November 15, 2023

Over 2,000 sociologists (and climbing), from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, have proudly signed a letter of support for Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel. They accuse Israel, not the Palestinians nor their Hamas gunmen, of genocide. Their letter states:

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We are witnessing internationally supported genocide. This latest siege comes as a continuation and escalation of the daily violence Palestinians faced for decades from Israeli colonization; an apartheid regime whose occupation is in clear violation of international law, but persists with the support of powerful governments globally.

Perhaps these students of other societies should read up a bit on apartheid in South Africa before making such statements. They may be missing a few points on context.

The letter’s signatories assert that Israelis are committing wanton murder. Their letter continues:

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As of writing, over 9,000 Palestinians have been murdered, including a staggering 3,600 children, and over 22,000 injured.

No mention was made that the Palestinian casualties resulted from a war they started or that many of those innocent deaths were caused by their own government, which was using them as human shields. Nor, did they refer to the Palestinians as “casualties of war,” but as victims of murder. Is the bias of these “people of science” contaminating their objective analysis? 

In response to world outrage about the attack, these scholars cautioned against a rush to judgement. They write:

As educators, it is our duty to stand by the principles of critical inquiry and learning, to hold the university as a space for conversation that foregrounds historical truths, and that contextualizes this past week’s violence in the context of 75 years of settler colonial occupation and European empire.

Did you get that? The events of October 7 must be “contextualized” — considering 75 years of Palestinian suffering since the establishment of Israel. Why did they limit their “context” to the most recent 75 years, and not the entire 3,800 years of Jewish history in the region? Perhaps that would have undermined their argument. Is it just a coincidence that the Holocaust ended three years before their selected period of “context”? Does that explain why the Palestinian pledge to succeed where Hitler failed isn’t included in their contextual analysis?

When the sociologists talk of “context,” they’re saying that any assessment as it pertains to right or wrong, depends on circumstances. Things that appear evil to the uncredentialed are often found to be righteous after close sociological examination. For example: If a man shoots an unarmed woman in the head, most would consider that a criminal act. But if the woman happens to be trespassing while protesting an election, her execution becomes a justified application of law enforcement. The context matters, you see.