Pro-Palestinians on Drexel’s campus have made their intentions clear — their ultimate goal is to push U.S. organizations to fully divest from Israel and to prompt the IDF to cease operations in Gaza. Among all of the havoc, we have lost touch with what buzzwords truly mean. The words anti-semitism, Zionism and even genocide are thrown around to a degree that the definition has become lost upon us.
Members of the encampment have made great effort to highlight causes such as “resistance is justified,” along with their devotion to prompting a ceasefire.
In the eyes of Israelis that faced detrimental loss on Oct. 7 2023 and continue to see the spewed hatred to this day, the word resistance is synonymous with mindless violence. The word uprising is reminiscent of the emergency sirens, bomb shelters and weekly attacks. The promotion of peace coinciding with chants of violent resistance is pushing a misunderstood narrative — unless the goal is to abolish the nation of Israel and the Jews that there reside.
The demands stated by the Drexel Palestine Coalition include the termination of Drexel’s involvement with Hillel and Chabad, two inherently Jewish organizations. Both groups have one primary purpose, which is to invite in as many Jews as possible in an effort to foster community, friendship and love for their ancestral homeland.
While the Pro-Palestine groups have gone to great lengths to push a narrative that anti-Zionism and anti-semitism have no correlation, the demand to abolish Jewish organizations hints at the direct opposite. Jews can only practice if they can appease those watching with a magnifying glass. They must not be too Jewish, or there will be repercussions.
When every word is misconstrued, we are reminded of the simplicity of what we are fighting for, no matter the stance. I would like to remind the students that our Jewish classmates are people longing for a home that was held under the control of others for thousands of years. Now that we have it, we know, even through the loss we have experienced and the hate we have faced, that it is worth fighting for.