MONTREAL — In a 2008 Commentary Magazine article , Ruth Wisse, who in her youth was a Jewish studies pioneer at McGill University, issued a warning to diaspora Jews: if Arab “rejectionism” of Israel’s legitimacy, including the need for Israel’s elimination, comes to be accepted as normal, then not just the Jewish state, but Jews everywhere, will be regarded as “politically idiosyncratic once again.”
That is exactly what has been happening in plain sight at our universities for decades. The October 7 massacre gave wings to the rejectionists, ripping away the coy, tissue-thin facade of anti-Zionism to reveal the coiled antisemitism it had barely concealed. As a result, since October 7, Jewish students who consider attachment to Israel a natural component of their identity haven’t known a full day’s ease on campus.
