UC Irvine passed BDS last night with a vote of 19-3. I guarantee half of those who voted cannot point to Israel on a map, have no knowledge of Jewish history or Zionism, are clueless on the politics of the Middle East, and what BDS actually means. But it doesn’t matter,

because BDS resolutions on campus are not about Israel, and CERTAINLY not about Palestine. They are created as an opportunity for the most vicious and mendacious of voices to call Jewish students Nazis, to accuse them of dual loyalty, to whip up other students against them,

and to make Israel, the Jewish homeland smaller than the state of New Jersey, the face of all earthly evils, all that which is to be reviled. During BDS Resolutions, policies aren’t discussed, the settlement project isn’t discussed, not even military operations are discussed.

In fact, very rarely are the tenants of BDS even mentioned. Nobody acknowledges how discriminatory an academic “boycott” is, or the absurdity of a student government pressing “sanctions” on a foreign body, or how unlikely it is that the university will “divest” from Israel.

None of this is relevant to the vote. What’s important is screaming at the top of your lungs that Israel is an apartheid state killing Palestinian children and corrupting institutions all over the world. Proponents employ the antisemite’s triangle: blood, money, and conspiracy.

Israel is the only country singled out on campus. Israel is the only country that students feel an emotional impulse to condemn. Israel is the only country that is dragged into every conversation, every argument, every debate, every lecture, every protest, every rally. Those who

do this dragging know they’re not doing anything for Palestinians. Instead, they’re gladly honoring a time-honored tradition of seeing problems in the world, like racism, like war, like poverty, like suffering, and finding a scapegoat in the Jew. It’s the Jew’s fault.

The Jews did this, the Jews are trying to cover it up. Focus on the Jews and all our questions will be answered. Convince the public that the problem lies in the Jews, and justice is within reach.

We see through this. We recognize the world’s oldest hatred in your words.

Jewish college students can no longer be afraid to call this virus what it is. It’s not normal to be attacked, by so-called liberal people, for your culture and identity. It’s not normal to feel ashamed of your people.

Stand up for yourself. Because nobody else will.