To My College Peers Calling for Intifada

To the vile protestors yelling outside my dorm building: Congratulations. 

To the Cooper Union thugs who banged on the library doors that served as refuge for their Jewish classmates: Congratulations. 

To those at Princeton who proudly proclaimed, “Long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”: Congratulations. 

To the “peace-loving” NYU students who chanted, “Intifada, intifada, globalize the intifada” and aptly summarized their stance on the two-state solution, “We don’t want no Jewish state, we want all of it”: Congratulations. 

To the cowards at Harvard who hid behind anonymity as they tore down hostage posters: Congratulations.  

To those who protest hate speech and remain silent as Jews bear the brunt: Congratulations. 

To all the “feminists” who turn a blind eye to, or even condone, the rape of countless women left murdered with broken pelvises: Congratulations. 

To all the “gay rights” activists who promote an ideology that mandates the slaughter of every LGBTQ+ member: Congratulations. 

To the Cornell students who are committed “to diversity and inclusion” and then post, “If I see another Jew on campus… I will stab you and slit your throat…drag you and rape you and throw you off a cliff…” while insisting that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism: Congratulations.

Congratulations for revealing your twisted, visceral, antisemitic hatred more effectively than I ever could. Your demonic defense of terror has clarified any confusion.

Congratulations for revealing your twisted, visceral, antisemitic hatred more effectively than I ever could. Your demonic defense of terror has clarified any confusion. No, you do not care for truth or justice or women’s rights. Murder, rape, beheading and kidnapping are evil, you say – unless it’s done to Jews. Then it’s “acceptable in the proper context.” Tell me, future leaders, what would make you murder, rape, behead and kidnap? What “context” could permit such depravity? It appears that being born a Jew is sufficient. 

Congratulations on unveiling the ugly truth: that the Holocaust is not merely a tragic past, but a horrific present. As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I knew evil existed but I never understood who could tolerate it. Congratulations, college students. I now know Nazi sympathy did not die, it is very much alive in you. 

Dear “social justice warriors” who are so quick to condemn past generations: do not forget that future students will judge you as well. Make no mistake, the Jewish people and their allies know how this will end. The Jews have survived Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Germany. Hamas will be no different. The question remains, how will you be remembered? 

The Hebrew phrase “mazel tov” is often mistakenly translated into English as “congratulations.” However, rightly understood, this term has a very different meaning. “Mazel” implies constellations, or timing, and “tov” means good. When Jews wish each other “mazel tov” they are blessing one another that this time should prove to be auspicious and fortuitous. So “mazel tov,” America. It is my fervent wish that this painful moment and revelation of complete moral bankruptcy on college campuses will awaken the nation and ensure a better future.

Fayga Tziporah Pinczower is a Straus Scholar at Yeshiva University.