Letters to the Editor: When do campus protests on Israel cross the line into antisemitism?

To the editor: The report by UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias underlines the urgency of developing effective strategies for countering antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the horrific Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath.

The report also brings into sharp focus the critical need for distinguishing clearly between what is and is not antisemitic in campus protests. False accusations of antisemitism can risk suppressing legitimate, peaceful protests, potentially creating an environment that actually elevates more extreme, indefensible actions.

The Nexus Task Force’s Campus Guide to Identifying Antisemitism in a Time of Perplexity, created by a leading group of academic experts on antisemitism, provides guidelines for making these crucial distinctions.

At the same time, making those distinctions does not legitimize or condone violence. Those who defend or advocate for armed resistance against Israel as legitimate on the grounds that it is not antisemitic are creating a distraction from the moral depravity of violence. This defense becomes even more dangerous — and crosses into antisemitism — when support of violence conflates Israel with Jews.

Jonathan Jacoby, Sherman Oaks

The writer is national director of the Nexus Project.

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To the editor: The third paragraph of your article says, “More than a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the nation’s retaliatory war in Gaza ...”

I was shocked when I read that sentence. This is not a retaliatory war.

First, 101 hostages are still being held by Hamas, which refuses to release these poor people. Israel is trying to rescue the hostages.

Second, Hamas has built hundreds of miles of tunnels for the expressed purpose of destroying Israel from the face of the Earth. Israel must destroy these tunnels to protect itself.

Finally, over many years, thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel. This must be stopped.

Israel has every right to rescue the kidnapped hostages and every right to defend itself. This is not retaliation.

Mark Dressner, Long Beach