Proud of you Opinion

In just a few days you have made the university a leader in breaking ties with Israeli institutions that do not work for peace. But from the meetings and from the columns they will tell you that your cardboard signs are of no use, that you should take a rifle and go to Gaza. An argument is applied to you that – thank God – does not work with the rest. That’s why no one told the protesters against the murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco to chase ETA members, no one told the pro-life protesters that if they wanted to do something important, they had to block the entrances. should be walled off abortionNor for those in 8-M who go on feminist night patrols instead of singing “Alone, Drunk, I Want to Go Home.”

From the headquarters of political parties and even from Congress they will blame you for not setting up any camps after the October 7 attacks, but no one will blame you for not protesting for those 44 Palestinian children , who, before the Hamas attack, had already been killed by Israeli forces in 2023. Because the “legitimate defense” thing is valid only for NATO and its allies.

They will tell you that you did not condemn the genocide of Christians in Nigeria or Congo, you did not say anything about the exodus from Nagorno Karabakh. As if to have the right to protest a genocide one must first protest every atrocity committed in the world. As if Christians were not also being massacred in Palestine or as if the Christian community in Israel had not been complaining about the increasing hostility of the Zionists for years.

There will be those who will accuse you of importing yet another fad from American faculty, such as supporting Israel, which in eight months has killed more children than have been killed in all the world’s wars during the past year. , was not going with them. Yankees they will tell you that you did not get involved with Ukraine, as if our governments, companies or institutions did not punish Russia in ways like economic blockade, visa restrictions for its citizens or even nonsense , just as they don’t even consider imposing sanctions on Israel. As in renaming the salad. For example, a button: Russia will not participate in Eurovision tonight, while Israel will.

They will say about you that you are on the side of Hamas to demand peace and justice. And the decisive weapon will be used against you, the ultimate neutralizing word, the magic word: anti-Semitism. It would be anti-Semitic to remind you that the conflict between Israel and Palestine did not begin on October 7. It’s anti-Semitic to say that murdering 1,200 civilians is a crime, but making an entire city pay for it is a crime. And if we call those who organize and carry out the first organization a terrorist group, then it would be appropriate that we begin to call those who organize the second a terrorist state. Fortunately and no matter how much they want to confuse us, most of us still know how to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism. Most of us know how to recognize their tricks: manipulating a cause and at the same time fighting against anti-Semitism, trying to silence anyone who dares to criticize Israel’s crimes.

These days, this and more will be said about your camping trips. But there will be those among us who will be proud of you. You are demanding what so many of us want: action and not words to stop what a UN correspondent calls “the first genocide shown in real time by its victims.”

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