Unbelievable? Nope. Not in the least.
A Jewish group at the liberal City University of New York (CUNY) has a plan to push the Jewish student population to “unlearn” Zionism and disavow their support for Israel. Before we continue, here’s a short explanation of Zionism, via the Jewish Visual Library:
The term “Zionism” was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum. Its general definition means the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism has come to include the movement for the development of the State of Israel and the protection of the Jewish nation in Israel through support for the Israel Defense Forces.
From inception, Zionism advocated tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions – left, right, religious and secular – formed the Zionist movement and worked together toward its goals.
Disagreements in philosophy led to rifts in the Zionist movement over the years, and a number of separate forms emerged. Notably: Political Zionism; Religious Zionism; Socialist Zionism and Territorial Zionism.
Zionism has now become a “4-letter” word, liberally used by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli activists.
As reported by Jewish News Syndicate, “Not In Our Name: an anti-Zionist Jewish Coalition at CUNY” (NIONCUNY) also plans to get Jewish students to create “their own Jewish identity” in solidarity with Palestinian liberation activists, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS Movement).
Translation: “Unlearn” the truth about your ancestral home, buy the lies and propaganda of a people who said, in various iterations, they will not rest until Israel, the only democratic country in the most dangerous region in the world, is “pushed into the sea” — the same people who support terrorist groups that indiscriminately fire rockets into Israeli neighborhood, with zero provocation.
NIONCUNY denounced Zionism within the university system and challenged the relationship between Zionism and Judaism — all counter to the views of a majority of Jews, including in America. It also “wholeheartedly” endorsed the BDS movement, according to a statement.
We vehemently stand against the Zionist movement within CUNY that aims to criminalize and demonize Palestinian students and workers.
Furthermore, we stand against liberal Zionist entities that falsely classify themselves as anti-Zionist as they perform apologia for Israeli settler-colonial rule.
The notion that this propaganda is vehemently supported by Jews in support of a people who have for decades lived and died to destroy Israel remains nearly incomprehensible; even in today’s world where right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right.
Then again, with a Democrat Party — beginning in earnest with then-President Barack Obama and continuing with the current occupant of the White House — throwing Israel under the bus at every opportunity in deference to the Palestinians, what should we expect?
The NIONCUNY statement continues:
Palestinian voices are at the core of our coalition and we stand to uphold their demands for global liberation, resistance by any means necessary, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the return of all land prior to 1948, and ending the occupation. We commit to Palestinian liberation as defined by Palestinians. These principles are not negotiable.
We vehemently stand against the Zionist movement within CUNY that aims to criminalize and demonize Palestinian students and workers. Furthermore, we stand against liberal Zionist entities that falsely classify themselves as anti-Zionist as they perfom apologia for Israeli settler colonial rule.
[…]
As proud members of the Jewish community, we wholeheartedly denounce any attempts to equate Zionism to Judaism or Jewish life. We define Zionism as a 150-year-old political ideology built with inspiration from European colonialism, ethnic nationalism, and white supremacy since its conception.
[Zionism] is an ideology that continues to justify and normalize acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing upon the people of Palestine and targets Palestinians and their allies globally. All of which is backed by United States imperialism.
Jeffrey Lax, an Orthodox Jewish business professor at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College, told JNS that NIONCUNY is small, but represents a dangerous trend.
I’m confident the group isn’t indicative of the overwhelming majority of Jewish people at CUNY or in the world, but, of course, I’m concerned because it’s the very loud, radical, militant view that caused problems for so many.
The bottom line:
If history has taught us anything, it’s that small radical groups with militant views that go unchallenged ultimately commit terrible enough evils that finally shock a country or the entire world to action. The question then becomes, were those actions in time — or too late?
Let us hope and pray that we do not end up in an intractable situation with any radical movement that not only threatens America as we know it; but on a larger scale, might very well threaten the balance of world power as a whole.
As Joe Biden might say, groups that do “eat our lunch.”
Related on RedState:
Biden Rejoins UN Human Rights Council After It Endorses Anti-Israel Resolution
Alums of Jewish-Founded Private School Outraged by Headmaster’s Condemnation of Anti-Semitism
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