that damn cop doing in the linked tweet? People were being struck with wooden slats three feet long directly in front of the cop. All he could muster was the energy to walk over to the attackers and ask them to stop?
From another teacher at Rutgers, a friend of a friend:
Some people have commented on the trash left behind when the protesters finally leave. The true pollution, the soiling, the corruption is far greater than the tons of garbage these people cast about. The true pollution is the same as that which poisons the spirits of the children of Gaza: it’s the relentless, age-old, seemingly unquenchable hate of the racist, of the anti-Semite bigot.
And where’s the water cannon?
Anyone who denied the violence is an antisemite.
This is a good interview (about five minutes) with Columbia Law School alumnus Robert Charles on the violence at Columbia. He points out that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would not have been able to attend the law school safely under the present conditions.
‘Educators’ and various nonprofits are working hard on the training of future generations of activists: Teach the Children Well.
How times change. He would be more welcome at ‘Bama.
https://hillel.ua.edu/
I reluctantly agree with your last sentence, but as an American citizen ( non-Jewish as if it matters) I think the perpetrators should be the ones to suffer
I really worry what is happening to my country.
Keeping people out of places they have a right to be in, by threat or implication of force, is violence.