Letters to the Editor: Why pro-Palestinian protests can actually help protect Jewish students

To the editor: Although I have no qualms calling out President Trump’s exploitation of antisemitism charges to silence dissent and defund education, I object to this article’s premise that the college protests make Jews unsafe and would argue the opposite is true (“Being Jewish on campus amid Trump’s campaign against antisemitism: ‘tremendous heartache,’” June 9).

Pro-Palestinian protests on campus increase Jewish people’s safety because they challenge the normalization of Israel’s bombardment and blockage of food, water, medicine and fuel on a starving and caged population in Gaza. Once we normalize and arm the slaughter and imposition of starvation on Gaza, we normalize crimes against humanity everywhere, leaving us all unsafe. Moreover, Israel’s proclamation that it is the state of the Jewish people unfairly associates Jews worldwide with its policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

I live in Santa Barbara, where I supported the UCSB encampment in the spring of last year and continue to applaud students of all denominations who say, “Never again means never again for anyone.” Equating such protests and encampments with antisemitism does us all a disservice. I do not want to be associated with Israel’s war crimes, as alleged by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, and appreciate the opportunity to participate in the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace. Not in our name!

Marcy Winograd, Santa Barbara
This writer is a member of the California legislative team for Jewish Voice for Peace.