Corey Robin, who I believe was recently arrested for protesting the war in Gaza, is understandably upset that an “online” friend of his just lost his professorship at the University of Illinois because of his vociferous criticism of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu on Twitter.
Here’s a sample tweet: “At this point, if Netanyahu appeared on TV with a necklace made from the teeth of Palestinian children, would anybody be surprised? #Gaza.”
Professor Steven Salaita was slated to take a job in Urbana–Champaign teaching American Indian Studies, so it seems that he has in interest in oppressed populations that may help explain his outrage at the civilian losses on the Palestinian side of the Gaza conflict.
Here’s the thing on this. There are a whole lot of issues at play, including the principle of academic freedom, the distinction between dismissing a professor and rescinding a job offer, the right of a university to object to embarrassing or overly controversial behavior by their staff, etc. But, from Israel’s point of view, I don’t think it really advances their cause to be seen as some kind of policemen who can dictate who can and cannot be a professor in our universities. It’s true that there are some kids at Illinois who might have been subjected to some offhand anti-Israel comments during their time taking a course on Native Americans’ experience in this country, but I don’t think the State of Israel was going to be seriously threatened by that. Even the cumulative effect of dampening down criticism of Israel by taking a few scalps seems to me to be of dubious value. Academics aren’t going to decide how they feel about the Israel-Palestine conflict based on intimidation, unless that intimidation causes them to become resentful. You might keep some people quiet, but overall you will make them more hostile.
Unfortunately, this also fits right in with the stereotype that Jews control the media, banks, academia, etc. If you don’t want people to believe those stereotypes, you should be very selective about trying to exert that type of control. It’s one thing to push back against a professor who you think is unfairly critical, but it is another to call for his job. I don’t think that is helpful. I think it’s counterproductive.
