{"id":12460,"date":"2023-11-23T18:18:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T16:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/?p=12460"},"modified":"2024-01-15T10:58:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T08:58:45","slug":"its-time-for-professors-who-support-israel-to-proclaim-their-zionism-the-toronto-way-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/its-time-for-professors-who-support-israel-to-proclaim-their-zionism-the-toronto-way-5\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time for Professors Who Support Israel to Proclaim their Zionism \u2013 the Toronto Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit:JHVEPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/div>\n
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555 Jewish Physicians from the University of Toronto have condemned discrimination against Jews and proudly proclaimed their Zionism. American professors should follow.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Since October 7, our most sophisticated universities have confirmed the most basic lesson every kindergarten kid learns \u2013 when good people cower, the bullies win. \u00a0We all know that most professors don\u2019t hate Jews. Nevertheless, the Silence of the Tenured Lambs has let a rabid minority of Jew-hating anti-Zionists run rampant on college campuses with minimal pushback. Treating lush quads like prison yards, thugs throughout North America have harassed Israelis, attacked Jews, and repeatedly called for Israel\u2019s destruction \u2013 \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d \u2013 and mass Jew-killing by \u201cglobalizing the intifada.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, on too many campuses, is a poisoned-ivy league, a new network of universities where half the Jews on these campuses\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0feeling scared, more than a third report witnessing acts of violence against Jews in their universities, and more than a third have felt compelled at one point in the last few weeks to hide their Jewish identity from their peers. So much for safe space!<\/p>\n

But look closely at these haters shouting, \u201cGas the Jews!\u201d and \u201cWhen People are Occupied, Resistance is Justified.\u201d You see that, like all bullies, they are cowards at heart. They are human rights \u201cactivists\u201d who rationalize mass murder; feminists who are silent about mass rape; physicians insensitive to human suffering when it is Israelis who bleed; and totalitarian liberals who support dictatorships and terrorists.<\/p>\n

When I challenge professors to take a stand, too many of them shrug. They don\u2019t want to disrupt their careers. They worry about a few fanatic colleagues or students shouting them down or trashing them on social media. They act as if it\u2019s not their responsibility to make sure that everyone on campus feels comfortable, respected, free to think independently \u2014 even if the students dare to be pro-Israel. And many of these paralyzed professors simply wonder, what are they supposed to do?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, 555 Jewish Physicians in the University of Toronto\u2019s TFOM \u2013 Temerty Faculty of Medicine \u2013 have shown us how easy it can be to do the right thing. Like all those heroic Israelis who fought back ferociously to save Israel from Hamas that day, these 555 physicians had the Zionist impulse to defend themselves, their people, their state, their highest ideals, and Western civilization.<\/p>\n

Here is their full statement, released earlier this week:<\/p>\n

OPEN STATEMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO TEMERTY FACULTY OF MEDICINE FROM JEWISH PHYSICIAN FACULTY<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Israel Gaza War is causing agony for many TFOM faculty and polarization in the TFOM. We feel immense anguish over the suffering and deaths of innocent Israelis and Palestinians. We believe in the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to self-determination and statehood.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, on the streets of Toronto and in the TFOM itself, the hostile and belligerent position towards Jews who identify with the state of Israel, or who identify as Zionists, is discriminatory. The distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is tissue thin. Only for Jews is self-determination and autonomy \u2013 Zionism \u2013 denounced as a racist endeavour.\u00a0 Only for Jews is living in their indigenous homeland considered \u201ccolonialism.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

We, therefore, hold the following as central to our identity as Jews in the TFOM:<\/strong><\/p>\n