So well said. One can be against Israeli and Netanyahu's actions without being antisemitic. Hamas' attack two years ago was horrific but killing 67,000 Palestinians and destroying almost every standing structure in Gaza smacks of genocide. Israeli war crimes managed to overshadow the brutality of Hamas. There's a good reason Israel has lost good standing in today's world and it has nothing to do with antisemitism.
“One can be against Israeli and Netanyahu's actions without being antisemitic.”
Yes, that is perfectly fine and logical, but there are some (verbal-anarchistic stick-in-the-muds) who persistently conflate opposition to ANY policy of the Netanyahu government , or ANY criticism of the State of Israel, to be ipso facto antiSemitic. And they will call out anyone who argues against their exceedingly narrow definition as being a dupe, or blind, or a secret antisemite, despite the fact that many Jews, in Israel and America, hold those views.
It does not pay to argue with people who have painted themselves into that corner. It’s where they will stand till Hell freezes over. Ignore them and pass by.
So now that there is a cease fire and the brutal killing has stopped, is it still genocide or was that just a word used to protest a horrendous policy of war and retribution? What do you call Trump’s end of USAID that will kill millions of Africans? Is that genocide?
You have a view I don’t share. I’m a Jew and I know antisemitism when I see it. And it’s very obvious that the student and other protesters do not care about cease-fire. They hate Israel. Just look at what’s going on in Israel all the love for her people. It’s all about the value of individual life, I clearly Western value. I believe that the reason Gaza wants its murderers, returned so that they can keep on murdering and trying to obliterate Israel. They have no faces no history no families they are the army of Muslim reactionaries they await their destiny which is to die. They are a death cult. Israel is a life cult, and every individual counts there.
Are you saying that those of us who disagree with Netanyahu and his policies are antisemitic? Israelis have killed 67,000 Palestinians, destroyed their homes, starved innumerable children, bombed their hospitals but if we condemn those actions, we're being antisemitic? Is there any disagreement we can have with Israeli positions then that isn't antisemitic in your view? Wow. I stand by what I said.
You have made some sweeping statements here. I have a Jewish daughter-in-law and two Jewish grandchildren. They are observant, she has lived in Israel in the past. Their family values, not surprisingly given that she is married to my eldest son, are very similar to mine. She despises Netanyahu, as do many of my Jewish friends. She finds no difficulty in condemning the atrocity by Hamas, but also being appalled at the genocidal retribution by Netanyahu's government.
I find your view that to value the lives of Palestinians equally to those of Israelis is somehow antisemitic quite extraordinary. Likewise, to condemn those who follow Islam rather than Judaism or Christianity (or indeed any other religion) as following a death cult, is just offensive.
Finally, I continue to be amused that Israel always aligns itself to 'the West' and to Europe (in sport, and recently the Eurovision controversy). Israel cannot escape the fact that it is in the Middle East - why not be proud of it?
No. Thry want to erase Israel and more importantly, they need to feel a part of a movement and it really doesn’t matter much about what the movement is or what facts underlie it. They are either naïve dreamers, tools of Hamas and other Arab radicals or deeply in need of belonging to something bigger than themselves.
Israel is protecting its people. I don’t know if any other Israeli leader would’ve been able to be better or worse than Netanyahu, given the absolute evil of Hamas and how Hamas set up Palestinians areas as bait. Please notice the difference between how Israel greeted it’s hostages vs how Palestinian prisoners were received home., now Hamas is killing Palestinians, who didn’t agree with them.
I understand that many Israelis despise Netanyahu and accuse him of deliberately maintaining war to protect and maintain his own power.. I am not able to judge that. But I do know that no Jewish group can match the evil of Hamas and radical Islamists
So it appears that 40 some Israeli hostages have been released from Hamas and 2000(!) Palestinians have been released by Israel and they show signs of torture and execution. Hmmm. More aid workers have been killed than IDF soldiers. I think you are wrong. Denying the facts is a very sad way to live. Israel has been oppressing Palestinians for decades and violates every "ceasefire". We are all in trouble when one group of people oppresses another. Netanyahu is a war criminal and needs to be held accountable for his crimes.
Timothy I’m a really big fan of yours and support almost all of what you say, but I really have to push back on this one.
I am someone who’s worked for decades on Israeli Palestinian, grassroots and leadership peace building. What you describe is not exactly the way it happened. You might recall that Jewish students were being harassed terribly. They were locked out of the libraries, they were being surrounded on campus, they were asked on subways if there were Zionists (supporters of Israel). These were not peaceful protests... overarching there were many that were rage filled anti Israel/even anti Jewish at times protests. Also just a reminder to us all, Gaza and Israel had a ceasefire on October 6th. Hamas broke that with its barbaric attack.
Let’s not rewrite history. Grappling with its realities is hard enough. Thanks for your help to all of us in doing so.
Israel has been restricting and oppressing Palestinians for decades. Netanyahu is a war criminal. It's sad that some Jewish people don't see this and choose to call it antisemitism when it doesn't matter who would be committing these atrocities. Israel is guilty of horrendous war crimes and should be condemned and held accountable. Blocking Jewish students from entering libraries is inappropriate but draws attention to the plight of Palestine. Let's not "rewrite history" and excuse Israel for its long history of oppression of another people. University student protests haven't always been appropriate but they do draw attention to issues that aren't given fair coverage by mainstream media.
Thanks, I know this is a hot topic but I don't think Palestinians have been given fair coverage in mainstream media and maybe if they were it wouldn't be so volatile.
I agree. PM Netanyahu and his right-wing enablers are engaged in a genocide in Gaza.
We Americans should not send one more dollar of taxpayer money to fund Israel's Genocide, or to fund Israel's economy, as long as Israel and PM Netanyahu continue their Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
They should pay for their own living. Netanyahu is a conman and freeloader.
Even Israelis are realizing Netanyahu and his rightwing sycophants are committing genocide. The ICC and the UN have confirmed this.
Netanyahu has been the oppressor (for decades) and aggressor in most of what started this war with Palestinians. He and his enablers knew about Hamas' plan a year before October 7th and did nothing about it. The IMF Women brought the plan to Netanyahu, but he and his cabal ignored the women. He even was funding Hamas through Quatar for a few years before October 7th.
PM Netanyahu will continue his war just to stay out of prison for his corruption. He likes what he is doing and will not stop until he has eliminated the People of Gaza and the West Bank.
Netanyahu will keep killing Gazans in places he has told them to go for safety.
That is a horrendous war crime!
It is time for the ICC, and the World, to prosecute and convict Netanyahu for his genocide, all of his war crimes and his atrocities against Humanity, Now.
Hey, good morning. It's Tim Snyder. It's October 13th, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the ceasefire in Gaza. So Mr. Trump is in the Mideast working on his ceasefire in Gaza, and that's very good. I just want to take a step back and ask Where did we first hear that slogan, ceasefire?
Where did you first read or hear that slogan? It might very well have been on a placard that you read it, a placard carried by students almost two years ago or a year and a half ago or maybe a year ago. You may have heard that slogan first, chanted by students in a university town.
So I think it'd be nice if Mr. Trump thanked the students because they were there first. Not that every student had the same views or has the same views, but certainly it was the student protesters who were the first to spread that message that there should be a ceasefire in Gaza.
But then it's a funny thing, isn't it? Because when they spread that message, they were banned. They were banned from public assembly. They were banned from carrying out their demonstrations. All across the United States right now there are bans on students gathering in their own universities because essentially students called for a ceasefire.
So I would think that as we celebrate hope of peace in gaza folks would also be thanking the students which somehow i'm i didn't see this morning on the fox news broadcast i was watching but i also hope folks would then say okay it's really time we lifted all of these speech bans all
these bans on freedom assembly on american campuses because the students were right and of course There's a bigger point here, which is that the reason why you have freedom of speech in the first place is so that people can speak truth to power. That's the reason.
The reason why you have freedom of speech in the first place is so, for example, younger people can talk to older people or people who feel an injustice keenly can express themselves about it and maybe change policy. And here's a thought. Maybe if we hadn't enacted all those speech bans on campus,
keeping students from assembling and protesting about Gaza, maybe we would have gotten here much sooner. Maybe more civilians would be alive. Maybe more children would be alive. But it would seem that a very minimal part of any peace settlement in Gaza for Americans or for an American president
or for any American talking about it would be to say, oh, it's really time. It's really high time. We lifted all those bans on freedom of assembly and freedom of speech on American campuses, which are preventing students from gathering and speaking their mind. Now, you may have heard the slogan, free speech on campus.
I'm all in favor of freedom of speech on campus. I've got a lot to say about it, and I'll do it some other time. But the one and only major threat to freedom of speech on American campuses right now are bans on speech and assembly, which have to do with Gaza. Or do they?
Given that President Trump now seems to think the same thing that most Americans think and now seems to think the thing that many students thought a year and a half ago or a year ago, now that he's caught up, maybe it will realize that these bans on assembly and speech on campuses,
but they were actually never about Gaza. They were never about a particular issue. They were a foretaste. And they remain a foretaste of bans on freedom of speech and assembly in general. They were a kind of preemptive strike. They were a first act in a larger set of actions, which we're experiencing now. So if I'm wrong,
if they really were about Gaza, then the folks who are talking about a ceasefire in Gaza now in the administration will encourage universities to lift these bans. But if I'm right, then they won't. So freedom of speech, freedom of assembly are very important. They can get us where we need to go faster.
Folks who are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza should also be talking as Americans about lifting all the restrictions on students gathering and speaking at their universities. And all of us should recognize that that whole thing, from top to bottom, all of those bans, that whole panic, It was a scam.
The basic idea was to prevent students from protesting and gathering in general. And so long as those bans on assembly and speech are not lifted, we can unfortunately be sure that that was the idea in the first place. Okay. So freedom of speech, it can help us get where we're going. If you want to express yourself freely,
there will be big protests all across the country this Saturday, October the 18th, under the heading No Kings. This has been Tim Snyder. I'm speaking from my substack, which is called Thinking About. Look it up, subscribe if you like, share this video with people who need to hear it. Thank you very much for being with me.
The big problem as I see it, is that Trump and this administration is messing with people's minds--by changing the meaning of words through fear. Then the crowd shifts in that direction. I felt like my heart was caving in when I saw those cheering crowds in Israel--cheering TRUMP who is killing freedom and truth. It took Professor Snyder to remind me of why my heart was caving in. The students called for a cease fire. They get deported and slammed to the ground. He gets cheered. What's wrong with this picture? And the more truth gets turned upside down, the harder it is to right it.
Mr. Snyder, I admire and even teach your work. This post is very disappointing.
No, Mr. Snyder. The antisemitism was not something from infiltrated people in the protests. The protests were about cease fire, yes, but also, very loudly, about “from the river to the sea”, and nothing or almost nothing about the hostages. The mere idea of a Jewish State is unbearable for the protesters.
Even so, they deserve their right to freedom of expression, so far they are not violent (which in some cases, they were, and in many, they were not). Your argument may be valid anyway, but not acknowledging these facts won’t help it.
I just asked my Congressperson to call all area universities' presidents to remind them that restrictions on campus speech regarding Gaza and Israel are no longer appropriate.
Spare us. The “ceasefire” the students went on about was a thinly disguised demand that Israel surrender and beg for its hostages to be returned over who knows how long a time period and at what cost. Their version of a “ceasefire” would have allowed Hamas to remain all-powerful in Gaza, Hezbollah continuing their oppression of Lebanese and Assad continuing the murder of his own people.
The students’ current silence now that there is a ceasefire confirms that they were never interested in Gazans or anything else. Instead, their disappointment that the Trump ceasefire, supported by the Arab League, confirms that they have difficulty dealing with Hamas’ defeat ant that Israel’s war aims have been vindicated.
To the extent they have internalized the reality of the “ceasefire”, they have now moved on to protest the “occupation”. Confirming, again, that it is Israel’s very existence and success that motivates their venom.
Sorry, but this is upside down and backwards. What motivates "their venom" is the long-term injustice toward, and now vastly amplified suffering of, the Palestinians. I am regularly on two major campuses, and there is absolutely no basis for the argument that the protesters were "for Hamas"; for the most part, they were appalled by the October 7 violence, but even more appalled by the disproportionate response by Israel. There were a few intemperate slogans shouted, yes, but nothing to justify the accusation of "antisemitism" (now reduced to a meaningless Trumpian slur). I personally saw two incidents of bullying of pro-Palestinian students (and none of pro-Israeli students, let alone undifferentiated Jewish students), and of course, there is the macro bullying of pro-Palestinians via the doxxing, the bad-faith Congressional hearings, the pressures on universities to punish protest, and now the whole Trump attack on academia. It would have been better if the pro-Palestinians had been uniformly decorous, but you have to expect the emotions of the moment to take over. And the anti-Palestinian attacks have been vastly more damaging and racist, and are still persisting.
Not buying such retrospective whitewashing. The protests began while Hamas terrorists were still inside Israeli territory. The signs, slogans, tents and much else did not spontaneously appear.
There were at least three types of protesters. The true believers, and Hamas supporters, who leverage the 10/7 barbarity to galvanize support for Israel’s destruction.
Then there were the credulous and uninformed who latched on to what they were told was the intersectional cause of them all - a bit of lazy thinking that had been years in the making. These narcissists were the ones who knew nothing of Israel, Jews or, as we learned, the river and sea they were mindlessly chanting about.
These narcissists third group was composed of those out looking for some fun, whether in a fake community or in acting edgy.
Many were egged on by a media that was far too trusting of Hamas propaganda and chose on too many occasions to lay their journalistic ethics to one side to advance a noxious narrative.
The final proof in the pudding is the complete silence of the “ceasefire now” crowd. That tells you all you need to know. Were these protesters as you wish them to have been, they should be delirious at the end of a “genocide” and that Gazans have been spared from “starvation” - even if it meant Hamas’ capitulation. Their silence shows that they are never believed these claims or, deep down, didn’t care about them or Gazans.
Yeah, no. Palestinians have every right to their own home. Israel has oppressed them for decades. There's no "ceasefire" to celebrate when the IDF continues to kill Palestinians and Palestinians have no voice in their future. The US needs to stop supporting Israel.
Funny how there’s such an overlap between those who say the Palestinians have a “right” to a state in the same breath that they assert that Israel has “no right” to exist. Not saying this applies to you, specifically, but it is an accurate generalization.
In fact, there is no such thing as a “right” to statehood. The conditions laid down by the Montevideo Convention of 1933 are prerequisite to any claim. And then, the new state can be recognized de jure. If that statehood is contested, as Israel’s was in 1948, it must be successfully defended or it’s lost.
Why the obsessive demand for special rules for Palestinians over other, arguably far more deserving, people (both in fact given their differentiation with surrounding peoples and morally) is the real question.
No "special rules" for those who are defending their home. It's a right for all. Indigenous people in this country had every right to defend their home and yet we did the same thing to them that Israel is doing to Palestinians. My point is that war crimes are crimes whoever is committing them and Israel has oppressed Palestinians for decades. They have become exactly what they say should never again happen. Sad and inhumane.
And who are you to say that there are "far more deserving and moral people"? That kind of thinking is the excuse given for the oppression of others. Such a sad statement for humanity.
As a devoted fan of yours, I feel sad and disappointed that you did not mention the intimidation of Jewish students by at least some of the protesters. I believe that if those protests which allowed for threats of violence against Jewish students and even some staff, not happened, freedom of speech would not have become an issue. The hate, terror, and threats of violence, and in some cases actual violence, happened, and Jews on campus were afraid with good reason. What are your thoughts about that?
My thoughts are is that it brought attention to the plight of Palestine. The mainstream media always favors Israel and doesn't give the same coverage to Palestine. It's unfortunate that Palestine doesn't get the same media attention as Israel. If it did this may not be such a volatile issue.
Oh come on! Did you not watch the videos of the pro ceasefire students harassing - threatening Jewish students on campus? Blocking their entrance to campus? The shouting down of Jewish speakers?
The vandalism of Hillel buildings and individual dorm rooms of Jewish students ? That's not free speech. That's bullying and violence.
I believe deeply in free speech and expression. That's not it. Nor is Trump weaponization of free speech.
Free speech is the foundation of our democracy. Hateful and threatening speech must be allowed, but it should also be condemned for what it is. By attacking verbally a specific community, in this case Jews, demonstrators invalidate their credibility and poison the act of protest. There is a tacit requirement that college students should understand what they are shouting. “From the river to the sea” stands for an end of the State of Israel. For those of us who don’t support the government of Israel as we don’t support the current government of the United States, attacks on the rights of a state or a people are hateful and degrading.
As I’m sure you will acknowledge, words have power and should be chosen carefully.
I was an active protestor in the 60’s and 70’s and know that my words, signs and demonstrations offended my parents’ generation. But we never attacked a people. It will be a long time before the sad rise in anti-semitism that was fueled by these demonstrations can subside. In the meantime, Jews around the world live in fear again. So yes, campus protest is important. But know what you are saying.
Boomer here - just for what it's worth, we did, however, attack many of those who'd been drafted to fight in Vietnam after they returned back to the states, in spite of the fact most of them were drafted against their will (my husband included). Also, most of the protesters against the current Palestinian genocide were/are NOT against the Jews, including my own family who protested and ARE Jewish.
I’m sorry for your experience after Vietnam and for your husband’s sacrifice and suffering. The treatment of our veterans and their families is a source of shame for our country.
Unfortunately, antisemitism has a history going back more than 2000 years and was fed by the actions of many in the movement supporting Palestinian rights. While I know many who rightfully spoke out against the Israeli government’s prosecution of the war, there were too many willing to blur the line between opposing Israel’s actions and Israel’s right to exist. Any Jew who doesn’t recognize that we are sliding back into a familiar pattern of antisemitism and danger for our community is not paying attention.
Their silence is deafening. Their so called protests were harassment towards Jewish students. It was never about free speech or free the Palestinians. It was about hating Jews and cosplaying whilst supporting terror.
The canary in the coal mine. Once Jews are hunted societies collapse.
So the here is nothing to celebrate with the IDF continuing to kill Palestinians during this "ceasefire". Israel has violated every ceasefire and this agreement doesn't include any Palestinian voices. Nothing to celebrate.
Although I’m fully in favor of the concept of free speech, I also agree with some who’ve commented here that perhaps Dr. Snyder oversimplified the protests in that, as others have mentioned, many of the protests went a good deal further than simply asking for a cease-fire. They were actively pro-Palestinian and anti-israel.
It all points up the complexity inherent in our First Amendment (as with some other Amendments as well). At what point does 'free speech’ become more destructive than constructive, and so what is the proper balance, or can there be a balance at all? It is a question of deep concern, especially in these days of the Internet and all its varied content and influence.
It is reasonably safe to say, for example, that without the Internet, Donald Trump would likely never have been elected, at least for the second time.
As an aging American who was born exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima and really did change the world forever, I’ve seen much. My own introduction to the complexities of free speech came during the famous (or infamous) Sixties in the maelstrom of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movements.
Students really did take the lead in opposing the war as it became clearer that we had gotten ourselves stuck in an endless and futile quagmire over there. And they were at the heart of the Civil Rights movement - particularly the African American kids who took their lives in their hands at lunch counters and on the streets of many southern cities. But they also went off rails later on (Weathermen, etc) when it appeared to some of them that their peaceful protests weren’t working as they wished.
As with so much else in a democratic state, the sense of responsibility for one’s actions is central to the idea of freedom. Freedom without responsibility all too often leads to anarchy. Students are of an age to tend toward idealism, which where it often should lead, but at the same time, students are all too often simplistic in their approach to larger and more complex issues. On the other hand, aging folks like me are sometimes prone to allowing ourselves to become paralyzed in trying to understand those complexities before we act.
And this, of course, is why education is so crucial to a democracy and so dangerous to those who oppose democracy. As one fellow in my dorm once noted, “A good education should prepare us to be able to ask intelligent questions in a number of important areas, and al least show us how to know if the answers we get back are bullshit or not”.
At my son’s graduation at McGill there were protests from the stage!!! Thank God we were in Canada….Thank God YOU are in Canada
Yes, it is reassuring to know the tentacles of trumpf will have a harder time trying to silence anyone in Canada.
So well said. One can be against Israeli and Netanyahu's actions without being antisemitic. Hamas' attack two years ago was horrific but killing 67,000 Palestinians and destroying almost every standing structure in Gaza smacks of genocide. Israeli war crimes managed to overshadow the brutality of Hamas. There's a good reason Israel has lost good standing in today's world and it has nothing to do with antisemitism.
“One can be against Israeli and Netanyahu's actions without being antisemitic.”
Yes, that is perfectly fine and logical, but there are some (verbal-anarchistic stick-in-the-muds) who persistently conflate opposition to ANY policy of the Netanyahu government , or ANY criticism of the State of Israel, to be ipso facto antiSemitic. And they will call out anyone who argues against their exceedingly narrow definition as being a dupe, or blind, or a secret antisemite, despite the fact that many Jews, in Israel and America, hold those views.
It does not pay to argue with people who have painted themselves into that corner. It’s where they will stand till Hell freezes over. Ignore them and pass by.
So now that there is a cease fire and the brutal killing has stopped, is it still genocide or was that just a word used to protest a horrendous policy of war and retribution? What do you call Trump’s end of USAID that will kill millions of Africans? Is that genocide?
You have a view I don’t share. I’m a Jew and I know antisemitism when I see it. And it’s very obvious that the student and other protesters do not care about cease-fire. They hate Israel. Just look at what’s going on in Israel all the love for her people. It’s all about the value of individual life, I clearly Western value. I believe that the reason Gaza wants its murderers, returned so that they can keep on murdering and trying to obliterate Israel. They have no faces no history no families they are the army of Muslim reactionaries they await their destiny which is to die. They are a death cult. Israel is a life cult, and every individual counts there.
Are you saying that those of us who disagree with Netanyahu and his policies are antisemitic? Israelis have killed 67,000 Palestinians, destroyed their homes, starved innumerable children, bombed their hospitals but if we condemn those actions, we're being antisemitic? Is there any disagreement we can have with Israeli positions then that isn't antisemitic in your view? Wow. I stand by what I said.
You have made some sweeping statements here. I have a Jewish daughter-in-law and two Jewish grandchildren. They are observant, she has lived in Israel in the past. Their family values, not surprisingly given that she is married to my eldest son, are very similar to mine. She despises Netanyahu, as do many of my Jewish friends. She finds no difficulty in condemning the atrocity by Hamas, but also being appalled at the genocidal retribution by Netanyahu's government.
I find your view that to value the lives of Palestinians equally to those of Israelis is somehow antisemitic quite extraordinary. Likewise, to condemn those who follow Islam rather than Judaism or Christianity (or indeed any other religion) as following a death cult, is just offensive.
Finally, I continue to be amused that Israel always aligns itself to 'the West' and to Europe (in sport, and recently the Eurovision controversy). Israel cannot escape the fact that it is in the Middle East - why not be proud of it?
No. Thry want to erase Israel and more importantly, they need to feel a part of a movement and it really doesn’t matter much about what the movement is or what facts underlie it. They are either naïve dreamers, tools of Hamas and other Arab radicals or deeply in need of belonging to something bigger than themselves.
I stand by what I wrote.
Israel is protecting its people. I don’t know if any other Israeli leader would’ve been able to be better or worse than Netanyahu, given the absolute evil of Hamas and how Hamas set up Palestinians areas as bait. Please notice the difference between how Israel greeted it’s hostages vs how Palestinian prisoners were received home., now Hamas is killing Palestinians, who didn’t agree with them.
I understand that many Israelis despise Netanyahu and accuse him of deliberately maintaining war to protect and maintain his own power.. I am not able to judge that. But I do know that no Jewish group can match the evil of Hamas and radical Islamists
So it appears that 40 some Israeli hostages have been released from Hamas and 2000(!) Palestinians have been released by Israel and they show signs of torture and execution. Hmmm. More aid workers have been killed than IDF soldiers. I think you are wrong. Denying the facts is a very sad way to live. Israel has been oppressing Palestinians for decades and violates every "ceasefire". We are all in trouble when one group of people oppresses another. Netanyahu is a war criminal and needs to be held accountable for his crimes.
Timothy I’m a really big fan of yours and support almost all of what you say, but I really have to push back on this one.
I am someone who’s worked for decades on Israeli Palestinian, grassroots and leadership peace building. What you describe is not exactly the way it happened. You might recall that Jewish students were being harassed terribly. They were locked out of the libraries, they were being surrounded on campus, they were asked on subways if there were Zionists (supporters of Israel). These were not peaceful protests... overarching there were many that were rage filled anti Israel/even anti Jewish at times protests. Also just a reminder to us all, Gaza and Israel had a ceasefire on October 6th. Hamas broke that with its barbaric attack.
Let’s not rewrite history. Grappling with its realities is hard enough. Thanks for your help to all of us in doing so.
Israel has been restricting and oppressing Palestinians for decades. Netanyahu is a war criminal. It's sad that some Jewish people don't see this and choose to call it antisemitism when it doesn't matter who would be committing these atrocities. Israel is guilty of horrendous war crimes and should be condemned and held accountable. Blocking Jewish students from entering libraries is inappropriate but draws attention to the plight of Palestine. Let's not "rewrite history" and excuse Israel for its long history of oppression of another people. University student protests haven't always been appropriate but they do draw attention to issues that aren't given fair coverage by mainstream media.
Well said. It is convenient to believe that this conflict started 2 years ago.
Thanks, I know this is a hot topic but I don't think Palestinians have been given fair coverage in mainstream media and maybe if they were it wouldn't be so volatile.
I agree. PM Netanyahu and his right-wing enablers are engaged in a genocide in Gaza.
We Americans should not send one more dollar of taxpayer money to fund Israel's Genocide, or to fund Israel's economy, as long as Israel and PM Netanyahu continue their Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
They should pay for their own living. Netanyahu is a conman and freeloader.
Even Israelis are realizing Netanyahu and his rightwing sycophants are committing genocide. The ICC and the UN have confirmed this.
Netanyahu has been the oppressor (for decades) and aggressor in most of what started this war with Palestinians. He and his enablers knew about Hamas' plan a year before October 7th and did nothing about it. The IMF Women brought the plan to Netanyahu, but he and his cabal ignored the women. He even was funding Hamas through Quatar for a few years before October 7th.
PM Netanyahu will continue his war just to stay out of prison for his corruption. He likes what he is doing and will not stop until he has eliminated the People of Gaza and the West Bank.
Netanyahu will keep killing Gazans in places he has told them to go for safety.
That is a horrendous war crime!
It is time for the ICC, and the World, to prosecute and convict Netanyahu for his genocide, all of his war crimes and his atrocities against Humanity, Now.
AND HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT ……
Hey, good morning. It's Tim Snyder. It's October 13th, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the ceasefire in Gaza. So Mr. Trump is in the Mideast working on his ceasefire in Gaza, and that's very good. I just want to take a step back and ask Where did we first hear that slogan, ceasefire?
Where did you first read or hear that slogan? It might very well have been on a placard that you read it, a placard carried by students almost two years ago or a year and a half ago or maybe a year ago. You may have heard that slogan first, chanted by students in a university town.
So I think it'd be nice if Mr. Trump thanked the students because they were there first. Not that every student had the same views or has the same views, but certainly it was the student protesters who were the first to spread that message that there should be a ceasefire in Gaza.
But then it's a funny thing, isn't it? Because when they spread that message, they were banned. They were banned from public assembly. They were banned from carrying out their demonstrations. All across the United States right now there are bans on students gathering in their own universities because essentially students called for a ceasefire.
So I would think that as we celebrate hope of peace in gaza folks would also be thanking the students which somehow i'm i didn't see this morning on the fox news broadcast i was watching but i also hope folks would then say okay it's really time we lifted all of these speech bans all
these bans on freedom assembly on american campuses because the students were right and of course There's a bigger point here, which is that the reason why you have freedom of speech in the first place is so that people can speak truth to power. That's the reason.
The reason why you have freedom of speech in the first place is so, for example, younger people can talk to older people or people who feel an injustice keenly can express themselves about it and maybe change policy. And here's a thought. Maybe if we hadn't enacted all those speech bans on campus,
keeping students from assembling and protesting about Gaza, maybe we would have gotten here much sooner. Maybe more civilians would be alive. Maybe more children would be alive. But it would seem that a very minimal part of any peace settlement in Gaza for Americans or for an American president
or for any American talking about it would be to say, oh, it's really time. It's really high time. We lifted all those bans on freedom of assembly and freedom of speech on American campuses, which are preventing students from gathering and speaking their mind. Now, you may have heard the slogan, free speech on campus.
I'm all in favor of freedom of speech on campus. I've got a lot to say about it, and I'll do it some other time. But the one and only major threat to freedom of speech on American campuses right now are bans on speech and assembly, which have to do with Gaza. Or do they?
Given that President Trump now seems to think the same thing that most Americans think and now seems to think the thing that many students thought a year and a half ago or a year ago, now that he's caught up, maybe it will realize that these bans on assembly and speech on campuses,
but they were actually never about Gaza. They were never about a particular issue. They were a foretaste. And they remain a foretaste of bans on freedom of speech and assembly in general. They were a kind of preemptive strike. They were a first act in a larger set of actions, which we're experiencing now. So if I'm wrong,
if they really were about Gaza, then the folks who are talking about a ceasefire in Gaza now in the administration will encourage universities to lift these bans. But if I'm right, then they won't. So freedom of speech, freedom of assembly are very important. They can get us where we need to go faster.
Folks who are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza should also be talking as Americans about lifting all the restrictions on students gathering and speaking at their universities. And all of us should recognize that that whole thing, from top to bottom, all of those bans, that whole panic, It was a scam.
The basic idea was to prevent students from protesting and gathering in general. And so long as those bans on assembly and speech are not lifted, we can unfortunately be sure that that was the idea in the first place. Okay. So freedom of speech, it can help us get where we're going. If you want to express yourself freely,
there will be big protests all across the country this Saturday, October the 18th, under the heading No Kings. This has been Tim Snyder. I'm speaking from my substack, which is called Thinking About. Look it up, subscribe if you like, share this video with people who need to hear it. Thank you very much for being with me.
The big problem as I see it, is that Trump and this administration is messing with people's minds--by changing the meaning of words through fear. Then the crowd shifts in that direction. I felt like my heart was caving in when I saw those cheering crowds in Israel--cheering TRUMP who is killing freedom and truth. It took Professor Snyder to remind me of why my heart was caving in. The students called for a cease fire. They get deported and slammed to the ground. He gets cheered. What's wrong with this picture? And the more truth gets turned upside down, the harder it is to right it.
Mr. Snyder, I admire and even teach your work. This post is very disappointing.
No, Mr. Snyder. The antisemitism was not something from infiltrated people in the protests. The protests were about cease fire, yes, but also, very loudly, about “from the river to the sea”, and nothing or almost nothing about the hostages. The mere idea of a Jewish State is unbearable for the protesters.
Even so, they deserve their right to freedom of expression, so far they are not violent (which in some cases, they were, and in many, they were not). Your argument may be valid anyway, but not acknowledging these facts won’t help it.
Very important. Thanks Prof Snyder. to re-iterate - Anyone seeing this should think about sharing it widely.
I just asked my Congressperson to call all area universities' presidents to remind them that restrictions on campus speech regarding Gaza and Israel are no longer appropriate.
Spare us. The “ceasefire” the students went on about was a thinly disguised demand that Israel surrender and beg for its hostages to be returned over who knows how long a time period and at what cost. Their version of a “ceasefire” would have allowed Hamas to remain all-powerful in Gaza, Hezbollah continuing their oppression of Lebanese and Assad continuing the murder of his own people.
The students’ current silence now that there is a ceasefire confirms that they were never interested in Gazans or anything else. Instead, their disappointment that the Trump ceasefire, supported by the Arab League, confirms that they have difficulty dealing with Hamas’ defeat ant that Israel’s war aims have been vindicated.
To the extent they have internalized the reality of the “ceasefire”, they have now moved on to protest the “occupation”. Confirming, again, that it is Israel’s very existence and success that motivates their venom.
Sorry, but this is upside down and backwards. What motivates "their venom" is the long-term injustice toward, and now vastly amplified suffering of, the Palestinians. I am regularly on two major campuses, and there is absolutely no basis for the argument that the protesters were "for Hamas"; for the most part, they were appalled by the October 7 violence, but even more appalled by the disproportionate response by Israel. There were a few intemperate slogans shouted, yes, but nothing to justify the accusation of "antisemitism" (now reduced to a meaningless Trumpian slur). I personally saw two incidents of bullying of pro-Palestinian students (and none of pro-Israeli students, let alone undifferentiated Jewish students), and of course, there is the macro bullying of pro-Palestinians via the doxxing, the bad-faith Congressional hearings, the pressures on universities to punish protest, and now the whole Trump attack on academia. It would have been better if the pro-Palestinians had been uniformly decorous, but you have to expect the emotions of the moment to take over. And the anti-Palestinian attacks have been vastly more damaging and racist, and are still persisting.
Not buying such retrospective whitewashing. The protests began while Hamas terrorists were still inside Israeli territory. The signs, slogans, tents and much else did not spontaneously appear.
There were at least three types of protesters. The true believers, and Hamas supporters, who leverage the 10/7 barbarity to galvanize support for Israel’s destruction.
Then there were the credulous and uninformed who latched on to what they were told was the intersectional cause of them all - a bit of lazy thinking that had been years in the making. These narcissists were the ones who knew nothing of Israel, Jews or, as we learned, the river and sea they were mindlessly chanting about.
These narcissists third group was composed of those out looking for some fun, whether in a fake community or in acting edgy.
Many were egged on by a media that was far too trusting of Hamas propaganda and chose on too many occasions to lay their journalistic ethics to one side to advance a noxious narrative.
The final proof in the pudding is the complete silence of the “ceasefire now” crowd. That tells you all you need to know. Were these protesters as you wish them to have been, they should be delirious at the end of a “genocide” and that Gazans have been spared from “starvation” - even if it meant Hamas’ capitulation. Their silence shows that they are never believed these claims or, deep down, didn’t care about them or Gazans.
Yeah, no. Palestinians have every right to their own home. Israel has oppressed them for decades. There's no "ceasefire" to celebrate when the IDF continues to kill Palestinians and Palestinians have no voice in their future. The US needs to stop supporting Israel.
Funny how there’s such an overlap between those who say the Palestinians have a “right” to a state in the same breath that they assert that Israel has “no right” to exist. Not saying this applies to you, specifically, but it is an accurate generalization.
In fact, there is no such thing as a “right” to statehood. The conditions laid down by the Montevideo Convention of 1933 are prerequisite to any claim. And then, the new state can be recognized de jure. If that statehood is contested, as Israel’s was in 1948, it must be successfully defended or it’s lost.
Why the obsessive demand for special rules for Palestinians over other, arguably far more deserving, people (both in fact given their differentiation with surrounding peoples and morally) is the real question.
No "special rules" for those who are defending their home. It's a right for all. Indigenous people in this country had every right to defend their home and yet we did the same thing to them that Israel is doing to Palestinians. My point is that war crimes are crimes whoever is committing them and Israel has oppressed Palestinians for decades. They have become exactly what they say should never again happen. Sad and inhumane.
And who are you to say that there are "far more deserving and moral people"? That kind of thinking is the excuse given for the oppression of others. Such a sad statement for humanity.
And some held placards that said Globalize the Intifada or From the River to the Sea. None said anything about Hamas.
Thank you. Hateful speech is just that.
As a devoted fan of yours, I feel sad and disappointed that you did not mention the intimidation of Jewish students by at least some of the protesters. I believe that if those protests which allowed for threats of violence against Jewish students and even some staff, not happened, freedom of speech would not have become an issue. The hate, terror, and threats of violence, and in some cases actual violence, happened, and Jews on campus were afraid with good reason. What are your thoughts about that?
My thoughts are is that it brought attention to the plight of Palestine. The mainstream media always favors Israel and doesn't give the same coverage to Palestine. It's unfortunate that Palestine doesn't get the same media attention as Israel. If it did this may not be such a volatile issue.
Not sure what media you mean, but it's sure not the media I've ever seen!
Okay, what news feeds do you watch?
Oh come on! Did you not watch the videos of the pro ceasefire students harassing - threatening Jewish students on campus? Blocking their entrance to campus? The shouting down of Jewish speakers?
The vandalism of Hillel buildings and individual dorm rooms of Jewish students ? That's not free speech. That's bullying and violence.
I believe deeply in free speech and expression. That's not it. Nor is Trump weaponization of free speech.
Free speech is the foundation of our democracy. Hateful and threatening speech must be allowed, but it should also be condemned for what it is. By attacking verbally a specific community, in this case Jews, demonstrators invalidate their credibility and poison the act of protest. There is a tacit requirement that college students should understand what they are shouting. “From the river to the sea” stands for an end of the State of Israel. For those of us who don’t support the government of Israel as we don’t support the current government of the United States, attacks on the rights of a state or a people are hateful and degrading.
As I’m sure you will acknowledge, words have power and should be chosen carefully.
I was an active protestor in the 60’s and 70’s and know that my words, signs and demonstrations offended my parents’ generation. But we never attacked a people. It will be a long time before the sad rise in anti-semitism that was fueled by these demonstrations can subside. In the meantime, Jews around the world live in fear again. So yes, campus protest is important. But know what you are saying.
Boomer here - just for what it's worth, we did, however, attack many of those who'd been drafted to fight in Vietnam after they returned back to the states, in spite of the fact most of them were drafted against their will (my husband included). Also, most of the protesters against the current Palestinian genocide were/are NOT against the Jews, including my own family who protested and ARE Jewish.
I’m sorry for your experience after Vietnam and for your husband’s sacrifice and suffering. The treatment of our veterans and their families is a source of shame for our country.
Unfortunately, antisemitism has a history going back more than 2000 years and was fed by the actions of many in the movement supporting Palestinian rights. While I know many who rightfully spoke out against the Israeli government’s prosecution of the war, there were too many willing to blur the line between opposing Israel’s actions and Israel’s right to exist. Any Jew who doesn’t recognize that we are sliding back into a familiar pattern of antisemitism and danger for our community is not paying attention.
Exactly.
Thank you for setting the record straight.
I would love to see the students celebrating the ceasefire.
Yeah, wouldn't we all? It was never about Gaza though.
Their silence is deafening. Their so called protests were harassment towards Jewish students. It was never about free speech or free the Palestinians. It was about hating Jews and cosplaying whilst supporting terror.
The canary in the coal mine. Once Jews are hunted societies collapse.
So the here is nothing to celebrate with the IDF continuing to kill Palestinians during this "ceasefire". Israel has violated every ceasefire and this agreement doesn't include any Palestinian voices. Nothing to celebrate.
This ceasefire doesn't include any guarantees for the Palestinians. At least not yet. I think that may be why there are no celebrations.
Although I’m fully in favor of the concept of free speech, I also agree with some who’ve commented here that perhaps Dr. Snyder oversimplified the protests in that, as others have mentioned, many of the protests went a good deal further than simply asking for a cease-fire. They were actively pro-Palestinian and anti-israel.
It all points up the complexity inherent in our First Amendment (as with some other Amendments as well). At what point does 'free speech’ become more destructive than constructive, and so what is the proper balance, or can there be a balance at all? It is a question of deep concern, especially in these days of the Internet and all its varied content and influence.
It is reasonably safe to say, for example, that without the Internet, Donald Trump would likely never have been elected, at least for the second time.
As an aging American who was born exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima and really did change the world forever, I’ve seen much. My own introduction to the complexities of free speech came during the famous (or infamous) Sixties in the maelstrom of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movements.
Students really did take the lead in opposing the war as it became clearer that we had gotten ourselves stuck in an endless and futile quagmire over there. And they were at the heart of the Civil Rights movement - particularly the African American kids who took their lives in their hands at lunch counters and on the streets of many southern cities. But they also went off rails later on (Weathermen, etc) when it appeared to some of them that their peaceful protests weren’t working as they wished.
As with so much else in a democratic state, the sense of responsibility for one’s actions is central to the idea of freedom. Freedom without responsibility all too often leads to anarchy. Students are of an age to tend toward idealism, which where it often should lead, but at the same time, students are all too often simplistic in their approach to larger and more complex issues. On the other hand, aging folks like me are sometimes prone to allowing ourselves to become paralyzed in trying to understand those complexities before we act.
And this, of course, is why education is so crucial to a democracy and so dangerous to those who oppose democracy. As one fellow in my dorm once noted, “A good education should prepare us to be able to ask intelligent questions in a number of important areas, and al least show us how to know if the answers we get back are bullshit or not”.
Thank you for reminding me of this ... irony. Injustice. Horror.
The truth is being killed which is breaking my heart and making me want to scream
You keep saving it.
I can assure you that your reactions to the RightWing’s War on Truth are shared by many.