Those who once insisted that speech is violence now condone literal violence.
Anti-Israel protests in the streets and on college campuses have unmasked pervasive antisemitism in institutions dominated by leftist ideologues. Black Lives Matter, pro-abortion, LGBTQ groups, and more all marched arm-in-arm cheering the terrorist slaughter of innocent Israeli citizens on October 7. In several cases, these rallies even escalated into physical attacks on Jews, some apparently deadly.
These groups have for years insisted that “words are violence,” that using the wrong pronouns is “an act of violence” — and even “silence is violence.” The only kind of “violence” they apparently condone is brutal violence committed by terrorists.
The micro-aggression police have become macro-aggressors.
Take, for example, the chaos that engulfed Cooper Union in Manhattan on October 25. When anti-Israel student agitators learned that a group of their Jewish peers were studying in the campus library, they stormed the building. Locked doors kept the mob out, but given the fact that the crowd was yelling “chants calling for the murder of Jews,” it’s not difficult to imagine what would have happened if the library had been breached.
It likely would have played out in the same way it did in Illinois, where a pro-Palestinian throng gang-rushed an elderly Jewish couple and beat down Peter Christos, a young man attempting to guide them away from the crowd. Christos was “punched repeatedly, kicked in the head, and hit with a flagpole.” Christos isn’t even Jewish, but the fact that he was holding an Israeli flag was all the rioters needed to see to justify giving him a concussion.
At Cornell University, a student’s message-board post asserted he was “gonna shoot up” the college’s kosher dining hall. Authorities intervened before he could follow through on his threat to achieve “liberation by any means necessary.” A UMass Amherst student holding an Israeli flag was punched by a classmate, and pro-Israel advocate Paul Kessler died after being assaulted at a rally in Los Angeles.
For years, far-leftists have lectured the public ad nauseum about “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” “centering marginalized voices,” and “bias.” When it comes to Jews — who make up just 2.4% of the U.S. population and 0.2% of the world — “lifting up minorities” clearly doesn’t apply.
Not that the Palestine these radicals claim to advocate for would support their values. The Americans proclaiming “Reproductive Justice Means Free Palestine” ignore Palestinian law that bans abortion in cases of incest and rape. Dark-skinned Palestinians in Gaza are mocked and bullied, while BLM turns a blind eye yet celebrates Hamas paragliders. Gays in Gaza are beheaded and face the threat of being stoned or thrown off the tops of buildings for their sexual orientation. “Queers for Palestine” may march at rallies, but no rally in Gaza ever featured a “Palestine for Queers” banner.
Amidst all of this, leading self-proclaimed civil rights organizations that ostensibly exist to fight bigotry could not bring themselves to issue simple statements condemning a terrorist attack. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which for years has operated a “Hate Watch” monitoring project, needed three weeks to say anything. Even then, SPLC president Margaret Huang took 770 words to stake out an “All Lives Matter” position. Remember when the scolds told us saying “All Lives Matter” was offensive?
The hypocrisy of many America’s institutions has long been known. Their failed response to heinous terrorism in Israel and subsequent assaults on Jews in the United States has shown them to be hollow as well. The same can be said of the badgering brood of micro-aggression warriors. Their speech-policing was never about “fostering inclusion” or making people feel “safe”; it was about advancing an extremist agenda. The ongoing “macro-aggression” against American Jews is the fruit of that poisoned tree.
If we fail to stand up to these emboldened macro-aggressors, more than just Jewish lives are in danger. Americans of conscience need to find the backbone and courage to speak out in a united voice. As isolated individuals shaking our heads at the hypocrisy we accomplish little. Instead, we need to take a page from the leftist agitators peddling pseudo-tolerance and get mobilized, both online and in the streets. With principled advocacy protecting genuine tolerance, we can stop the macro-aggressors.
Gregory T. Angelo is the President of the New Tolerance Campaign (newtolerance.org).