Catholic U. of America’s Pro-Israel Club Facing Retaliation
“…Avila told The Fix he was reported to the dean’s office for causing a student to feel ‘unsafe’ about the formation of the pro-Israel club.”
Felipe Avila, a nursing student at the Catholic University of America, started the Students Supporting Israel club even though he’s not Jewish or Israeli. He wanted a club where students could show their support for Israel.
The new club is already facing retaliation and planting the seeds for the university to cancel it. From The College Fix:
The Fix also contacted The Olive Branch [pro-Palestinian group] to ask for its thoughts on the new Students Supporting Israel club and open debate about the Israel-Palestinian conflict on campus. However, the club appeared to block The Fix’s reporter on Instagram after reaching out via direct message.
That same day, Avila told The Fix he was reported to the dean’s office for causing a student to feel “unsafe” about the formation of the pro-Israel club. He said he believes the complaint came from within The Olive Branch.
Avila also told The Fix that within 24 hours of announcing the new pro-Israel club on LinkedIn, he was unfollowed and blocked on social media by The Olive Branch and its members. What happened was “kind of shocking, but not really,” he said.
“It’s almost like they don’t want to have a conversation at all,” he said.
Avila raised concerns about some of The Olive Branch’s recent posts, including one promoting a December event called “Queeraoke: A Night of Drag & Karaoke for Palestine.” The post no longer appears on the club’s Instagram stories, but Avila shared a screenshot of it with The Fix.
The drag show was hosted by other groups not affiliated with the university. However, Avila told The Fix he believes even promoting the event violates the university’s Catholic policies.
In addition, The Olive Branch posted a statement to its social media “honoring their martyrs,” with another post including Hamas as part of that group. The depiction of symbols on these posts such as keffiyehs and watermelons are “scandalous” at the private Catholic university, Avila told The Fix.
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When someone feels unsafe, they normally do something to feel less unsafe. They may stay to heavily trafficked areas where there would be witnesses if something bad happened. Or they might start carrying a weapon or spending more time with a friend who is bid and strong. They might even report incidents that lend credence to that feeling to the police. {examples might be tires slashed or threatening notes)
But on college campuses today none of that is even considered. Someone (of the right color/ethnicity/sexual orientation, etc) SAYS they feel unsafe, pointing at someone or something WHO HAS DONE NOTHING TO THEM and the powers that be act as if it’s a credible complaint, because (alleged) feelings matter.
Meanwhile, the people targeted with these complaints, without a shred of evidence to back them up, are made to feel unsafe while at the same time any recourse they might have had has been removed.
It’s an ugly and perverse game, enabled by stupid and perverse administrators. This is one of the reasons I fear that “higher education” in this country cannot be saved.
“The Olive Branch posted a statement to its social media “honoring their martyrs,”
They will have many more martyrs to honor.
“Unsafe” definition: If you say something that I disagree with, I feel unsafe. I am safe only if you say nothing that I disagree with.
When mobs yell slogans that boil down to ‘globalize the random murder of Jews’ or ‘from the Jordan to the Mediterranean 7.2 million Jews (45% of the world’s Jewish population) and the world’s only Jewish state will cease to exist,’ it does tend to make me feel less safe.