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We're second-year regulation college students on the College of California, Berkeley. We're Jewish. And we're Zionists. (We're additionally talking for ourselves, and never on behalf of the varsity or any group.)
Buddies, household, and the media repeatedly contacted us over the previous a number of weeks to ask the way it feels to be college students at a faculty with “Jewish-free” zones. Whereas there are not any specific “Jewish-free” zones at Berkeley Regulation, there's an unacceptable tolerance for excluding and demonizing Zionist identities. We wish to share the influence this has on us as Jewish college students.
Pupil leaders of organizations which adopted a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) by-law this fall had been required to attend “Palestine 101,” a coaching hosted by Berkeley Regulation College students for Justice in Palestine. The occasion’s said function was to show attendees to “be taught methods to create a secure and inclusive area for Palestinian college students and college students which are in help of the liberation of Palestine.”
We help this function. Palestinian college students ought to all the time really feel secure, and college students that help the liberation of Palestine ought to by no means really feel excluded. So we—Jewish, Zionist college students—attended, too.
The presenters equated Zionism with imperialism, ethnic erasure, and colonialism. Their primary takeaway: Israel is an illegitimate state that doesn't have a proper to exist. Individuals who imagine in any other case are inherently attacking Palestinian college students. The one choice to guard Palestinian college students is to exclude Zionists and denounce Zionism. Palestine 101 basically distorted Zionism.
Zionism is the Jewish folks’s proper to self-determination in our ancestral homeland. Zionism connects us to our ancestors and the land of Israel, a land which holds our folks’s historical past, and is a house to our family and friends. Zionism is the fruits of a multi-generational wrestle to stay freely.
College students stroll previous a Berkeley Regulation signal.
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Zionism is integral to our id. For 2 of us, Zionism is mirrored in our final names via the biblical custom that fed into Jerusalem and culminated in Israel immediately. For instance, the final title “Cohen” denotes the title of “priest” and traces its lineage straight again to Aaron. The Cohens (the clergymen) had been those who served within the internal sanctums of the Temple, whose western retaining wall nonetheless stands in Jerusalem. For others, Zionism represents survival. From pogroms in Poland to spiritual persecution throughout the Arab world, hundreds of thousands of Jewish households fled their houses and solely discovered freedom in Israel. For all of us, Zionism connects us to Judaism and dietary supplements our spiritual practices.
The anti-Zionism promoted at Palestine 101 sought to disclaim any Jewish connection to Israel whereas concurrently selling Palestinian nationalism. The more-than 60 attendees realized to ignore the lived experiences of Jews whose Zionism is a part of their id. College students left the coaching disgusted by Zionists and unashamed at excluding them.
By marginalizing and dismissing our id, this coaching instantly impacted our neighborhood. Following the occasion, one attendee informed us that merely listening to anybody who challenges the anti-Zionist narrative would hurt her Palestinian classmates.
Many Jewish 1Ls (first-years) selected to not be part of affinity teams andpro-bono organizations after studying that these teams’ leaders handed the BDS by-law and attended Palestine 101. A Jewish 2L felt unwelcome at a social gathering as a result of attendees knew the 2L scholar solely by their new label: supporter of Palestinian “ethnic cleaning.” A switch scholar was compelled to both conceal their id or be perceived as a “settler-colonialist.” Most upsetting, a number of different college students, and even a school adviser, felt compelled to go away their very own organizations—communities that they had constructed over their time on the regulation college—due to these by-laws and this coaching.
No group has mentioned “Jews aren't welcome,” however in apply, these by-laws and the coaching say precisely that. Pupil leaders now settle for the exclusion of Jews due to a facet of their id. There may be tolerance to marginalize us due to our religion. Thus, their widespread approval of the silencing of Jewish voices.
So we marvel, what number of pals suppose much less of us as a result of we help Israel’s proper to exist? What number of friends suppose we now help apartheid or imperialism? What number of classmates now equate our recognition of Israel with opposition to just about each different progressive excellent we advocate for? As we hunt down neighborhood, these are the questions we ask ourselves and these are the ideas which pervade our interactions as a result of Israel is a part of our id.
Anti-Zionism shouldn't be a critique of Israel or a motion for change. If it had been, why was there no dialog about Palestinian political events, prospects, or peace plans? As an alternative, anti-Zionism is a chance to demonize, marginalize, and silence Jews. Anti-Zionism is promoted by BDS. Anti-Zionism was taught at Palestine 101. And now anti-Zionism is an accepted component, if not requirement, of taking part in Ladies of Berkeley Regulation, the Queer Caucus, Womxn of Colour Collective, Asian Pacific American Regulation College students Affiliation, Regulation College students of African Descent, Group Protection Challenge, Berkeley Regulation Muslim Pupil Affiliation, and the Center East and North African Regulation Pupil Affiliation.
These organizations, which ought to function umbrellas that welcome Jews, have now proudly proclaimed: “No Zionists Welcome.” This can be a designation towards a important component of Jewish id and isn't any completely different than excluding anybody else on the idea of their religion or ancestry.
Whereas we maintain deep admiration for Berkeley Regulation, respect the help of the Dean and plenty of of our school in condemning the discriminatory by-laws, and acknowledge that our friends don't imagine they're harming the Jewish neighborhood, it's crucial we share our truths.
This by-law, and its subsequent coaching, explicitly excludes Jewish college students. Subsequently, out of respect for the Jewish neighborhood, we ask these 9 scholar organizations to rescind this by-law. Within the different, we ask U.C. Berkeley to cease funding these discriminatory insurance policies. With out change, Jewish college students are compelled to decide on: conceal our identities, condemn our ancestry, or settle for our marginalization, stigmatization, and exclusion as Zionists.