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When Anti-Zionism Becomes Anti-Semitism
(Chicago Sun-Times) Aviv Ezra - For the past five years, Jewish students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been silenced and virtually outcast for their support of the State of Israel. There is surely something deeply amiss when, in order to feel safe, they have to conceal their Jewish identity. No student - be they Jewish, Christian or Muslim - should be made to feel marginalized. No one is disputing the right to criticize the governmental policies of the State of Israel. The question is at what point does this turn into, and serve as a fig leaf for, anti-Semitism. Universities properly condemn all forms of injustice and they need to begin to condemn anti-Semitism, especially when it denies the right of self-determination, a right of all peoples. No Jewish student should feel that they should conceal their identity because they feel a connection to the State of Israel (or out of fear abandon that connection). The writer is consul general of Israel to the Midwest.