Written by Bella Brannon and Adam Thaw
There’s something almost too ironic for jest about setting up a faux refugee camp in a city where 75,000 face homelessness, miles away from Rodeo Drive.
As of this morning, UCLA’s SJP has set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” in the Royce quad. This effort follows the leadership of the Popular University for Gaza movement.
Let’s be clear, this performance of masked solidarity will not change a thing in the Middle East. Rather, it will provide a red herring to distract from tangible solidarity efforts and breaking news in the region. It’s a grave mistake to use energy for outrage porn instead of helping the people suffering unimaginable horrors in Gaza, advocating to free Israeli hostages, and for an end to this war.
Encampments on other campuses have served as breeding grounds for antisemitism and polarization, not advocacy. At Yale, our colleague Sahar Tartak was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag by a protester. A Rabbi at Columbia urged Jewish students to go home, noting that their university could not guarantee the protection of Jewish students as protestors shouted “we are Hamas,” “Al-Qassam you make us proud,” and “Remember the 7th of October? That will happen not one more time, not five more times…but 10,000 more times.”
Permeating the protestor’s atmosphere of self-righteousness is a palpable rot of confusion and the double standard of credence for all but Jews.
Campers at USC outlined their demands from the university, including line item 2 of an academic boycott of Israel and line item 3 of the insurance of free speech. An academic boycott of those who express pro-Israel sentiments is the opposite of free speech. At Columbia, protestors called for a ceasefire, accompanied by chants of “burn Tel Aviv to the ground.” Surely, students at an Ivy League school must understand that their calls for violence against Israel violate the most basic terms of a ceasefire. When a student at NYU was asked by a reporter what exactly she was protesting for, she replied “I don’t know…” then asked her friend, “Why are protesting here at NYU?” To this, her friend replied, “I wish I was more educated.”
UCLA’s encampment is bolstered by signage reading “KKK, IDF, UCPD, You’re all the same ” and a red triangle, which “is now used to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence” according to the ADL.” David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, has notably expressed extreme anti-Israel views. Christian Sector, a UCLA student who took part in the January 6th riot and maintained ties with white supremacist groups was also arrested. SJP cannot play innocent. A simple Google search would clarify the paradox of their words and explicit endorsement of Hamas.
These quips reveal that protestors are deeply out of touch with the issues on the ground in the Middle East. Their cosplay of oppression — while many of their peers face homelessness and food insecurity — is a display of hubris, not empathy.
As these camps asphyxiate media coverage, a mass grave was uncovered in Gaza. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage taken by Hamas on October 7th, who is personally known and beloved by members of the UCLA community, was filmed in a propaganda video in dire condition. In a Jewish student GroupMe, students say, “I’m scared to go to class;” urge a buddy system in public areas; and ask what buildings they can go to if they need safety.
Although it is easy to complain about the eyesore on the walk to class, people in Gaza are starving and 134 Israeli hostages remain there in a living hell. We must have the courage and humility to see past maximalist rhetoric to focus on the human suffering in Gaza and Israel. Those camping must realize that they are not at the center of this narrative, nor should they seek attention at the expense of those connected to the suffering in the Middle East. Prayer, mutual aid, legislative efforts, and sharing stories are noble, necessary pursuits. Jewish students cannot move forward when those protesting are chanting words that explicitly build on ancient antisemitic tropes and call for the death of Jews. If protesters are not willing to consider how their language is heard as calls for death, how can common ground be found and true progress be made? The first step to any solution is clarity, not convulsion.
Throughout it all, the Jewish legacy of perseverance, emmuna, and Tzedek serves as our North Star. This week, we remember Passover: when Hashem guided the Jewish people out of bondage in Egypt to the Holy Land of Israel. In every generation, adversaries have sought the destruction of the Jewish people, from Amalekites to civilians in Nazi Germany who refused to speak up. In every generation, we have survived. This time will be no different.
In Future Tense, Rabbi Sacks explains “To win the Jewish battle, the battle of the spirit, the victory of heart, mind and soul, you do not need numbers. You need dedication, commitment, study, prayer, vision, courage, ideals and hope.” There could be no better time to let this wisdom guide us.
