Recently, on the Unicersity of California, Berkeley there were a series of massive protests led by a Palestinian organization of students called Students for Justice in Palestine. These individuals spoke up in favor of BDS, the movement meant to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. Supporters of this ideology are sadly, despite their denial, performing a sort of antisemitism. In return, a group thankfully supporting Israel rose up to defend our country's name. This group is "Tikvah:Students For Israel", and placed full responsibility on the Palestinian Leadership. It gets harder and harder to hear about these horrid acts of antisemitism going on in a country as modern as America, which is said to be free. Personally, I would not feel any sense of freedom of I saw a protest such as this out the window of my dorm room. This article especially reminded me of what we've been talking about in class the last couple of days. In our final stretch leading up to independence, we were told not to stand up for ourselves in order to prevent a second holocaust. Is this what we're expected to do now? Sit idly by as Palestinians pin Israel as the source of their problems, like what had been done to us in years past? That isn't an option, and these groups, such as Tikvah, are essential to show that we are not backing down and that our Jewish state isn't going anywhere. We are here to stay!!
article: https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/04/05/pro-israel-berkeley-students-stage-counter-demonstration-to-blame-incitement-for-palestinian-malaise/
I believe that protests and demonstrations are one of the most important ways the Bill of Rights protect the individual and collective freedoms of American citizens. If rallies like this one are suppressed, it sets a precedent of censoring many more demonstrations that reject establishment-supported ideas. We must recall that the establishment of the state of Israel was not supported by the United States until the last minute. If David ben Gurion had succumbed to American pressure, if he hadn’t fought for his own ideals against the grain of international pressure, Israel might have never come into existence. However, that these demonstrations are used to spread anti-Israel propaganda is disconcerting. It was important that the pro-Israel group, Tikvah, was there for a counter-protest, if only to display to other students the extant, and strong, support for Israel among other parts of the student population. The rise of anti-Semitism on campuses is very unsettling, but we cannot allow the fight against it to violate the ideals our religion and our nation hold most dearly.
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