Last week, during a forum of world leaders held in my school, Columbia University, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad spoke.
The 94-year-old leader is probably the most anti-Semitic head of state. He doesn't try to hide his anti-Semitism, he doesn't just criticize Israel, he practices classic anti-Semitism, the kind that has been associated with various slurs against the Jewish people (they have long noses; they rule the world; they cause others to fight and die for them, and so forth).
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Letting the Malaysian leader speak is only the latest example of the institution's problematic choice of speakers, having already let former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speak at the university about a decade ago.
The organization that I head, Students Supporting Israel (SSI), has refused to stay silent. Although we could not get Mahathir's speech canceled, we decided to generate a critical conversation so that the university won't even consider inviting someone like the Malaysian prime minister ever again.
We were told that we would lose, that he would be welcomed with great honor at the university and that his anti-Semitic agenda would not be condemned.
But we did not relent. We created a petition that got more than 3,000 signatures, we sent a letter to the university president and to the professor who was to introduce the prime minister at the event, and we demanded that both university officials condemn Mahathir.
He countered by saying that "If you can't be anti-Semitic, there's no free speech."
And we won, sort of: The professor who introduced him at the event condemned him on stage, in his face, and the talk of the campus was on the pamphlets we distributed against his invitation.
Liberal institutions like to take pride in how they protect everyone and let everyone express their voice, citing their deep moral obligation to these liberal values.
In practice, this infinite inclusivity allows the malignment of various groups, and in this case, the Jews.
We must not sit idly by when such events take place, and we must counter them and their organizers. Passivity among Jews in the face of anti-Semitism is a thing of the past.
Mahathir should not have the legitimacy to express such vitriol. Such comments require a forceful and determined response, especially when they are made by high-ranking officials.
