With the rampant rise in antisemitism, I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of distress as I see many top universities in America falling prey to the cult-like movement of “Free Palestine.” Students at Ivy League schools are supposed to be the nation’s “best and brightest,” with the intelligence to discern right from wrong. Yet, they are openly calling for the destruction of Jews, and Israel, and Zionism as a whole, and supporting a terrorist organization, Hamas.
Why this is happening is in large part due to these students following the trend and rooting for whichever group is the hottest “marginalized group” to support. These college students just care about the “underdog” without bothering to understand the facts behind what and why is really happening.
So, what can we, as one of America’s most pro-Israel communities, do to combat this? I believe it starts with simply being better organized and unified.
Over Pesach, my favorite question to ask fellow Jewish Bergen County members was this: “What is your favorite pro-Israel chant?” I want you, dear reader, to think about this long and hard. Do we have any good ones? Is there even one that’s catchy and sticks?
The best ones I’ve heard are “Bring Them Home” and “Am Yisrael Chai.” While “Bring Them Home” resonates deeply with us as Jews due to our concern for the hostages, it requires an understanding of the context and isn’t particularly memorable. That is a significant drawback when attempting to appeal to the “TikTok” generation, which prefers simple, rhyming chants. “Am Yisrael Chai,” to me, is also not good since the chant is in Hebrew and onlookers have no clue as to what it means and so it has no effect whatsoever; if anything, it may be harmful since it’ll cause more subconscious disconnect between us and the non-Jews who will now feel even less connection to the Israel situation since they don’t even know what our chants mean.
I think as a community we need to come up with chants that are in English, short, flow well and are easy for onlookers to understand and process while effectively conveying our side. The pro-Palestinian side has mastered the art of deception, crafting chants that equate Israel with horrendous accusations such as “apartheid” and “genocide,” while portraying themselves as victims oppressed and seeking freedom.
Here are a few examples of what I came up with over chag: “Hamas Is a Liar, They Broke the Cease-fire”; “Gaza Declined a Two-State Solution, How Do They Expect a Peaceful Resolution”; Free Each Hostage From Hamas’s Bondage.”
Hopefully, together we can come up with dozens more of these powerful chants, distribute them throughout the community, and be better prepared in the event of future rallies.
