Knesset sees pro-Palestine protests in US as a ‘direct threat to Israel’

Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism committee meeting in the Israeli Knesset. Photo: JNS

On Tuesday, members of the Israeli Knesset were warned that pro-Palestine, anti-war protests on American campuses pose a “direct threat to the existence of the state of Israel.”

  • The remarks came from Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), attended an emergency meeting of the Immigration and Absorption Committee of the Knesset.
  • The meeting was called to address growing antisemitic calls on U.S. college campuses. Diker says Israel must work closely with Jewish organizations in the Western world, focusing on Middle Eastern studies departments that he says have “become radicalized.”
  • The New York-based Diker is a Wall Street investment banker, actor, marketing moghul, and former secretary of the World Jewish Congress. He once published a series of books warning of the “dangers of campus antisemitism” and Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) organizations.

The Conversation: Diker urged the National Security Council to “lead the fight” against American antisemitism and outlined a need to treat it as a security threat to Israel and all Jews.

  • “Israel must be vigilant and keep its eyes open. We cannot accept statements like ‘Israel is an apartheid state’ or ‘Israel is an occupying state,’ which have persisted since Arafat’s speech in 1974 at the U.N. General Assembly,”

The Big Picture: According to the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, even mild critique of Israel could constitute an antisemitic act. Since the onset of October 7th, however, anti-Israel sentiment has only exploded, with many people viewing the alleged genocide of Palestinians as something that should cease.

  • Despite international condemnation, Israel has only doubled down, using US-taxpayer-funded munitions to bomb largely civilian areas in Gaza and amassing an approximate kill count of over 34,000 people.
  • Resistance to the IDF killings has found a home on college campuses in the US, with many peaceful protestors demanding their schools divest from Israel. For their advocacy, many have faced brutal police crackdowns and mass arrests sanctioned by AIPAC-funded politicians.

In the headlines: Despite claims made by Jews and their allies which paint themselves as the eternal victims of wrongdoing, it’s Israel and Jews themselves that appear to have committed dozens of alleged war crimes in Gaza and abroad.

  • In October, Israel bombed a series of ancient holy sites, civilian hospitals, and other places of significant importance to Palestine, stoking worldwide outrage and immediate calls for a ceasefire. Israel would respond by denying they were the cause of such strikes, but unearthed evidence would later prove many of these claims false.
  • In April, the United States found five Israeli IDF units guilty of “flagrant” human rights violations, committed mainly before the events of October 7th. Posing a risk to the flow of US military aid to Tel Aviv, Israel was forced to pursue “remediation steps” by forcing the units to behave.
  • On Monday, Israel launched a long-feared military assault on the southern city of Rafah. The Gazan town is said to house millions of displaced Palestinian civilians trapped inside a small area and subjected to strikes, clashes, and other collateral forms of damage.

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