Cultivating Self-Hatred in Universities

Over the past weekend, it was not just a group of people that was run over in Berlin. One of the greatest illusions of progressive politics in the West was also run over. A young German with ties to the Islamic State, who was known to the authorities, drove into a crowd near Pride events, murdered a woman and wounded 29 people, and then attacked with a machete.

Just last year, thousands marched in the city at a pro-Palestinian queer event, in keffiyehs and with Palestinian flags, in the name of an imagined alliance between all the "oppressed." The attack illustrated the contradiction they refuse to see: radical Islamism is not a partner of queer liberalism. It is its bitter enemy and often uses it as a "useful idiot."

It would be one thing if this contradiction remained in Berlin. The problem is that woke culture has penetrated deep into Israel as well, and especially into the universities.

Only recently, the president of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Ariel Porat, and the rector, Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor, apologized to faculty members for inviting Dr. Danny Gold, one of the developers of the Iron Dome and head of MAFAT, to lecture at the doctoral degree ceremony. They clarified that the invitation itself was a "mistake," because the lecture dealt with the army and security and included presentations of missile launches.

And one must understand: this is not a lecture about weapons of mass destruction. It is about one of the most important defense systems developed by Israel, which allows those same faculty members who were offended by its very presentation to lead a routine life in Tel Aviv. And yet, the university administration did not demand that they deal with a reality that is uncomfortable for them. It apologized to them.

This is a repentance ceremony of a political cult that has lost its intellectual confidence. The university is no longer a pluralistic arena; it is an institution that knows exactly who to apologize to and who can be ignored. The apology is reserved for the "right" audience, that is: for the radical left.

Point of reference for large parts of the faculty in Israel is no longer Israeli society, but elite universities in the United States. One must speak the right language, condemn Israel in the right dosage, and broadcast "virtue signaling" in order to win an entry ticket to the global academic community. And the price is heavy: those same lecturers educate our children to feel guilty and apologize for the very fact of their sovereignty.

Prof. Yael Sternhell, head of the American Studies program at Tel Aviv University, said that she prefers the United States in a position that restrains Israel rather than in a position that supplies it with weapons. In the past, she also justified American restrictions on arms supplies and stated: "Any control that the Biden administration can exert over this government is absolutely justified."

Sternhell is the daughter of Prof. Zeev Sternhell, one of the prominent intellectuals of the radical left in Israel. There is, of course, no family responsibility for opinions, but it is hard to ignore the conceptual continuity. In 1988, the father wrote: "Only those who are willing to go up to Ofra with tanks will be able to stop the fascist drift that threatens to drown Israeli democracy." Today, the daughter justifies restricting weapons to Israel. And she does so even after October 7.

This is the closed sociological club of the Israeli academy. It replicates not only people, but also a moral code: the right is always fascism, Israel is always to blame, and recognition from the progressive elite in the West is more important than Israel's right to defend itself.

And this is not new. Judah Leib Magnes, the first president of the Hebrew University, did not settle for preaching for a binational state. In May 1948, when the Jewish Yishuv was fighting for its life, he met with Secretary of State George Marshall and suggested that the United States stop donations to the Yishuv. Blocking the funds, he explained, would stop the "Jewish war machine." The next day he also met with President Truman.

The same language of courtship is heard in the Supreme Court as well. In a discussion on a petition by left-wing organizations regarding aid to Gaza, Judge Isaac Amit said in a fawning voice suitable only for lawyers from the radical left: "This court is at your disposal, it places itself at your disposal."

Because this is the essence of the Israeli woke. Its essence is not compassion, but flattery: an attempt to acquire moral status in the West through constant condemnation of your own society, your nation, and your ability to defend yourself. But all the virtue signaling in the world will not change a simple truth: in the eyes of the radical Islamist, the professor who apologized, the queer activist who waved a Palestinian flag, and the Jew who attacked the Israeli government all remain enemies or infidels.

So a letter of apology from Prof. Porat and the radical left in the universities does not stop an Islamist. Because in reality, virtue signaling does not intercept missiles, but the Iron Dome, definitely does.

Prof. Moshe Cohen-Eliya is an expert in constitutional law and is the founder of "Misad HaAretz - The Research Institute of the People of Israel."