Editor’s note: This open letter to campus protesters was originally published on Facebook by the author. It is published with her permission and has been lightly edited for clarity and style.
Dear campus protesters:
I’ve seen other people write to you, but I just walked among you at one of your campus encampments — George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Here are my thoughts:
Instead of hanging out in your nice brand-new, paid-from-unknown-sources green and white tents, why not send them to those displaced in Gaza who really need them? After all, you have dorms and apartments that mommy and daddy are paying for right now.
On campus, you have catered food and an all-you-can eat snack bar. Why not send food to those you claim are starving?
Since you are skipping classes (if you are actually a student), why not go volunteer to help in Gaza? Many American Jews have gone to help in Israel on farms and kibbutzes to provide missing labor as so many Israelis have been called up to military service. If you really want to help, why don’t you go where you really could make a difference for the people you profess to be supporting?
Why don’t you use all the time hanging out in the quad and in your tents to learn about what you are supporting? You are supporting rape, as your “resistance by any means necessary” signs state. You are supporting gender inequality and lack of any LGBTQ rights. You are supporting a named terrorist organization. Your call for an intifada revolution is a call for more innocent lives to be lost.
Let’s address that for a second. You claim to be against the war in Gaza given all the innocent lives lost — but in your next chant, you want bloodshed everywhere with your call for an intifada revolution. It is glaringly inconsistent.
Why is there not a single sign or chant to release the hostages? Innocent people have been kidnapped, including women and children and Americans. How can you claim signs that say “Final solution” or “Zionists pigs get out” or chants like “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” are not antisemitic? I believe strongly in free speech, but this is hate speech.
You call each other comrades. I spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. I can promise you that most people in the world prefer capitalism over communism.
Why block people from coming in and/or taking photos? Why block the press and why taunt people like me trying to engage?
If you are so proud of yourselves, why hide those faces? Why mask up? I took photos this afternoon, and every single time a protester noticed, they put their mask back on. Real protesters are proud of what they are doing and ready to face the consequences, whether getting arrested or suspended or whatever. You are not real protesters. You are sheep. You are indoctrinated to think Israel and Zionists and even Jews are evil.
You are not on the right side of history like you think you will be. No one with hate in their heart ever is.
Melinda Roth is a visiting associate professor of law at Georgetown University Law School. This open letter was adapted from her Facebook post on April 29 and is published with her permission.
