Editor’s note: In circumstances where contributors face safety concerns, The Mac Weekly may publish anonymous opinion articles. The authors of this piece have expressed concerns about antisemitism, and The Mac Weekly has chosen to honor their request for anonymity. 

On Thursday, Nov. 16, a resolution based on antisemitic tenets was brought before the Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) Legislative Body. This resolution was based on misinformation spread by Hamas and perpetuated through social media channels which ignore the nuances of the conflict and its origins. In light of this resolution, we are writing to contextualize this information and reframe conversations on campus.

Before jumping into our piece, we wanted to address why we have remained anonymous. Antisemitic backlash is skyrocketing around the country, particularly on elite college campuses. History has shown us that we are not safe, so we have chosen to stay nameless.

The loss of life which occurred during Israel’s invasion of Gaza is tragic and profound in its consequences. We mourn the loss of our Palestinian cousins. We are horrified that Hamas has chosen to integrate military infrastructure into civilian facilities; they have directly violated the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols, and as a result, innocent Palestinians are suffering. Hamas has abandoned the people it has a responsibility to protect and has instead spent copious resources on building tunnels, rockets and other military equipment. It builds military bases in schools and hospitals, including the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which was recently the target of Israeli raids to free hostages and secure the safety of Jews in the country.

Israel has a right and obligation to protect itself and its citizens. Like any other rational state actor, Israel is responding to Hamas’s latest attack: an attack not on a military base, or a government building, but a brutal pogrom against civilians in the south. This episode is but the latest in a series of attacks driven by Hamas’s blatant antisemitism.

The founding covenant of Hamas declares that “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews [killing the Jews], when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.” This is a radical and destructive reconstruction of Muslim theology, and the adoption of Hamas slogans on campus perpetuates a dangerous environment.

“From the river to the sea” is a Hamas slogan used to refer to Hamas taking control of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — the land that is currently Israel. The phrase has become the raison d’être of the organization. We’ve seen what happens to Jews who have the misfortune to encounter members of Hamas. When students or faculty on campus say “from the river to the sea,” knowingly or not, they are calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and the expulsion or murder of the Jews who live there.

This antisemitic rhetoric does not stand alone on campus. MCSG’s Resolution 13 calls for the college to end study abroad programs in Israel. The resolution presents a one-sided view of history and singles out Israel for the choices it has been forced to make to defend itself. Numerous nations have acted in ways that Macalester students would deem unethical. Why, then, is Israel the only country that students on campus are singling out? Why is Israel the only country that has prompted a resolution by MCSG?

There are at least 14 other countries offered to Macalester students for study away that have been criticized by the same organizations, such as Amnesty International, who criticize Israel, yet Israel is singled out. Students seem outraged only by the Jewish state.

In a modern context, where the state of Israel is not a thought experiment, but an actual home to many Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze living peacefully side by side, Anti-Zionism is an argument for the destruction of the Jewish state. Arguing that Jews do not have a right to self-determination is, at its core, an antisemitic ideology. The petition cited by Resolution 13 references sources such as decolonizepalestine.com which oppose the right of the state of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. It is antisemitic.

Millennia of history provide background to the current situation. In 1967, Israel faced a terrifying predicament; upon the revelation that its neighbors were mobilizing their military forces in efforts to destabilize the area, Israel launched a defensive military effort against Egypt, with Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon joining the conflict over the next several days. During the resulting Six Day War, Israel took control of the West Bank, Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip.

After seizing over 23,000 square miles of the Sinai Peninsula, Israel returned that land, which was approximately the same size as Israel at the time, to Egypt, and only maintained a presence in the Golan Heights (formerly part of Syria), Gaza (previously part of Egypt) and the West Bank (previously part of Jordan) for the security of its people.

In 2005, Israel withdrew its military presence from Gaza, granting the Strip full autonomy, and launched the upgrade of the blockade between Israel and Gaza. Two years later, in 2007, Hamas was elected and began rocket attacks on Israel. In 2008, Egypt began construction of their own barrier along the Rafah/Gaza border following a breach of the border by Hamas. Israel has come to the table to negotiate a two-state solution multiple times throughout the last few decades, most recently at the tail end of the Clinton era, but the Palestinian Authority rejected every opportunity for peace.

It is difficult to see how a multicultural state can be called an apartheid country when minorities are enfranchised to participate in government, enjoy full protection under the law and live side-by-side with the Jewish majority. Religious minorities in Israel are not only permitted but protected by the Israeli government to practice and maintain their own holy spaces. These same privileges are not afforded to Jews in surrounding countries.

To claim ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide’ in Israel and the Gaza Strip is a misuse of those words which is offensive to those who have actually suffered their harsh realities. If Israel was committed to carrying out a genocide, it would not provide multiple types of warnings to civilians, beyond mass evacuation notices, before dropping bombs.

This is not to say that every action carried out by the Israeli government is right or morally sound. In fact, as writers of this article, we shared a serious conversation regarding our strong disagreement with certain actions carried out by the Israeli government and frustration with the current Israeli administration; however, that does not diminish Israel’s right to defend itself without being labeled as a settler colonial power. 

We are outraged and terrified by MCSG’s resolution that appropriates Hamas ideology under the guise of moral justice. We are outraged and terrified by members of our campus community calling for an ethnic cleansing of Jews “from the river to the sea” in front of our campus center. We urge you to consider your own speech and actions as the conflict continues. We are all working toward the same goal: peace.