From the Jewish Journal:
“I don’t separate my Zionism from my Judaism,” Rossman-Benjamin said. “What it means to be a Jew is to have a love and a connection for Israel. It’s a part of my identity.”
Despite the slothful banana slug mascot, and a superficial reputation of seaside ease, UC Santa Cruz has become another hotbed of Zionist controversy. From UC Irvine to UC Berkeley, the on-campus in solidarity with or in opposition to the Jewish have become crystallized and now polarized.
Professor Tammi Rossman-Benjamin is speaking up for the Jewish State. Not just a Jew, but a vocal Zionist, she has consistently decried the outrageous anti-Israeli (and by extensions, anti-Semitic) propaganda distorting the general discussion of the Middle East and pertaining political issues.
"The anti-Israel discourse and behavior in classrooms and at departmentally and college-sponsored events at UCSC is tantamount to institutional discrimination against Jewish students, which has resulted in their intellectual and emotional harassment and intimidation, and has adversely affected their educational experience at the university."
Whether the charges are true or not, whether hateful pamphlets are merely an intolerable yet legal abuse of free speech or the agent of unacceptable discrimination, it is heartwarming to witness another academic speak up for the Jewish state in the academic world, where hostility to Israel has passed for intellect and openmindedness, however crass and misguided.
Here's to Dr. Rossman-Benjamin in her ongoing campaign not just to impugn hate speech and prejudice, but to inform a still uninformed majority of youth about Israel, the Jews, and the role of Zionism in its ever-expanding mission to connect freedom and religious truth.
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