Hillel enforces an ideological position regarding the state of Israel on its members. It pushes people out who do things like screen Palestinian documentaries or collaborate with J Street, a liberal group that advocates for a two-state solution. www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/u... 🎁 - ThreadSky

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social • 296 days ago

Hillel enforces an ideological position regarding the state of Israel on its members. It pushes people out who do things like screen Palestinian documentaries or collaborate with J Street, a liberal group that advocates for a two-state solution. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/us/members-of-jewish-student-group-test-permissible-discussion-on-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pU0.jvtW.D27Bftn4yJKp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb 🎁

Comments

amiablequinn.bsky.social•296 days ago

I mean, doesn't SJP enforce an ideological position regarding the state of Israel on it's members?

malmer.com•296 days ago

Not to mention right-wing groups like TPUSA, YAF, and others. Targeting one group that happens to be Jewish is way problematic.

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social•296 days ago

Sure. And no one I know of suggests opposition to university affiliations with SJP is per se anti-muslim bigotry.

amiablequinn.bsky.social•296 days ago

Even if it isn't explicitly antisemitic it is totally unacceptable for a political group to demand another group be kicked off campus, especially if that group is historically the largest Jewish student organization in the country.

wingofbenu.bsky.social•295 days ago

time to go back to college and start my new political group "mexicans advocating for the immediate execution of everyone who doesnt wear plaid", which I'm sure will be a big hit on campus defended for our right to free speech.

blahpers.bsky.social•296 days ago

Even if that group is currently advocating genocide?

erinnthered.bsky.social•295 days ago

Yes. Welcome to the US, where the KKK is allowed to exist on campus too. If you don't like the ideals you need to organize, educate against them, not the org.

blahpers.bsky.social•295 days ago

No thank you, I think I'll simply beat the everliving snot out of the KKK instead. They have no place on campus or anywhere else.

alantennisplayer.bsky.social•296 days ago

This is the definition of weaponized use of the term antisemitism I’m Jewish this is the opposite of antisemitism

wallybuan0.bsky.social•296 days ago

Hillel also does cute stickers

gsjphd.bsky.social•294 days ago

Not quite! Hillel *exposed* the scumbags who did those stickers.

wallybuan0.bsky.social•294 days ago

That would explain why they’re being sued for defamation over the stickers, then

gsjphd.bsky.social•294 days ago

The SJC thinks that the Hillel center put the culprit up to it. I'm not sure how you square that with the Hillel being the one to expose the fakes, but I guess we'll see.

profgabriele.com•296 days ago

Hillel on our campus objected to a panel on the Gaza conflict that involved scholars of Palestinian descent

twitskeptic.sirvin.com•296 days ago

The panel may have contained Palestinian scholars but that doesn't appear to be the reason for the objection. https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/israel-palestine-panel-series-at-va-tech-ignites-controversy/article_87e58180-8e21-11ee-aee1-ffe615dcd650.html

profgabriele.com•295 days ago

This account doesn’t contradict my point, nor does the Hillel statement (which is presented uncritically without the reporter having spoken to the organizers of the panels - including the head of Judaic Studies) accurately reflect the content of the panel

twitskeptic.sirvin.com•295 days ago

Indeed, Hillel objected and there were Palestinian scholars on the panel. But your implication wasn't that anodyne. The reporter did interview two of the most controversial members of the panel as well as a UVA spokesman and reported that the organizer and contact for the panel was unresponsive.

twitskeptic.sirvin.com•295 days ago

And the organizer, Carmen Gitre, lists herself as a BDS supporter. Seems like a very objective panel organizer.

lilheb.bsky.social•295 days ago

“Whose mission is to keep the next generation of Jewish students in the fold” is a wild description. Makes it sound like a cult.

profmisterlizzie.bsky.social•296 days ago

Catholic student organizations probably aren’t friendly to abortion or gay rights activists, and that offends me personally but I wouldn’t expect colleges to cut ties with them.

blahpers.bsky.social•296 days ago

I wouldn't expect it, but I'd welcome it, and it is a reasonable demand

profmisterlizzie.bsky.social•296 days ago

Is it a demand you’ve actually heard anyone make?

blahpers.bsky.social•295 days ago

Nope.

rwruedii.bsky.social•295 days ago

Additionally, the University does not need to officially endorse student groups.

Students should be responsible for student groups not the administration board.

When the administration group pushes for a group to be on campus that is infringing on student self-governance.

rwruedii.bsky.social•292 days ago

I would rather see no student groups receive official funding and official status from the administration and board, then see the administration and board being able to use their bias to control student activities.

nonplussed12.bsky.social•296 days ago

Everyone wants a two state solution. Except the Palestinians and the Israelis. This is turning into parody. It always does.

pjeffe.bsky.social•296 days ago

No, many people would like something like the single pluralistic state that the League of Nations told Britain to create in Palestine. Ethnostates are always problematic.

nonplussed12.bsky.social•296 days ago

That ship sailed. And anyone who thinks this knows less than nothing about the region and has never been near it. You tolerate Islamic Republics, the Partition of the Subcontinent, but "enthnostates" are always problematic. Got it.

pjeffe.bsky.social•295 days ago

Where did I say I supported Islamic ethnostates? And not sure what the partition of India has to do with it, but I'm certainly not in favor of the Hindutva movement if that's what you mean.

Is the reference to "the region" meant to imply that secular, pluralistic states are somehow beyond them?

nonplussed12.bsky.social•295 days ago

By the way, I am TRULY impressed by your ability to grant either approval or condemnation of societies halfway around the world. I do hope you're speaking ex-cathedra, so all of the actors in these conflicts are hanging on your every word. Everyone is so goddamned SMART.

pjeffe.bsky.social•295 days ago

"Everyone wants a two state solution." How VERY expert of you to weigh in so INTELLIGENTLY on the issue.

nonplussed12.bsky.social•295 days ago

I'm sorry, sir, but that comment reveals a lack of knowledge. It's not your fault. This IS social media so everyone is granted instant expertise. In any case, the conflict won't be solved on Bluesky, or at Columbia.

pjeffe.bsky.social•295 days ago

Right, but you can't possible respond materially, only with a poor attempt at snark. Got it.

mikeytsi.bsky.social•296 days ago

Well, remember what happened when Palestine was looking to elect a leader that was advocating for that solution?

nonplussed12.bsky.social•296 days ago

I've been living with this my whole life. I am heartbroken and despondent. It never had to be this way. And now, all anyone talks about is third order effects. It's 2024. What else can you show me.

weedramatic.bsky.social•296 days ago

universities cutting ties with Hillel would be unproductive at any rate, but it's just not worth bringing attention to it when the organization is already trying to make itself irrelevant to Jewish students

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social•296 days ago

I’m totally willing to buy that this demand is a strategic mistake and profoundly utopian and immature to boot. I just don’t think it’s per se antisemitism.

ethanjacobs.bsky.social•295 days ago

Would denying admission to all Jews who are in some broad sense Zionist be antisemitism?

cathygellis.bsky.social•295 days ago

It would target students like I was, because we are Jewish, in order to deny us the ability to connect with the Jewish student community.

It's anti-Jewishness in target, rationale, and felt impact is what makes it per se antisemitic.

weedramatic.bsky.social•295 days ago

I disagree about the targeting, there are other Jewish organizations. But I agree it'll have some harmful effects on the Jewish community and that's one of the reasons I oppose it.
My point, as somebody concerned about the future of Jewish life in America, is that Hillel's biggest threat is Hillel.

weedramatic.bsky.social•295 days ago

I.e., assuming no change in university recognition, Hillel's stances are going to lead to a decline in those connections you mentioned over time. That's true across mainstream Jewish organizations. Leadership worrying more about keeping Bibi in office today than Jewish life in America in the future.

mikesager.net•296 days ago

Hillel has been a central part of college Jewish culture. I don’t agree with all of their international positions but they don’t turn away Jewish kids at the door, and their role is religious. Demanding the removal of Hillel is extraordinarily and blatantly antisemitic and it’s not even close.

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social•296 days ago

When Hillel International cut ties with the Jewish students at Swarthmore over this and, to force them to stop using the Hillel name, threatened them with IP litigation, was that per se antisemitism? https://www.timesofisrael.com/swarthmore-hillel-changes-name-after-threats-from-parent-body/

blahpers.bsky.social•296 days ago

Sounds like turning away Jewish students at the door to me

mikesager.net•296 days ago

I don’t know about this one specific example at Swarthmore, and it’s beside the point. I’m comfortable saying that Hillel serves as a community center for Jewish students. Mainstream Jewish institutions are Zionist. Demanding the absence of Zionists is antisemitic. Jews aren’t allowed to advocate?

nycsouthpaw.bsky.social•295 days ago

It’s not beside the point. At Swarthmore, you had a community center for Jewish students, which didn’t turn people away at the door, and Hillel International determined that it didn’t agree with their geopolitical positions and advocacy, so it forcefully cut ties with them. Was that antisemitism?

weedramatic.bsky.social•296 days ago

"Demanding the absence of Zionists" is significantly different than "Demanding the absence of people who have already excluded anybody who isn't a Zionist"

djweedpizza.gobirds.online•296 days ago

Definitely seems like a group taking a deliberate political stance.

mikesager.net•296 days ago

Thank you for your well informed and carefully considered input, DJ Weed Pizza.

weedramatic.bsky.social•296 days ago

Agreed, and to that point I was emphasizing the distinction between Hillel and Jewish student life. Hillel has had a major place in the past. But the relevant time period is the future. I expect Hillel's presence will decline with continued university recognition, Jewish student life will go on.

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