Students and others are protesting at many college campuses, although it is not always clear what they are protesting or what they want. Indeed, a widely published video of two young women at NYU has them admitting they don’t really know what this is about … and even saying they are not well educated on the subject.

Some reporting and many social media posts show extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jew statements being made – literally, protesters proclaiming “death to” both.

The news coverage is often not accurate – editing out things that might be viewed as negative, or focusing on the negative.

Many say it’s just “free speech” – and that no one should complain about protesters calling for the death of Israel or Jews.

This is disturbing on many levels – how is this different than Nazi Germany in the late 1930s?

Second, if this is considered acceptable “free speech” on campuses, would having the KKK march through campus waving Confederate flags be acceptable?

Or how about a religious group calling for the downfall of gay and lesbian people?

Or a group making anti-Muslim speeches and decrying Muhammed?

You either have free speech or you do not – or you have some restraints against hate speech that applies to all.

But here, many are suggesting that it’s ok to call for the death of Jews – yet that is the same level of intolerance as the above examples.

This Twitter thread, at the link, demonstrates how one university responded when someone put up flyers on campus with a Confederate flag – leading to a significant effort to identify the perps:

Abigail Shrier on X: “Get the sense that we talk about on-campus harassment and intimidation differently when the subjects are Jewish students? In 2017, an anonymous jerk put flyers with a Confederate flag and cotton around American University’s campus. They read “Huzzah for Dixie” or similar. ???? https://t.co/kthQTVCXc5″ / X (twitter.com)

Yet now, when students call for death of a group of people, it’s just “free speech”?

Another problem is that protestors using intimidation and threats to make demands. In effect, they are saying they do not believe nor support democracy. Instead, they believe that their small groups should be given the right to make decisions for all of us. But that is not how democracy works. In effect, they are anti-democracy.

The protesters say their universities should divest from investments that may link to Israel. Of course, the students attend universities where tuition, fees, housing and board can run $80,000+ per year. Chances are that parents, who can afford this sort of education for their kids, have investments linked to Israel – are the students also demanding their parents divest?