“Majority of Jews in US universities oppose what Israel is doing to Palestinians”

Richard D. Wolff is a renowned American academic, economist, public intellectual, radio host, and speaker who is widely interviewed on the global economy, geopolitics and education. Besides being the author of several books, he also hosts a weekly programme titled ‘Economic Update’.

Founder of the media platform Democracy at Work, Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School. He has earlier taught economics at Yale University, and City University of New York, and is an alumnus of Harvard College, Stanford University, and Yale University.

Born to emigrants who fled to the US from Nazi Germany during World War II, Wolff is well-versed in German and French. Some of his best-known books include Capitalism Hits the Fan; Democracy at Work; Economics of Colonialism; The Sickness is the System and so on.

He spoke to Open about the federal fund cuts to educational institutions in the US by President Donald Trump and about what he describes as the weaponisation of anti-Semitism against university students in the US, including those from India. His comments come in the wake of many American constitutional scholars from across ideological lines sharply criticising US President Donald Trump over encroachment on the Constitution and freedom of speech, citing his treatment of Columbia University.

Wolff also dismisses as untrue the notion that the majority of the sponsors to universities in the US are Jewish. Edited excerpts from the interview:

 The justification given for Donald Trump’s crackdown on universities by cutting down on federal funds is that they promote anti-Semitism. How valid is this argument? 

Totally invalid. A small minority of Jewish students are Zionists. A much larger group of students – both Jewish and non-Jewish – were horrified by the Israeli bombing of Gaza. The minority weaponised “anti-Semitism” by equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism and appealed to their university administrations and the government to repress criticism and demonstrations against Israeli policies in Gaza and Palestine in the name of “protecting” Jewish students from anti-Semitism.

This government repression (violating norms of free speech) began under Joe Biden and intensified under Trump.

Who are historically the real anti-Semites in American society and politics? Is the Trump administration filled with such people?

Anti-Semitism is old and has long existed inside the US, although arguably less so now than in the past. Jews were and remain a small minority in the US at 2% concentrated on the east and west coasts of the country. They are more assimilated now than at any time in the past. The Republican party has always displayed more anti-Semitism than the Democratic party. Basically, Jews are a minority that gets scapegoated periodically when the larger society is under stress. It is now under stress because the US empire is in decline but cannot admit that to itself.

White supremacism (or for that matter Christian fundamentalism) is regaining momentum in the US. How pro-Israel are they?

Israel is where they believe Jesus will return to, so they support Israel in order to welcome Jesus. They prefer Jews to Muslims to maintain the ‘Holy Land’ where (they believe) Jesus will return to. They remain suspicious of Jews as “different”.

There is this perception that sponsors to universities in the US are typically Jewish. Is it true? If it is, are they all pro-Israel?          

No, not true. Jews value education and so attend colleges and universities and work (as teachers, etc) in them in larger proportions than their proportion in the total US population.

However, the vast majority of US university students and workers are Christian. Among Jews in universities, the majority do not support what Israel is doing to Palestinians now in Gaza and the West Bank.

Similarly, they do not support Hamas or the destruction of the Israeli state. The majority of Jews are not Zionists (the majority never were) but favour some sort of live-and-let-live peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.

anti-semitismDonald TrumpHamasIsrael-Palestine conflictJewsRichard D. WolffUS universities