By Rahul Tiwari
The Iran-Israel conflict recently took a violent turn when Iran launched a massive number of rockets (approximately 300) in Israel. However, according to Israel, 99% of the rockets were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome. Two reasons are being speculated for the Iran-led attack: First, revenge for a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building in Damascus. Second, to establish itself as the leader of the Muslim world, where its attack would channelize the sentiments of Muslims in favour of Iran concerning the Israel-Hamas War. On October 7th, 2023, the militant group Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocents. However, the human casualty is higher on the side of Hamas-controlled Gaza, with close to 33,100 Palestinians, including Hamas militants, reported dead. Unfortunately, the war that started in October 2023 has not ended, and numerous demands for a ceasefire are coming from various stakeholders and countries, including India. Subsequently, the intervention of the U.N. and militarily strong and neutral countries is required to participate in dialogue with Israel and Palestine so that a constructive and long-term peaceful solution is reached.
Such conflicts are always breeding grounds for anti-human and egotistic organizations that seek no solution to any conflict but rather take advantage of such chaos. Moreover, there is a famous saying that ‘you reap what you sow,’ which directly reflects the impact of your ‘Karma’ that fits the Puritan founders of the US universities. Though the conflict is happening in West Asia, it appears that the real battle is being fought on the premises of US Universities through rallies, protests, and other kinds of gatherings.
US Universities are hotbed of anti-Asian and anti-Israel sentiment
The universities of the United States were founded to train clergy and church officials who would disseminate Protestant teachings and help its founders Christianize America. The very inception of US Universities is based on the Evangelical agenda, and for the same, an intellectual system is developed by which research and ideology are percolated in society through debate and discourse. Such an argument could be understood by looking at two events that took place in the United States: firstly, the anti-caste movement led by various groups under the leadership of Equality Labs, and secondly, the decades-long anti-Semitism movement led by Students for Justice in Palestine.
The anti-Caste movement is currently being led by Equality Labs on the campuses of the United States. The founder of Equality Labs, Thenmozhi Soundarajan, the daughter of a Christian mother raised in the United States, alleged that she faced caste discrimination as a college student at the University of California, Berkeley, by her fellow upper-caste Indians without providing a single piece of evidence or an eyewitness to the act. As the founder of Equality Labs, she has been actively spreading false information in the United States by producing fabricated studies on caste and other significant matters. The methodology and survey of one of Equality Labs’ renowned studies on caste survey, published in 2016, have already faced scrutiny from numerous Tech Giants in the United States, such as IBM. The report was subsequently used as a means to specifically identify and focus on Indian students studying at university campuses, as well as Indian personnel holding high-ranking positions in prominent technology companies such as CISCO, APPLE, IBM, Microsoft, and others. The lawsuit against CISCO employees Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella, filed on October 16, 2020, was subsequently dismissed by the Court in April 2023, refuting the propaganda supported by Soundarajan. The universities in the United States have a strong connection to society through numerous avenues such as Think Tanks, media, and other Multilateral Organizations. Any discussion or ideas that are disseminated within universities have a direct influence on society. That is why these orchestrated talks and academic events are arranged to isolate Indians and Hindus worldwide.
Now comes the anti-Semitism movement, which is currently being led by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an outfit close to Hamas, which also leads the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. SJP claims that its BDS campaign has successfully forced many institutions in the United States to divest from Israel, the list of which is available on its website. However, due to its one-sided agenda and anti-Semitism movement, SJP is banned in several institutions in the United States. Brandeis University became the first private institution to ban the group, and the demand for a ban is increasing due to the recent upsurge in violent protests and rallies on the campuses. The national chapter of the far left and Radical Islamist group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), posted a “call to action” on social media on October 8, 2024, the very next day when Hamas Militants launched an unprovoked attack on the soil of Israel and asked their student chapters to hold demonstrations at their colleges in support of the Palestinians. Since then, an assortment of colleges and universities across America have held events in support of the Palestinians following the terrorist attacks in Israel carried out by Hamas. SJP chapters held protests at the following schools: [list of schools omitted for brevity]
Both movements carry hatred and aspire to corner Asian and Israeli descendants across the United States and other parts of the world. Due to ignorance from policymakers and lawmakers in the United States, the propagandists have now chosen the Universities as a soft ground for their agenda in the name of free speech. Such hatred against Asians and Israelis is not only unwelcome in the Universities but also poses a direct threat to the society of the United States.
Anti-Semitism in Nazi-ruled German Universities
It is pertinent to note that during the dictatorial socialist rule of Nazi Germany, Hitler pushed his ideology onto German Universities, which was backed by conservative professors, academicians, and scholars. Many student fraternities and other student groups already banned Jews and regularly protested against professors and students they believed did not support supposed traditional German values, which is happening today in US universities (Evans, 2003). In order to radicalize the youth, mass brainwashing was to be achieved in two ways: the transformation of the school curriculum and the creation of bodies like the Hitler Youth. The demonization of Jews in schools and university campuses eventually turned the innocent masses of Germany into supporters of the socialist tyrant Hitler, who emerged as the sole villain of the Holocaust. For the process of radicalization of the youth of Germany, subjects like mathematics were not spared. One mathematics exercise read, “The Jews are aliens in Germany – in 1933, there were 66,060,000 inhabitants in the German Reich, of whom 499,682 were Jews. What is the percentage of aliens?”
Of the two initiatives, the Hitler Youth was the most notorious. Though it had been founded long before the Nazis came to power, the “Hitler Jugend” had very few members. Millions of people joined the Nazis after they started organizing the passage of children. By 1939, all children of the appropriate age were required to be members.
The above two initiatives appear to be the most significant reasons for the radicalization of the youth of Germany that led to the persecution of Jews in Germany. That is why, considering the anti-Semitic historical events in society, the masses and, in particular, the students of the US universities should be cautious of the vicious agendas being perpetuated by organizations like SJP.
Critical Race Theory: An Instrument for Communists and Islamists
The Puritan-led Universities of the United States that cater for the intelligentsia of the United States also had faculties and other academicians that were ideologically close to Communists and Islamists. Most of the left thinkers came into existence after the emergence of critical race theory in the mid-1970s; prior to it, it was only the Christianized education and values that existed in the Universities of the United States. The critical race theory emerged as a major ideological parameter for anti-white politics in the United States, leading to hatred and violence against the Whites. Its inception became the turning point for the anti-Semitic movement in the universities of the United States. Additionally, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Intersectionality understand society as comprised of overlapping and interconnected levels of racial oppression. Critical Race Theory simplistically erases the uniqueness of the Jewish experience and identifies Jews as “white”, CRT’s oppressor class. In fact, CRT often considers Jews to be the epitome of white privilege and supremacy.
Post the 9/11 attack in the United States, the coalition of Blacks, Muslims, and Communists became stronger as the trio partnership garnered and established the terminology of Islamophobia at par with caste. Like in India, nobody wants to be tagged as casteist; similarly, tagging Islamophobia in the United States leads to cornering in academia, so if you want to survive in academia, you are supposed to not touch anything regarding Islam and Muslims.
Whether it is the conflict between Israel and Hamas or the conflict between Israel and any other Muslim Nation like Iran and the conflict between Muslims and their nation with any country or group, the stand of the trio nexus shall remain the same. This is why the anti-Israel sentiment that we see today in the Universities of the United States relates both to the Critical Race Theory and the 9/11 attack, which very few activists have worked on.
The Indian connection and common agenda
The woman in the viral video is seen raising ‘azadi’ slogans at Columbia University. (Screengrab)
The Azadi slogans raised allegedly by an Indian girl wearing Bindi- “Arey hum kya chahte, Azadi… Palestine ki, Azadi… arey chheen ke lenge, Azadi… Hai haq hamara, Azadi…; “Biden sunle, Azadi…. Netanyahu sunle, Azadi… Modi sunle, Azadi” raised at Columbia University during a pro-Palestine protest is similar to what was raised at the Indian University JNU way back in 2016 regarding Kashmir, “Hum kya chaahte? Azaadi” and convicted parliament attack militant Afzal Guru, “Tum kitne Afzal maaroge, har ghar se Afzal niklega!”. The above incident yet again signifies the presence of anti-India groups nurtured by the communists and Islamists on the campuses of the United States. This is one of the groups responsible for trying to create anti-India sentiments across the United States with the help of perception management and various protests. Recently, an Indian Lady, Riddhi Patel, was charged with making terror threats against the Mayor of California’s Bakersfield concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict. She said- “I remind you that these holidays that we practice, that other people in the global south practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all of you”. The United States is always on the priority list of Indian Students looking for higher education abroad, and for the same, many of them take inspiration from the faculties and scholars whose work is mostly anti-India and anti-Hindu. In order to fix their seats and get scholarships and recognition, they disseminate the literature and ideology about what their faculties and scholars aspire for.
A glance at pro-Palestine and anti-Israel events
Around 100 Universities and campuses were chosen for the pro-Palestine events/protests after the Hamas-led terror attack on the soil of Israel during the festival. While most of the pro-Palestine protests and rallies were planned and organized by the far-left group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a few incidents occurred without planning. [List of events omitted for brevity]
Now, a social media user, Collin Rugg, posted on X (previously Twitter) that Columbia University has announced classes will be remote for the rest of the year as anti-Israel protests rock the school. Amidst the protest, Robert Kraft, CEO of the New England Patriots, announced that he would withhold funding from Columbia University, saying that he was “no longer confident” Columbia could protect its students and staff amid tense campus protests, and he was “not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken.” Such instances remind us of how the day-to-day indoctrination of students can become self-destructive for American Universities and their society. What is required to be done over here is that there should be proper checks on the kind of literature being taught in the universities in the name of academic freedom. Organizations, Professors, students, and scholars involved in the dissemination of hate and indoctrination in the universities must be brought to book. As already discussed, Hitler also used education as a means to indoctrinate its youth against Jews, which resulted in a totalitarian socialist regime. What happened with the Jews before and during World War 2 is bound to repeat in the 21st Century if such radicalization is not stopped timely.
(The writer is a doctoral candidate at SCNSS, JNU and is a published author of a book titled- The Puritan Movement: US Universities and their anti-Bharat Approach)
(Views expressed are personal )
