Which side are you on?
by Chapman Judaism on Our Own Terms “JOOOT”
Photo Courtesy of Chapman JOOOT
After being elected to the highest position in the country, rapid changes have come down on universities directly from the president’s office. What was considered one of the most elite academic societies in the world has quickly devolved into a self-censoring and “politically neutral” space for people seeking degrees. Yet, there is no “neutrality” as students and faculty are kicked out of schools for speaking against oppression and targeted by the government for their identities.
Are we talking about Germany in 1933 or the United States in 2025?
The parallels between Hitler’s chancellorship and Trump’s presidency are so uncanny they can be confused with each other when discussed in vague terms.
The focus right now is the Trump administration and as Jewish people, some of us have been led to believe that this administration is acting in our interest. This could not be farther from the truth and more of a distancing from the histories our families have experienced.
On Friday, April 11, a Louisiana judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student activist at Columbia University, could be deported for his pro-Palestine views. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleges that Khalil engaged in, “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the U.S.” Rubio’s framing has been mass-applied to those who have taken part in actions for Palestine.
We must understand how our community is being weaponized. We must understand what is happening now, with threats of deportation against any dissidents, is how it started. This is everything we as Jews have been warned about since we could understand words.
Jewish people know displacement. Diaspora is in our DNA. Many of our lineages were forcibly displaced from areas in Europe and the trauma of this experience has been carried through generations. It has left many of us believing that we will not be safe from another persecution unless there is a Jewish state.
We can not ignore that said state, Israel, is committing genocide in our name. In order to protect Israel and their extermination campaign, the United States has gone to great lengths to silence the first and most fervent line of dissent: students and academics.
As Jewish people, we have championed the phrase “never again” to decry the genocide our ancestors went through and promise that it will never fall from public memory, for fear that if it does, the Holocaust will happen again. The quiet part is that many Jewish people believe this only applies to us, and we are willing to turn a blind eye to the suffering of other people, even when it is undeniable.
We are witnessing a genocide in the Gaza Strip, and it is funded by our tax dollars and Chapman University’s endowment fund. No matter how you feel about Palestine and what you were taught to believe about Israel, it is time to apply never again to every aspect of your life and look beyond the blinders. No one is safe from persecution, even if the current administration claims to champion our “safety.”
As American Jews, we are in a time where we are seeing “the stranger” be victimized by government forces. We must remember the oppression our grandparents and great grandparents endured and we must fight against fascism in all forms, for we were once “the strangers.” Never again is now— act like it.
This article and accompanying media were Chapman’s student organization Judaism on Our Own Terms “JOOOT.” If you are interested in having your work featured in The Panther, reach out to pantheropinions@chapman.edu.