College and University Monitor

On Monday night at Columbia University, protestors shouted down Danny Danon, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. I’m sure that both the hosts of the event, Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a new group at Columbia, and the protestors—students from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia/Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, Columbia Socialists, Students Organize for Syria, and Columbia Against Trump—would characterize the event as a success. On both sides, this would be folly.

If a man from Mars attended a lecture given by an official from a foreign government and saw more than 40 of my peers protest in this fashion, he would probably leave with the impression that said government had done something seriously worthy of that protest. So score one for the protestors.

At the same time, our man from Mars might be curious about the merits of the protestors’ arguments; if they were really so valid and irrefutable, why not challenge Danon during Q&A rather than shout shallow slogans at the audience like “From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go,” and “1, 2, 3, 4, occupation no more, 5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is an apartheid state.” Score one point against the protestors....