Are critics of student protests subconsciously anti-semitic?

JVL Introduction

Ajay Skaria, author of the article below, has written about Gandhi and non-violent movements. He also studies Zionism because it provides a model for Hindutva (Hindu supremacism).

The students at the University of Minnesota where he teaches clearly recognise the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, between a hostility directed against Jews because of their religious or cultural identity, and an ideology that is used to justify racism and genocide. They have been emphatic in rejecting the former.

Their protests have been overwhelmingly non-violent; it is university administrations who have used force by bringing in police against them.

Skaria draws parallels between Gandhi’s efforts to stop Hinduism from becoming a racism directed against Muslims, and Jewish students who are similarly “ trying to rescue Judaism from being complicit in the racism that Zionism has become.”

In contrast, suggests Skaria, it is their critics who are being antisemitic denying them the Judaism they have come to express.

RK

This article was originally published by the Wire on Thu 2 May 2024. Read the original here.