Why do all those US universities have dealings with Israel? - eviltoast

All those student protests on the US seem to be about stopping their universities from supporting the Israel government. But supporting a foreign government is not a normal thing for a university to do, why do they do it?

Is there some educational or research resource they get?

  • StoneGender@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 months ago

    I think it needs to be said most Jewish people in the diaspora are not Zionists. And that Israel is and always has been a puppet state formed by the the US

    • a lil bee 🐝@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I think we would need stats before making that first conclusion. I’ve seen a lot of favorability polls of Israel amongst Jewish people, but not sure I’ve ever seen an explicit ask for Zionism or its definition. I’m sure it’s out there, but I wouldn’t expect the OP to take that for granted without a source.

      Your second sentence is arguably correct, but lacking a lot of context and really not presented from a neutral standpoint like the other commentor and I were trying to strike. I think when people are looking for raw information, it’s fair to provide that with as little bias as possible, especially on a heated current issue. And fwiw, I likely agree with you on that issue.

      • StoneGender@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        8 months ago

        Yeah I’m Jewish so this isn’t a new issue to me. Zionism is viewed as a fascist ideology by a lot of Jews, there for I think its unneutral to say afluent Jews are why universities are invested in Israel. I’m being as neutral as possible, these are the facts as I know them and I wouldn’t trust an poll on this matter done now, personally. The fact that Israel was formed by America after ww2 and has been used as a political and military base for America since. Wikipedia has multiple articles on it.

        • a lil bee 🐝@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          All kinds of ideologies are viewed as fascism by all kinds of people, but that’s not a source. Just because you yourself are Jewish does not mean you have an understanding of Jewish people as a whole. If you want to assert something about Jewish views on Zionism, you need to provide a real source. It also doesn’t tie directly to your followup with “affluent Jews are why universities are invested in Israel”. Why would one follow the other at all?

          I also know what Israel is and how it was founded. Your wording this time is much more palatable! “Puppet state” has connotations that I agree with, but would not say if I was trying to be neutral. On a different thread, I think that’s entirely fair. Again though, when people ask for raw info, I think it’s only fair to provide that from as neutral a standpoint as possible.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      formed by the the US

      Nope. You can blame Britain for that.

      In fact nearly every fucked up situation in the Middle East was created by the British. They started multiple shit storms with bone headed border decisions and then conveniently dipped out after WWII without cleaning up their messes.

      Another example would be the India / Pakistan problem.