ANTI-ZIONISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM: Fighting Anti-Semitism at CUNY:

Militant anti-Israel ideology is a hallmark of the illiberal Left that has been taking college campuses by storm in recent years, creating a flashpoint at elite private colleges and large public universities alike. . . .

The campus Left suggests that hard-core “anti-Zionist” activism is undertaken entirely in good faith. Meanwhile, many of Israel’s lonely defenders in the Ivory Tower have resorted to asking universities to censor constitutionally protected anti-Israel speech. As Johnson notes, neither approach is productive. The distinction between “anti-Zionism” and “anti-Semitism” has been all but collapsed on many campuses, and administrators can and should condemn bigoted speech and impose sanctions in those instances where it crosses the line into true threats or harassment.

However, it’s important that the pro-Israel forces on campuses don’t adopt the tactics of the campus Left and attempt to use the power of the administration to punish speech merely because it is offensive. Not only would that be unethical, Johson notes, but it allows anti-Israel activists to “shift the discussion away from their extreme beliefs, from which most people outside academia appropriately recoil, to a different debate about protecting student civil liberties for all.” In other words, according to Johnson, defenders of Israel should see the First Amendment as an ally, not an adversary, in their fight against the forces of intolerance in the academy.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.