The pro-Palestinian students' war on complexity

In March pro-Palestinian students at the University of South Florida began a hunger strike to protest Israel’s war against Hamas. They called on the university’s president to state that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. They also wanted USF to cut its financial ties to the Jewish state.

“We will starve ourselves,” a senior student warned administrators during a tense meeting over the matter. “We will die if that’s what it takes to reaffirm the belief and the truth that there is blood on your hands.”

Will Weatherford, chairperson of USF’s board of trustees, responded: “When I look at this issue and the complexity of it, which war typically is, I think it’s possible for people to have the belief that Israel has the right to defend itself, while also having compassion for the Palestinian people,” he said. “This is a very complex issue.”

“No it’s not!” one protester yelled out. The students then booed the board before being escorted out.

This anecdote sums up a lot of what has been happening on university campuses around the country. Student protesters are willing to go to extraordinary lengths, risking bodily harm, expulsion and arrest, for their simplistic take on a – yes, complicated – conflict far away from their “safety”-obsessed and pampering campuses.

“No it’s not!” is a call to chop that tangle of complexity in half, into two loaves, right and wrong, black and white. The attitude cares little for nuance and history. And it wants immediate action (enough thinking already!).

This is why the media loves to fixate on these protests. They’re easy to cover. The images are dramatic. The students are clear and loud about their demands. If you’ve read about one protest at one university, you’ve read about them all. (How many “Students for Justice in Palestine” groups can there be?)

Where are the students who are honestly grappling with this conflict, who, like Weatherford, are sympathetic to both sides? They would reflect broader opinion in America. In a recent Pew survey, 57% of respondents expressed sympathy for both peoples. Surely these students exist. Don’t they? Well, regardless, the media isn’t covering them.

I recently traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, to visit friends. As we walked down State Street, the main thoroughfare just off the University of Wisconsin’s campus, we encountered about 30 pro-Palestinian student demonstrators. They marched up to the state capitol and started chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” followed by “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

After the chants, the group’s ringleader took up the megaphone. He spoke of Israeli bombings of schools, refugee camps and hospitals, using words like “war crimes” and “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions. He also criticized the Biden administration for “fast-tracking weapons and arms to Israel.”

After the speech, I approach him with a question: “If you want to discuss genocide, why didn’t you mention Hamas?” After all, its founding documents are genocidal to the core. I wonder if Asna Tabassum, the pro-Palestinian valedictorian at USC who made headlines recently and who minored in “resistance to genocide,” ever read them.

“I’m not a spokesperson for Hamas,” he responded. He pointed to extremists in the Israeli government. Sure, there are some of those, I acknowledged, but let’s get back to Hamas, which proudly advertises its aim to destroy Israel and kill Jews. (They used GoPro cameras on Oct. 7 to broadcast their atrocities to the world.) He waved me off and said we’ll just have to disagree.

Across the street, I noticed a sole counter-protester holding an Israeli flag. I went over to talk to him. The contrast was striking. He said, “I know I’m being biased” more than a few times and acknowledged the tremendous suffering of Palestinians while recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself. Students with similar opinions are scared to speak out, he explained. They feel drowned out by the louder, pro-Palestinian voices who tend to be “the least nuanced.”

This got me thinking about what “complexity” means in this conflict. It is about trying to see both sides sympathetically, as two peoples caught up in an unfortunate historical conundrum, while acknowledging our biases. But it is also about admitting that some aspects of it are crystal clear.

Hamas is just one example. Israel cannot make peace with a terrorist group hellbent on its destruction, a group that indiscriminately targets civilians. We can criticize the IDF for how it is waging this war and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who most Israelis want gone ASAP), but Israel has to try to uproot Hamas from Gaza. There’s no other way. Getting rid of Hamas is not only good for Israel, it’s good for Palestinians.

But this is the thing about this conflict: Complexity always returns, drifting like a cloud over other issues. What are realistic pathways to normalcy and peace? What are possible “solutions” to the conflict?

Moderate voices like Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh have examined ways the two peoples can coexist. Israeli philosopher Micah Goodman has offered pragmatic ideas for how to “shrink” the conflict. These and other thinkers show us where to focus our energies.

Let’s find the open-minded students out there who embrace complexity. If there’s no outlet or opportunity for them, let’s create one. If some ideologue professors get in the way, let’s marginalize them. And let’s push the media to shine its spotlight on these efforts.

Prioritizing complex thinking does seem to be a bit of a stretch in our age of performative TikTok activists. Are universities helping or hindering it?

Every glossy brochure from just about every university claims to offer prospective students “bold thinking” and “innovative approaches.” Let’s hold them to it or find a better venue.

Terrance J. Mintner is a news editor and writer living in the Midwest. He writes a newsletter on Substack called Feral Brain (https://feralbrain.substack.com/ ).