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[Make sure to read Robert Spencer’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]
It’s simple, really. Why do so many college and university students hate Israel? Because they know nothing about it, and have bought into the propaganda they’ve been fed.
In the midst of the recent and nationwide demonstrators featuring students (and many others) denouncing Israel for its alleged crimes, Algemeiner reported that “students who care strongly about the ‘Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories’ do not have knowledge of basic facts surrounding the subject, and do not share similar concerns about other geopolitical conflicts.”
This wholly unstartling bit of information was gleaned from a survey of 230 undergraduates at University of California, Berkeley. Ron Hassner, who has the unenviable position of being Berkeley’s Helen Diller Family Chair in Israel Studies, conducted the survey, which began by presenting students with 18 issues and asking them to rate how interested they were in them.
These issues, according to Hassner, included “US-Iran relations, the civil war in Yemen, drone warfare, etc., on a five point scale, ranging from ‘I’m not that interested’ (1 point out of 5) to ‘I care deeply’ (5 points out of 5).” The survey went on from there to ask the respondents a “series of open-ended questions ‘on history, geography, and current affairs.’”F
Forty-three percent of the students were most interested in Israel’s alleged “control of Palestinian territories,” while expressing much less interest in “other Middle East occupations, such as the Kurdish struggle for independence, the occupation of Western Sahara, or the occupation of Northern Cyprus.”
That’s understandable. These indoctrinated bots aren’t inundated daily with self-righteous leftist rubbish about the massive, outrageous, world-historical injustice of the occupation of Western Sahara or Northern Cyprus. In all likelihood, they haven’t even heard of either one.
Why is that likely? Because they know virtually nothing regarding the conflict about which they claim to care very deeply: “Eighty-four percent of those in the most passionate cohort could not name the decade when Israel captured the West Bank, while 75 percent could not locate the Palestinian territories in question on a map.” Moreover, a full twenty-five percent of these programmed and propagandized student “placed the Palestinian Territories west of Lebanon, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.” Nor did just a few of them drive the Palestinians into the sea that they chant about wanting to fill with Israelis: “The class average for this blunder was 14%.”
The survey data also showed that “students who expressed the most interest in the Palestinian issue were less informed than more moderate peers, who ‘are more likely to admit gaps in their knowledge and, as a result, are less likely to hold erroneous beliefs.’” Thus “like the rest of the class, only 25% of passionate students placed the Palestinian Territories, correctly, south of Lebanon. But students with more moderate levels of enthusiasm provided the correct answer 28% of the time.”
The anger of the students toward Israel correlated with their ignorance of it: “the most passionate students were also the least likely to leave questions unanswered and ‘the most likely to offer a wild guess,’ marking them as the most overconfident respondents.” This pattern continually recurred “in all answers related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Hassner stated: “Only 16% of students who ‘care deeply’ about the Palestinian issue provided the correct decade for the Six Day War and only 17% were able to guess that the population of Israel was somewhere between 8 and 12 million people. The others offered guesses ranging from as low as 100,000 persons to as high as 150 million persons.”
Hassner himself professed not to know why ignorance and passion about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict correlated so strikingly: “While acknowledging that his survey could not answer why students were driven to profess strong opinions on issues they were not particularly knowledgeable about, Hassner posited that ‘it does indicate, strongly, that education and moderation go hand in hand.’” He added: “The questions that students answered most accurately involved Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, all countries for which they expressed moderate but not extreme interest. If misinformation is both a cause and a consequence of political passion, then good teaching is the antidote.”
Yes. The students who are most passionate about hating Israel know the least about the conflict because they are suffering from a social contagion, not acting upon a reasoned conclusion. Those who actually study the issue, if they do so thoroughly and honestly, will come out supporting Israel. Our nation’s colleges and universities are doing their level best to prevent that outcome.
The Left’s Long March Through the Institutions has been a resounding success. Most of our nation’s colleges and universities, including — indeed, especially — those who enjoy an outsize influence on American politics and culture, have long ago ceased to be centers of higher learning and have become centers of far-Left indoctrination. Marxist sloganeering and agitprop masquerades as genuine intellectual inquiry, and so it’s no wonder that once American youth graduate from their once-renowned institutions, they happily take jobs in government or social media that involve stripping free speech and self-defense rights from Americans. They have been trained to be cogs in the machine. Their hatred of Israel is just one aspect of that indoctrination.
Could it be that Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos …failed to take …any action to remove leftist indoctrination?
Unlike your favorite Democrats, DeVos did not imagine herself to be dictator. But she made her positions clear, advocating, for example, for school choice.
Her visits to two NYC private schools:
https://mishpacha.com/metrobeyond-betsy-devos-goes-to-yeshivah/
https://www.jewishlife.com/news/print.php?ARTICLE_ID=103113
Could it also be that illegal immigration has brought millions into the US who are not educated correctly, many of whom are here as Islam’s goal of taking over our country? Islam’s goal is to flood countries worldwide with Islamic followers who will take over a country once they become around 15% of the population. That’s when they start demanding their perceived rights under Islamic teachings and pass laws making it illegal to say anything bad about them. Then they take control. Getting out from underneath this threat is going to be a real problem for the US!
Our campuses have become the Leftists Training Grounds and its way past time to totally cut them off to Public funds by 100%
Just fire board members and administrators who hire communists to run things and teach our youth communism. Problem solved. (Not gonna happen)
It’s the feckless youth who are the most ”woke” so it’s inevitable they would become anti Zonist and anti semetic as Israel has been portrayed by the Left and MSM as merely a Jewish version of a South African apartheid state
The same people who protested against Apartheid in S Africa are doing the same against Israel regardless if it’s a bogus comparison
Dumb and damn proud of their stupidity. Pretty much sums up all antisemites
And Leftists, generally. Years ago, a friend of mine, an attorney who is moderately Left, asked me whether I believed Islam was a violent religion. I said yes. He said that he thought that my saying that was no different than what Hitler said about the Jews. (We are both Jews.) He knows absolutely nothing about Islam or Islamic beliefs whereas I know quite a bit about Islamic doctrine. I told him there was one main difference. He asked what that was. I said, “Islam is, in fact, a violent religion whereas Jews, are not, in fact, syphilitic vermin.” We never spoke of it again. But the fact that he would consider me no different than a Nazi for having an opinion about a subject on which my knowledge was greatly superior to his own showed me how much the Left depends on beliefs that they base on whether they make them feel good about themselves rather than on objective fact. I’ve seen more of it almost daily, especially in the media, ever since.
Yes, I had friends in college who were all over their causes to feel good about themselves. That’s what it was all about.
Their hatred blinds them to the truth. Book learning doesn’t always make people smart or knowledgable.
Educators from Kindergarten through grad school are almost universally left wing and fanatically loyal Democrats. I’ve know very conservative, even pastor’s, kids who went off to college and were indoctrinated into left wing lunatics fanatically loyal Democrats.
It reflects what Jesus once said- either you’re for me or against me. When Education kicked out the Judeo-Christian ethic it was replaced by an anti-Judeo Christian ethic. When the Anti-Christ shows up, it’ll be very likely higher education and the Democrat party in general will cheer the arrival.
“When the Anti-Christ shows up, it’ll be very likely higher education and the Democrat party in general will cheer the arrival.”
Yes, well said.
Another way of thinking;
Beautiful talk by Rabbi Frand. He reminds me of my old rabbi, a real old-school chasidishe rebbe who used to say, “The purpose of your life is to do a favor for another human being.” That’s all. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think of him and miss him. And to try to do a favor for another human being.
The solution to antisemitism, sadly, is not a better informed population. The only solution to the problem that antisemites have ever understood is the IDF.
I don’t know about that being the only solution to antisemitism. The old Jewish Defense League in New York, run by the great Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed memory, certainly changed some antisemitic minds, or at least their behavior. We really need something like this in our cities today.
The leftists and marxists have been talking over our colleges for sixty years and this, sadly, is the result. Indoctrinated youth who spout slogans and have no concept of critical thinking. I doubt that most of them even know where the Gaza Strip is. Here’s the truth for all the idiots and the ignorant college students and anti-Semitic liberals that call for a “two state solution” and support the Palestinians. Israel gave the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians in 2005, and removed their military and abandoned 23 of their settlements, so that the Palestinians could have their own state. The Gaza Strip, is prime real estate and has 26 miles of beautiful beachfront on the Mediterranean Sea; as much as the Gold Coast here from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. And what did the Palestinians do with their opportunity to make billions and create a tourist Mecca in their own homeland? They tore up the water pipes to build rocket launchers and built tunnels for the terrorists under their hospitals and schools. In 2006, they ELECTED Hamas as their leaders to control the Gaza Strip. Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews. So the two state solution is a complete lie and the Palestinians are hardly distinguishable from Hamas, and there will be no peace until Hamas, who is worse than ISIS, is eradicated.
And Leftists, generally. Years ago, a friend of mine, an attorney who is moderately Left, asked me whether I believed Islam was a violent religion. I said yes. He said that he thought that my saying that was no different than what Hitler said about the Jews. (We are both Jews.) He knows absolutely nothing about Islam or Islamic beliefs whereas I know quite a bit about Islamic doctrine. I told him there was one main difference. He asked what that was. I said, “Islam is, in fact, a violent religion whereas Jews, are not, in fact, syphilitic vermin.” We never spoke of it again. But the fact that he would consider me no different than a Nazi for having an opinion about a subject on which my knowledge was greatly superior to his own showed me how much the Left depends on beliefs that they base on whether they make them feel good about themselves rather than on objective fact. I’ve seen more of it almost daily, especially in the media, ever since. See, they don’t have to know the facts. They take whatever side makes them feel good about themselves as noble, caring, sharing, fair, etc. and puts them on the same side as others who they consider “the good guys.”
Sorry! No jihadis can be worse than ISIS. Hamas or Hizballah are as bad- all the way bad just like ISIS. Just closer to Israel . Israel will sooner or later have to complete the war that Hamas started or it will eventually be defeated. Hamas and their supporters must be defeated, not rearmed and rebuilt. Unfortunately the pattern has been the USA stops Israel and Israel loses its gains and back to square one. Everlasting war or actual victory? Just war theory says actual victory saves lives. Endless war advocates are in charge and they like the endless death and disruption that goes along with endless war.
Those non–Muslims Americans, of university and college campuses through the United States, who are protesting against the State of Israel and who likewise greatly favor Hamas are people who are ,rightly , described ,as the “useful idiots” of the leaders of Hamas and their jihadist members who are dedicated to the cause of conquest for the cause of Islam.
Those Americans who aren’t Muslims the stooges of those Hamas chefs and the other Muslim terrorist, For those of Hamas view all people who are not Muslims as inferior creatures to them and refer to them .
Behind their backs as , “Kafirs,” which is the Islamic derogatory term for “disbelievers”
It’s tragic that those non-Muslims pro-Hamas America protesters against Israel are so very deluded by Hamas that this Islamic terror / murder organization so easily manipulates and uses them as their tools.
Those poor young people are ,truly, those jihadists useful idiots.
Many universities and colleges throughout the United States have been thoroughly infiltrated and influenced by the insidious stealth jihadists.
There may be little doubt that those stealth jihadists are backed and funded by Iran and Qatar as well as oil rich Saudi Arabia.
The former President, William Howard Taft, in a speech rightly and wisely, declared, “Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.”
In 1972, as a grad student at The American University in Washington, D.C., I came upon a sit-in at the Registrar’s Office, protesting the gov’t of Chile. A Naval Aviator vet, I was frustrated by these historical illiterates. I had completed a course n latin American History. I asked who spoke Spanish, in Spanish: no one; who has been to South America: no one. After a few other questions with the same response, I got together with other grad students and kicked the illiterates out of there. What should be happening everywhere in this country. Make them accountable for their actions.
Many of the women raped, murdered, and disfigured in Israel on October 7 seem to be very attractive young women from their photos. For the most part, Leftist women at protests are ugly, viewed as victims, and protected from criticism. This sexual component needs to be brought out into the open and discussed. It’s a big part of the picture that should not be denied and hidden to prevent discomfort.
Our side has been silent or, worse, wiling accomplices in the destruction of our culture, generally, and education, specifically. Just now some are waking put of their comas. Sadly, with the Marxists controlling everything, it is too late. Republicans who have been in office are busy writing books to tell us how bad things have become. Again, too late and preaching to the proverbial choir.
I am not surprised how the students are acting at various universities and colleges because they are for the most part not very bright to begin with in today educational environment. The colleges and universities have lower their standards so more high school students could be accepted in the first place. As one professor once said in an article I read a couple of years back, they write like they are in seventh or eight grade. That quote I always remembered after I read the article.
Remember, a college education is a money making business. Without students, professors would be unemployed. That goes for all the other people employed by colleges and universities. You could probably closed down a certain percentage of them forever. They would not be missed. There are too many students in colleges who are not capable of handling a college level education. They would be better off learning a trade.
There was an article recently posted here on FPM giving the percentages of increase in staff, at all levels, for colleges and universities. If memory serves me, the number of students increased by some 60%+- over the period observed, while the number of staff, admins, etc. went up by over 400%. The takeaway was, jobs in academia have become quite plentiful and lucrative while the product (educated students) has dropped off immensely. Also, the academic levels of new college entrants have reached a new low resulting in the “dumbing down” of intellectual standards. VDH has had much to say about this from personal experience.
Actually these students are clueless as to the times and what their hatred will bring them.
We see prophecies made by Yeshua all being fulfilled to the letter.
One of the biggest signs of fulfillment of the word is in Zechariah 12 regarding the times and the condition of Jerusalem.
The Word of the oracle of the Lord. Zechariah 12:2 “Behohld I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves, And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. We are there in these times sppken of in Zecharia.
Actually these students are clueless as to the times and what their hatred will bring them.
We see prophecies made by Yeshua all being fulfilled to the letter.
One of the biggest signs of fulfillment of the word is in Zechariah 12 regarding the times and the condition of Jerusalem.
The Word of the oracle of the Lord. Zechariah 12:2 “Behohld I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves, And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. We are there in these times sppken of in Zechariah.
The answer to the craziness we see today is all in Romans Chapter 1 if you care to read it…
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Truth, thanks for posting this.
I am a long-time Christian who loves Israel and the Jewish people. I agree with many of the comments above that state that most non-Muslim, pro-Palistinian university students are ignorant of history and Jewish claims to the land of Israel. I will add that most of these students have no knowledge of God, the Bible or Biblical history. I believe also that the typical leftist university student or faculty member is not only anti-Israel, but anti-God and in all likelihood under the influence of demonic powers.
The level of ignorance of some of these students is astounding. I’ve had several on disqus claim the palestinians are Philistines, and they know nothing of the Ottomans. They also claim israel wants to build a canal through gaza, using nukes to dig it, and that Israel wants to take Gaza so they can get their oil. They’re unfazed when informed that with modern drilling technology, Israel wouldn’t need to be in gaza to drill under gaza and extract any oil.
Then again’ these same people believe “The People’s History of the US,” and think marxism is a good idea.