Letter: More on Prof. Mamdani

Dear editor:

I agree with Bruce Ticker — Professor Mahmoud Mamdani, in holding teach-ins at the encampments was contributing to efforts to prevent Jewish students from getting to their classes and access other campus facilities. (“A Criminal Offense: Columbia Professor Mamdani’s Teach-ins at Illegal Encampments,” BJN 3/19/26) Even more troubling are Prof. Mamdani’s stating that Israel has no right to statehood and implying that Israel cannot remain the homeland of the Jews if it continues to be their nation-state. 

Prof. Mamdani speaks of the Jewish homeland being in “Historic Palestine” and implies that Israel allows only Jews to live there. The 1948 UN Partition Plan proposed dividing the 22% of British Mandatory Palestine which had not been used to create the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan into a Jewish entity and a second Arab entity. Transjordan (called Jordan since occupying Judea and Samaria in the 1940’s) is a state; how much of its territory was part of “historic Palestine”? Why hasn’t anyone complained about Egypt’s having taken Gaza out of “historic Palestine”? 

Prof. Mamdani doesn’t mention that, since the  signing of the Oslo Accords, the vast majority of Palestinians have been living under the administration of leaders of their own choosing. Why didn’t Prof. Mamdani ask why neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas has made any effort to change areas under their administration into places where Palestinians (including the 6,000,000 living under UNRWA aegis) could become productive citizens?

Prof. Mamdani is looking at the wrong problem. When Israel declared independence in 1948, it worked immediately to show itself as the Jewish homeland (the place where any Jew fleeing persecution could not be turned away). Despite being under attack by Arab armies, Israel took in and rehabilitated both Holocaust survivors and Mizrachi Jews who had been driven from their homes in the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Descendants of the Mizrachi Jews rescued by Israel comprise the majority of Israel’s current Jewish population. Every post in Israel’s government, except Prime Minister, has been held, at one time or the other, by someone with roots in the Mizrachi communities. 

Fully 99.5% of the Palestine refugees on UNRWA’s rolls were born into refugee status. Israel took in both Holocaust survivors and displaced Mizrachi Jews when food was being rationed in war torn Israel. Today, Israel is the start-up nation. Its economy is booming despite years of wars (“October 7” and “Fury”).

Palestinian leaders should be ashamed of having failed to build a Palestinian state. Arab countries, with vast land holdings and some with oil riches should be ashamed of having failed to help the Palestinians build a state. And the UN should be ashamed of having denied four generations of Palestine refugees a chance to rebuild their lives. 

Sincerely,

Toby F. Block
Atlanta, GA