The newest episode in the continuing anti-Semitic rampage going on at Concordia University has been well documented by Segacs and commented upon by Meryl Yourish, Charles Johnson and Damian Penny, among others. The fact that the Concordia Student Union has effectively closed down Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus, is beyond an outrage.
For a few years I served as program director for the Hillel Foundation at a major American. University. And I've been an active participant in Hillel as a student at a few different institutions of higher learning. There's no way to exaggerate the importance of this organization and the value it provides to Jewish college students, many of whom are living away from home for the first time in their lives. Hillel makes sure kosher food is available for students who observe dietary laws, arranges for Shabbat and holiday meals, services and celebrations to be held on campus, provides counseling services and educational programs, facilitates interaction between students and the general Jewish community and helps to counteract the anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda that many kids first encounter at college. Those are only a few of Hillel's activities. Oh, and among other things, Hillel often sponsors events like this.
Concordia Hillel was suspended from operation, not for advocating genocide or suicide bombing, not for sponsoring physical attacks on students and community members, not for distributing hate literature, but for having a brochure on a table that invited Jewish students to participate in one of many programs that encourage Jewish immigration to the State of Israel. The fact that this particular program involves a period of military training and service (as well agricultural and Hebrew language courses) was just a convenient excuse. Yes, Machal does feed into the Nahal, a youth division of the IDF that specializes, among other things, in the establishment and defense of new Israeli communities -- communities that, more often than not, are developed near border areas in Israel "proper." (It's amazing how every time the word "settlement" is used in conjunction with Israel, it's assumed that the "territories" are somehow involved.)
The fact is that what's really being objected to here is the right of Jewish students to show support for Israel by promoting aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel), and the reason for that is that aliyah is one of Israel's strongest defensive weapons in its struggle for survival. Another such weapon is the strength of Jewish identity in the diaspora, which Hillel serves to foster. By closing down Hillel on one campus and chilling the promotion of aliyah on others, those who are seeking to destroy Israel are attempting to strike a double blow against the Jewish State.
But it goes beyond that. There are at least two very concerted efforts in progress right now to spread the "blessings" of Islam to North America. Both are expressly intended to result in the ultimate imposition of Shari'a as the law of our land. The first is regularly in the news these days and adopts the tools of terror and mass murder. The second, which I've written about before, prefers subtlety, persuasion, legislation and coercion as its methods. And one of the first and most important steps along that path is the utter suppression of anything that might be construed as criticism of Islam. Look again at Segacs' post here in which she discusses this letter. And then compare that to the shrill cries about the "right to criticize Israeli policies." What's wrong with this picture?
Public criticism is one of the most important activities in a democracy, but there are two clear dangers to watch out for. The first is the disguise of hate speech as criticism. The second is the selective suppression of criticism in the name of "political correctness" or "cultural sensitivity" or any other nonsense name you want to give to censorship. At Concordia University, we're seeing both of these snakes rear their ugly heads on an almost daily basis with the full support and, it seems, encouragement, of the University administration. And that spells even bigger trouble to come.
