Against intellectual boycott

Today begins a week of frustration, a week of confrontation in place of collaboration, and a week when a short-sighted argument conquers productive goals. Today begins Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine’s “Israeli Apartheid Week.”

Apartheid, a set of discriminatory policies in 20th century South Africa, is just one of the antiquated labels C-SJP has applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—last month, the group hosted an event that deemed the situation a modern Holocaust. These names not only conflict with each other, but also evade the actual issue at hand.

Social inequalities in Israel right now certainly exist and denying them would be as unproductive as deeming them apartheid. A constructive view of the future must recognize these problems and solve them, but the apartheid metaphor implies untruths, misdirects responsibilities, and in the end moves us further from actually addressing the issues that it aims to present. C-SJP’s labeling only serves to isolate a huge group of students on campus who want to see change. Support for Israel, like support for any state, does not imply unconditional support for each of its laws and social norms.

“Apartheid Week” represents a dangerous trend on campus and in the world. The campaign itself is an arm of the larger Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which aims to fix Israel’s problems by demonizing the state. It twists a very complex situation into a simple dichotomy, and blames Israel for not coming up with a quick solution.

Beyond presenting the apartheid metaphor to our campus, C-SJP applies BDS to our community, refusing to collaborate with any organization that supports Israel. A university is a place of learning, not a battlefield. It goes without saying that any person wanting to be truly informed about any conflict must examine all sides of the situation and determine his or her own personal opinion on the matter. Intellectual boycott of any one perspective breeds ignorance and radicalism and has no place at Columbia.

Hillel openly welcomes discussion on this issue, as communication is the only way toward mutual understanding, compassion, and peace—presumably everyone’s goal. Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine are not mutually exclusive. Just last week, Hillel hosted Ghaith Al-Omari, former advisor to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, for a lecture alongside Israeli journalist David Makovsky. Representing a Palestinian voice in the conversation, Al-Omari stated that moderate, mainstream Palestinian opinion looks forward to a two-state solution that keeps Palestinians’ best interests in mind and will be accomplished through diplomacy. Students genuinely want to hear Palestinian perspectives—presented calmly and rationally with time for questioning—and the event garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews. We would be thrilled to work directly with C-SJP and not against them, but as long as they hold public displays of bias, we will continue to respond.

I ask C-SJP once again to engage in a dialogue. Together we can explore issues and inform students. We will both develop an attainable vision for the future, and nobody’s voice will get lost in the banter. For the sake of the entire Columbia community, I can only hope that this week and in the future, C-SJP will open not only their mouths, but also their minds.

Matthew Jacobs is a sophomore in Columbia College majoring in history and theory of architecture and neuroscience and behavior. He serves on the Hillel executive board as Israel Coordinator.