The Palestinian perspective has never been hard to find on the U.C. Berkeley campus.
Especially during these last two years, one only needs to walk on campus to find pro-Palestinian activists handing out literature.
Or worse, there have been mock refugee camps, fake checkpoints, simulated home demolitions, even occupations of classroom buildings. Pro-Palestinian professors are widely quoted, as are graduate students with staunchly anti-Zionist views.
Not to mention that the U.C.-wide divestment campaign originated and is going full force here — as well as around the country — and that the Palestinian cause continues to be a rallying cry for progressive or anti-war activists of all stripes.
Even when a journalist does the fair-minded thing and seeks out the Israeli point of view on the Berkeley campus, it is difficult to find. There is no Israeli professor in the Near Eastern Studies department, and while Israeli scholars have had guest appointments in the Jewish Studies program, there is no permanent Israeli presence.
That is about to change, however — thanks to the Helen Diller Family Fund.
A local education-minded philanthropist and graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Diller was upset by the level of anti-Israel rhetoric on campus and decided to do something about it.
What makes her family’s $5 million grant to establish a permanent visiting professor from Israel even more significant is that the professor will not only be a presence on campus. The professor will also be a resource to the entire community.
But perhaps most of all, “having an Israeli professor as a permanent fixture on the U.C. campus provides Jewish students and faculty with a sense of validation,” noted Ami Nahshon, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.
With Jewish students often feeling under attack for just going to class, we couldn’t agree more.