To the editor: The report by UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias underlines the urgency of growing efficient methods for countering antisemitism on faculty campuses within the wake of the horrific Hamas assault towards Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath.
The report additionally brings into sharp focus the important want for distinguishing clearly between what’s and isn’t antisemitic in campus protests. False accusations of antisemitism can threat suppressing legit, peaceable protests, doubtlessly creating an atmosphere that truly elevates extra excessive, indefensible actions.
The Nexus Task Force’s Campus Guide to Identifying Antisemitism in a Time of Perplexity, created by a number one group of educational specialists on antisemitism, offers pointers for making these essential distinctions.
On the similar time, making these distinctions doesn’t legitimize or condone violence. Those that defend or advocate for armed resistance towards Israel as legit on the grounds that it’s not antisemitic are making a distraction from the ethical depravity of violence. This protection turns into much more harmful — and crosses into antisemitism — when help of violence conflates Israel with Jews.
Jonathan Jacoby, Sherman Oaks
The author is nationwide director of the Nexus Challenge.
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To the editor: The third paragraph of your article says, “Greater than a yr after the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel and the nation’s retaliatory struggle in Gaza …”
I used to be shocked after I learn that sentence. This isn’t a retaliatory struggle.
First, 101 hostages are nonetheless being held by Hamas, which refuses to launch these poor individuals. Israel is making an attempt to rescue the hostages.
Second, Hamas has constructed a whole lot of miles of tunnels for the expressed goal of destroying Israel from the face of the Earth. Israel should destroy these tunnels to guard itself.
Lastly, over a few years, hundreds of rockets have been fired into Israel. This should be stopped.
Israel has each proper to rescue the kidnapped hostages and each proper to defend itself. This isn’t retaliation.
Mark Dressner, Lengthy Seashore
