Stopping anti-Semitism at Penn ain’t that hard

There’s been an outbreak of anti-Semitism at the esteemed University of Pennsylvania, and new president Liz Magill is going about combating it in exactly the wrong way.

Actually, she sort of encouraged it when her first mealy-mouthed statement rebuking the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis did not use the word terrorism. 

There was a lot of protest, mostly from Jews, many of whom also complained that Penn in September hosted — rented space to — a Palestine Writes program, which featured some anti-Semitic speakers.

Those are separate issues.

If Penn is going to rent space to outside groups, it should be open to all points of views. Palestinians. Jews. Born-again Christians. Anti-Semites. Antifas. Klansmen. Conservatives!

Penn should make it very clear that offering them a safe space to speak is not an endorsement of their views, it is part of creating a community in which, as the Founders wanted, ideas would clash, with the best arising.

On the matter of anti-Semitism, I am no Chicken Little. I have a record of putting anti-Semitism into a broader context, as I did in March, with this column. Jew hatred is ugly, I said, but it is very minor.

Some Jews quarreled with me for diminishing the threat. 

I did, because it is not much of a threat. But it is a threat, and it is rising.

About four years ago, when there was a blip in Jew hatred, my progressive friends blamed it on President Donald J. Trump. He “gave cover” and “encouraged” the anti-Semites with his rhetoric, they said. They even said Trump himself — with his Jewish daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, and Abraham Accords — was anti-Semitic.

Who do they blame now?

Probably Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who is very unpopular with left-wing American Jews, which is most of them. 

It is instructive to see just how fast sympathy  — not universal by any means — for Israel in the wake of the greatest Jewish loss of life since the Holocaust, turned against Israel when she started defending herself. The world knows what to do with helpless Jews, less so with Jews who actually practice never again!

That Israeli defense ignited marchers to protest non-existant “genocide” against the Palestinians. Where were the marchers to protest the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis? Where were the marchers to protest Russia’s actual genocide in Ukraine? Was the Penn campus boiling with virtue-signaling then?

Continuing in CYA mode, Penn President Magill has announced a three-point plan to combat anti-Semitism on a campus that has seen its Jewish enrollment fall from about 30% to 16% in a few decades. That almost makes a prima facie case for anti-Semitism, but I won’t go there.

She announced a “task force,” and when I read “task force,” I think “leader can’t decide what to do.”

The three points in Magill’s program are safety/security, engagement, and education. Penn will hire a six-figure “expert” on fighting anti-Semitism. 

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

President Magill, I can save you a lot of money, and a lot of time.

Here is a one point policy: Engage in anti-Semitism, verbal or written, and you are expelled. Period. Ditto Islamophobia, homophobia, etc. 

How can Penn do this? Because if you violate the norms of its campus community, you are diseased, and it will isolate itself from you.

1- Make a rule. 2- Enforce it.