Across many college campuses now there are various anti-Israel protestors that are, to varying degrees, yelling, hanging signs, occupying walkways and common areas, and on occasion occupying and vandalizing buildings.
And, in conduct that is incredibly easy to predict as it parallels much of partisan politics, people will do everything to highlight both the absolute worst (or best) of whatever opinion that they have. And, by implication, try to show that the folks highlighted are representative of the whole.
In the January 6 cases we saw some who violently attacked the police and actively stormed the Senate to stop votes from being counted. Others strolled in after the damage was done and took pictures. And still others stayed outside and never entered, perhaps just wandering past the line of busted barricades that may, or may not, have even been there anymore.
Every case is different.
But the analogy to those Trumpers is perfect for the kids on campus today. Many call for the extermination of Israel (“from the River to the Sea”) or other forms of violence as to Israel or Jews generally. You need not look hard to find these. Unlike Vietnam era protests, these people don’t call for peace but for war.
Others are simply clueless, and could not name the river in question, and have no idea that it’s a call for extermination.
Some are violently attacking police and vandalizing buildings. Others are standing around either watching or half-heartedly chanting because, “hey, there’s a protest, and that cute classmate asked me to go.”
The vast majority would probably fail a course on the basics of the current Arab-Israeli conflict that dates back 100 years.
The point, of course, is that each of the arrested students — and there will be many — will have their days in court. Each case will rise/fall on the details of that particular student. Pretty much like every other case in the courthouse, be in criminal or civil. Because details matter. Just as in the January 6 cases.
In the meantime, for any student that may be reading this, the very, very old adage applies of “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
But unlike in days of yore, it’s not just jail time that might be at issue for those arrested, as future employers now have the internet. And if you’re arrested while standing in a crowd with people holding signs to “globalize the intifada” you should fully expect that future employers will find it.
They won’t give a damn if you were not holding that sign. And if you try to claim it was written in Arabic, and that you couldn’t read it, they will just assume that by joining a protest that you didn’t understand that you are also too dumb to hire. It won’t matter if you agree, because you’re not the hiring manager.
Be careful of the company you keep.