Isaac Saul on Campus Protests

The following quote is one of 12 points made by Isaac Saul, a man of Jewsih faith and a Zionist who, like me, is totally overwhelmed by deciding whether to support or condemn this conflict. If you want to read all 12 of his points on Tangle, go to https://www.readtangle.com/columbia-university-campus-protests-israel-palestine and scroll down to "My take." I've excerpted the beginning of his statement below, but it's all valuable.

Tangle: The college campus protests. 2024-Apr-24 by Isaac Saul:

It's gotten so tough to organize my thoughts on this that instead of trying to draft one cohesive "My take," I'm going to share 12 independent thoughts I have in reaction to these protests.

1. I have to be honest about something: I'm really starting to hate writing about anything related to Israel or Gaza. I feel like I can't write authentically about this latest controversy without acknowledging that first. I’ve written this newsletter five days a week for nearly five years, covering COVID, abortion, gun control, trans issues, immigration, and every other controversial topic out there. I’ve never felt the kind of deranged tension I feel right now. For every sentence I write, there are people on one side accusing me of being complicit in a genocide and people on the other side accusing me of contributing to the killing and hatred of Jews. For anyone speaking on this topic publicly, the environment is so untenable, so unhelpful, so fraught, that it's no wonder we are seeing protests like these play out on college campuses. It makes me both want to run to my corner of like-minded people and just shut up and disappear.