Sharansky: Pro-Israel College Students Need to Stand up to Anti-Israel Bullies on Campus
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Pro-Israel college students need to stand up to opponents of the Jewish state who attempt to bully them into remaining silent, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel said last week.
“The problem of anti-Israel propaganda, of antisemitic propaganda, on campuses is huge,” Natan Sharansky said, during a talk at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Sharansky said he finds it difficult to understand the logic behind some of the criticism Israel is facing. According to The Boston Herald, he said he was specifically dumbfounded by a comment made by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, characterizing the deaths of Palestinians committing terrorist attacks against Israelis as “extrajudicial killings.” Sharansky explained that trying to stop murderers in the act is “[t]he minimal self-protection that any free country can take.”
He said Israel is up against jihadist groups, enemies dedicated to destroying the Jewish state with chemical weapons and a terrorist network with 100,000 missiles, while the main concern in the West Bank is whether it is Hamas, Hezbollah or ISIS that will take control.
The Jewish Agency helps bring immigrants to Israel. When asked whether there is a future for Jews in France, Sharansky replied by asking rhetorically, “Is there a future for France in France? There is always a future for France in Israel.”