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.