College Material
“Elite universities are caught in a trap of their own making, one that has been a long time coming. They’ve trained pro-Palestinian students to believe that, on the oppressor-oppressed axis, Jews are white and therefore dominant, not ‘marginalized,’ while Israel is a settler-colonialist state and therefore illegitimate. They’ve trained pro-Israel students to believe that unwelcome and even offensive speech makes them so unsafe that they should stay away from campus. What the universities haven’t done is train their students to talk with one another.” (That’s something the kids on campus share with the rest of us.) George Packer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Campus-Left Occupation That Broke Higher Education.
+ I didn’t think of these bookends for the Class of 2024. “Columbia’s class of 2024 missed high school graduations and university orientation. Their freshman year passed in a haze of masks, Zoom classes and isolation. Four years later, not much has changed. Thanks to the Gaza protests, crowds are again being dispersed, classes have gone remote and students are wearing masks—this time to hide their identities at demonstrations. Graduation ceremonies might be canceled.” They Entered College in Isolation and Leave in Protest.
+ Hamas and Iran celebrate anti-Gaza war protests taking US colleges by storm. You might find that disturbing. Would the protesters? Share of college students blaming Hamas for Oct. 7 attack on Israel declines in new poll.
+ I can’t stand Bibi, deplore his rightwing allies, am no fan of the way this was has been conducted, and think the lack of humanitarian aid is unconscionable. But that’s a far cry from thinking Iran and Hamas are the good guys here. Gazans venting anger against Hamas in wake of death and destruction.
+ Dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi has been given a death sentence for his involvement in the widespread protests that swept Iran in 2022.
+ “The Hamas terror group published a propaganda video Wednesday showing signs of life from 23-year-old Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, prompting relief and concern for his parents, and sparking an angry anti-government protest near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home demanding a deal to return the hostages.”
+ “President Biden and the leaders of 17 countries whose citizens were abducted by Hamas issued a joint statement Thursday calling on the group to accept a hostage deal currently on the table that would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.”
