Guest column: Herald’s coverage of Gaza protests making a horrible situation worse
“Reaching out with a serious matter.”
This was the start of a text message I received on Sunday, Dec. 10 from a Western Washington University student whom I know as a family friend. The student is involved in local rallies for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza and was seeking support in identifying an older white man who had attended recent rallies with a sign bearing a swastika inside a Star of David and an American flag with a skull-and-crossbones (the text included a photo).
“He was either hopelessly confused in his messaging, or an active agitator who wanted to wave a swastika around,” the student wrote, before explaining how students had nonviolently escorted the man off campus.
Since I am a history professor at Western with a specialty in social movements and political violence, and an active community member, the student asked if I knew who the man was or if the symbols on his sign are associated with violent white supremacist organizations. (My answer to both questions was no, though the swastika is clearly a symbol of racism and antisemitism.)
Given this experience, I was alarmed to read Robert Mittendorf’s highly misleading Dec. 11 Bellingham Herald article, “Bellingham approved resolution regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.”
The article inaccurately casts local ceasefire rallies as “antisemitic,” and includes the line, “At a rally on Dec. 8, a protester waved an Israeli flag with a swastika drawn over the Star of David.”
Mittendorf clearly did not bother to speak with or understand the organizers of the rally, for if he had, he would have learned that this man did not represent their views. Moreover, Mittendorf’s claim in the long photo caption at the top of the article that the chant: “Israel, Israel, hey, hey, hey. How many kids did you kill today?” is antisemitic because it references “blood libel” defies good-faith logic given the phrase’s similarity to the Vietnam War-era chant “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today,” especially given the fact that the Israeli military has literally been killing Palestinian children nearly every day for the past two months.
Mittendorf’s article is not only biased and inaccurate — it poses a danger to Western students and other community members. Mittendorf’s politicization of “antisemitism” cheapens the term and his inflammatory misinformation at a time of heightened Islamophobic and antisemitic violence increases risk for students wishing to discuss controversial topics on campus, especially for Arab, Muslim and Jewish students.
Notably, Mittendorf’s article appears as bad-faith actors are exploiting real antisemitism to push other political agendas. This includes efforts to undermine American institutions of higher education. Informed observers, including fellow scholars of political violence, have pointed out that while Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY) recently grilled presidents of UPenn, Harvard, and MIT for allegedly permitting antisemitism on their campuses, she has neither condemned antisemitic remarks by fellow supporters of former President Donald Trump nor held hearings on anti-Palestinian violence.
One of the important societal roles for American universities — especially public universities like Western — is as spaces for educated discussion of controversial issues.
University squares, including Red Square, are also forums for free speech. Western’s administration, faculty, staff and students all have responsibilities to make our university an inclusive and peaceful space for discussing difficult topics.
Mittendorf’s sensationalism, amid U.S.-funded wars abroad and attacks on higher education at home, does not help us realize our obligations.
Daniel S. Chard is an assistant professor of history at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
This story was originally published December 30, 2023 at 12:00 AM.