Hadley Freeman
Hadley Freeman and Tanya Gold: October 7 and the Left
Summary
In partnership with the Jewish Literary Foundation and the Jewish Quarterly, author and columnist Hadley Freeman discusses her new book, “Blindness: October 7 and the Left” with Tanya Gold. “Blindness” is published by Jewish Quarterly, which produces four long essays a year exploring Jewish culture and history. More information at https://jewishquarterly.com/
Hadley Freeman
Hadley Freeman is a journalist and author. Her books include House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family and Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia.
Tanya Gold
Tanya Gold is a freelance journalist. She writes for the Spectator, the New Statesman, Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, and others. She won feature writer of the year at the 2009 British Press Awards and arts and culture story of the year at the 2015 Foreign Press Association Awards.
I mean, I think it would blow their tiny mind. Also, I don’t understand how you can call survivors of the Holocaust, who were the first wave of Jews to arrive in Israel, colonizers. Like how were they colonizers? Are refugees colonizers? Yeah, I think it would make their heads explode. I also think it’s interesting that, not that so many of those students have absolutely no connection to Israel or Palestine. You know, with the Vietnam protest, what started that was that a lot of those college kids were burning their draught notices. Well, you weren’t supposed to get a draught notice if you were going to college, but a lot of their friends were getting draught notices. So, you know, of course they felt personally involved. There was a risk of them being sent off to be blown up. That is not a risk here. It feels like pure vanity coupled with ignorance when I see those young people shouting about genocide.
Yeah, I mean maybe in some cases. People do say this. I often think one overestimates the amount that these kids can be coordinated. And also we don’t, you know, there is a, certainly with UCLA, there’s a theory that a lot of those people that we see causing the most amount of damage and property damage aren’t actually students. They’re outside kind of activists. So maybe, but I mean also it, who cares? I mean, these kids are so stupid to go along with it. That’s what’s upsetting. The American education system has failed.
Yeah, of course, of course I do. I think about both. And I always make sure to talk about both whenever I write a column about this, as I’m sure you do, Tanya. I don’t see that on the other side. You know, I read whole columns by people I know in newspapers such as oh yes, the Guardian, about the evils of Israel, which they don’t once mention Hamas, they don’t once mention October the 7th. I would never write a column about October the 7th without mentioning the thousands and thousands of Palestinians who’ve now been killed. Like I can see the tragedy of both sides. Can other people? I don’t know.