Letter: A Queer Clash at Rice University

Dear editor:

Bruce Ticker’s column is a good illustration of the problems Jews are facing on college campuses. (A Queer Clash in Houston between Gay Students and Hillel at Rice University boulderjewishnews.org October 5, 2023.) Rice Pride says it broke ties with Hillel because its governing body (Hillel International) forbids campus Hillels from allying with groups that support BDS (a movement calling for boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel, founded by people who admit that they are seeking the demise of the world’s only Jewish state). Rice Pride is unhappy that Hillel International will not work with organizations seeking to validate Palestinian and Arab experiences.  I wonder if Rice Pride members know of any Palestinian group’s having sponsored programs about Jews and Arabs in Israel working to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It’s unlikely, as Palestinian leaders are known to rail against such efforts, as illustrated by an article published when the details of America’s Peace to Prosperity plan were being announced.

Crime: Palestinians Eating with a Jew – The Jewish Press

I have long been amazed at Palestinian groups’ success in convincing disparate campus organizations that “intersectionality” means that all groups must support the Palestinians in their fight against the Jews, while the Palestinian groups never seem to work to further the causes that are near and dear to their “allies.” Hillel (the sage, not the organization) said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”. Perhaps Rice Pride will reconsider its allegiances after reading about the sad end of a gay man who tried to escape persecution by his fellow Palestinians.

Gay Palestinian living under asylum in Israel murdered, beheaded in Hebron | The Times of Israel

Toby F. Block
Atlanta, GA