Title: Why the American Right Loves the pro-Palestinian Protests on U.S. Campuses - Opinion - Haaretz.com
The more I research and see of the “American Right” (which Biden is ideologically part of, as an extreme/militarist of the Goldwater (Scoop Jackson) wing of the Democrats, having little to do with economics) for what I call “The Origins of American Fascism,” starting the narrative post-WW II, with the “Conservative Movement,” with its fascist sympathizers, Buckley, Burnham, and Willmoore Kendall, with the latter most virulent and emphatically against . . . Liberals (Communists secondary), the more I am filled with “Fear (in reading their Mein Kampf, Heritage’s Project 2025) and Loathing (in reading their works).
Kendall was the “worst of the worst” with his idolatry of the surviving fascists post-WW II, Franco and Trujillo, with the latter whom he was closest to.
But the other two were so close, it’s a “distinction without a difference. And as they’re being used as ideological precursors/templates by the “New Right” of Trumpism/National Conservatism, it’s little wonder that Rightists (self-identified Conservatives, like Andrew Bacevich in his book, Conservatism; and Claes Ryn in his book on “The Failure of American Conservatism” are restoring them to a place of prominence. And in an outrageous case of historical revisionism, declaring, or at least intimating, as under the banner of Trumpism/DeSantism, the existence of "Right-wing Peaceniks,” which is a f-ing lie on the scale of that other “Right-wing Peacenik, the one who brought “Peace” to Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, before he fully revealed himself. But for any dolts out there, Gaza is proving the same of our “Right-wing Peaceniks,” to a man or woman, attacking anyone who has the intelligence to recognize that what is going in in Gaza/West Bank, is a long-standing Plan of Israeli fascists like Netanyahu’s father, who with Meir Kahane, preceded Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in calling for the extermination of Palestinians.
And now carrying out the “Information (Cognitive) War" side of Israel’s fascists, in neutralizing as much as possible any resistance to them, as minimal as it may be. We saw these right-wing fanatics recently on another “front,” Belgium, as the National Conservatives of Yoram Hazony did their best imitations of Adolph and Benito, in denouncing anyone resisting Israeli fascism.
This article isn’t the most insightful for a couple reasons however. One being this statement:
"On Broadway and 116th Street along Columbia's now closed to the public campus, it's a myriad of groups agitating for and against the encampment, from Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to MAGA city council representative Inna Vernikov.
"Just last week, Christian Nationalists claiming to support Israel, converged on Columbia. However, their real alignment with Israel stems from a distorted belief in a literal interpretation of the Bible shared by figures like former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—that Israel is the prophesied location for a final battle preceding Christ's return."
Why assume their sole objective is the fulfillment of their interpretation of the Bible? And not fully onboard with their Religious Leaders, Natanyahu and Trump’s, “fascist” interpretation of “World History,” like this Claremont Institute associated group:
And the other this statement: "Omar, in her typically provocative style, stated that school administrations must protect Jewish students "whether they're pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
What’s “provocative” about that? It’s quite factual when one recognizes that the right-wing counter-protesters are genuinely on the side of Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and Netanayhu, and supporting their genocide. And obviously they oppose “anti-genocide” Jewish students, as lumped together as “Cultural Marxists,” Hamas, etc.
As Willmoore Kendall would say; the battle lines are drawn, and his ideological successors are the American Rightists who write long apologias for his life-long opposition to the U.S. Constitution, and his support of U.S. wars until the day he died, ending off with Vietnam.
But his view of that war can be seen in this video of the now celebrated, by Responsible Statecraft no less, William F. Buckley:
Why the American Right Loves the pro-Palestinian Protests on U.S. Campuses - Opinion - Haaretz.com
As pro-Palestinian protests and accompanying campus crackdowns against them began to multiply exponentially across the United States last week, The New York Post "reported" that encampments and their leaders were "funded by a network of nonprofits ultimately funded by, among others" George Soros, the Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire/liberal lightning rod for the American right.
They have blamed Soros, for everything from orchestrating migrant caravans, controlling the State Department and FBI, to financing the Black Lives Matter protests over George Floyd's death.
So perhaps it's no surprise some on the right have decided he's the mastermind of the protests, especially after Columbia President Minouche Shafik called for the arrest of student protesters, sparking a the spread of pro-Palestinian encampments nationwide and energizing conservatives, who see the protests as an assault on higher education.
The encampments prompted commentary about Jewish safety, with some claiming the atmosphere on campus is Germany 1938 meets Hezbollah rally, while others describing them as peaceful, (anti-Zionist) Jewish-friendly utopias. Of course, neither is exactly accurate, and for the politicians coming to campus to make their statements, it doesn't really matter.
Images of students in keffiyehs smashing windows at Columbia's Hamilton Hall Tuesday provided the right-wing media what it wanted: visuals that could recast it as a violent anarchy rather that the 1968 era protest imagery the protesters were previously trying to evoke.
Student protesters sit and watch outside Hamilton Hall, which student protesters barricaded, near a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Columbia University, in New York City, despite orders from university officials to disband or face suspension.Credit: Caitlin Ochs/ REUTERS
For over a decade, conservatives have burnished their critique of higher education, promoting book bans and campaigns against critical race theory and Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives – which they see as radical ideology that promotes a negative view of white people and perpetuates a sense of guilt among whites and victimhood among people of color.
Their current attack wasn't hastily conceived, but a premeditated campaign. On October 7, former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel claimed on Fox News that the Hamas slaughter, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed was "a great opportunity" for Republicans to make liberals look bad.
Just a week later, Chris Rufo, a conservative activist, tweeted, "Conservatives need to create a strong association between Hamas, BLM, DSA, and academic 'decolonization' in the public mind. Connect the dots, then attack, delegitimize, and discredit." Two months later Rufo was instrumental in publicizing allegations of plagiarism against Harvard President Claudine Gay, which precipitated her resignation.
The right saw the unprecedented controversies surrounding accusations of antisemitic and violent speech and pro-Palestinian tendencies on campuses as a sign of the campus' weakness – and an opening.
After over six months of college administrators being condemned not only by the right, but their own students, had crescendoed into encampments they decided it was time to intensify their attack.
In Congress, it's the likes of Representative Elise Stefanik—who has been known to float antisemitic conspiracy theories, who grilled the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania presidents into early retirement and pressured Shafik into calling the cops on her own students.
On Broadway and 116th Street along Columbia's now closed to the public campus, it's a myriad of groups agitating for and against the encampment, from Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to MAGA city council representative Inna Vernikov.
Just last week, Christian Nationalists claiming to support Israel, converged on Columbia. However, their real alignment with Israel stems from a distorted belief in a literal interpretation of the Bible shared by figures like former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—that Israel is the prophesied location for a final battle preceding Christ's return.
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana,AP
Across the media, images of the destruction of Gaza and of a volatile, broken Israeli society have taken a back seat to the spectacle that is the campus war.
In this reimagined and relocated conflict, Israel has come to symbolize for pro-Palestinian activists the entire spectrum of Western maladies—including what they perceive as American imperialism. For these activists, dismantling "Zionism" is crucial not only to addressing capitalism and racism, but also to tackling climate change and other global issues. They view Israel as the last stronghold of active white settler-colonialism and as a client-state of the U.S. They see dismantling Israel as a step in ushering in a multi-polar world reducing the dominance of America and capitalism.
In contrast, the political right views Israel as a linchpin in its fundamental mission: a prolonged struggle against Islam and its progressive advocates.
Columbia University has become a hotspot for political engagement from all sides. U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, an evangelical Christian known for his resistance to enlightenment, critical thinking, and free speech, chose the steps of a key Columbia building as his platform to discuss free speech and harassment of Jewish students last week.
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson speaking last week at Columbia University amid the pro-Palestinian protests roiling the campus.Credit: Jeenah Moon/ REUTERS
On Tuesday he added, "Columbia is out of control," citing the student occupation of Hamilton Hall. "They're unable to operate the university at a time when the students are prepared for their final exams."
Meanwhile, progressive leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have also made sure to visit campus. Omar, in her typically provocative style, stated that school administrations must protect Jewish students "whether they're pro-genocide or anti-genocide."
Omar's charged, polarizing statement reveals her true intent: not to safeguard students or promote dialogue, but to deepen the ideological divides, branding one side as "pro-Israel equals pro-genocide" and the other as "anti-Israel equals anti-genocide"—seemingly a strategy more focused on influencing the Democratic primaries in her home state of Minnesota than urging for ceasefire in Gaza.
The optics from Emory University in Atlanta, where state troopers arrested a notable philosophy professor and aggressively tackled another to the ground, make it evident that this crackdown isn't about ensuring Jewish safety or addressing the Gaza situation since October 7th. For right-wing state officials it's squarely aimed at influencing Georgia's elections on November 4th.
Texas state troopers in riot gear try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas last week.Credit: Jay Janner,AP
The reason why these encampments are so unregulated and widespread, and why the attack from the right are so successful, —so much so that administrators of universities called the police on their students—is that higher education, especially private universities, have been fumbling on issues around progressive politics for over a decade.
While students, and even some professors, were always political, and the campus was a hotbed for radical politics—the administration tried to stay above the fray. But in the age of identity politics, micro-aggressions, and safe space, university administrators became politicized themselves by wading into every cultural issue.
October 7 opened the floodgates of aggravated speech and even the extreme aggravated response from police that might not have happened if those gates weren't so weak in the first place.
Since the initial days following October 7, there has been a noticeable increase in anti-Israel and violent rhetoric, like Khymani James, one of Columbia's encampment leaders saying "Zionists don't deserve to live" or chants of "burn Tel Aviv to the ground" on some campuses.
This raises legitimate concerns about Jewish safety, particularly when administrators have traditionally held that speech is violent if perceived as such by its targets. However, the response from these administrators has been disappointingly reactionary and lacking. Instead of engaging with students, fostering debate, and establishing clear boundaries early on, they have chosen to expel student groups or ignore systemic issues, leaving campuses vulnerable.
This approach serves external interests of the political right more focused on inciting moral panic to mobilize outraged voters than on genuinely safeguarding student safety.
Not only does this tact distract from the real crisis happening in Gaza, it further divides the crowds, which instead of unifying around ceasefire, release of the hostages, and a sustainable solution that guarantees safety for Jewish Israelis and self-determination for Palestinians—as expressed by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas recently makes it all just about which camp you're on.
When the campus becomes the center, where English is the only language used in this ideological war of those speaking Hebrew and Arabic; where police beat down tenured professors—while others cheer violence against non-combatants—the war becomes a projection of the real war between conservative and progressives. For the right, and the left in America, that means using their own political cudgels to take advantage of the pain of those half a world away, both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.
Etan Nechin is an Israeli-born journalist and author. Twitter: @Etanetan23
