The Hypocrisy of Anti-Israel Activists on Free Speech

Eli Lake, reporter for The Free Press, condemns the anti-Israel protests on college campuses, arguing that these so-called proponents of free speech have been the real enemies of it for years. Lake dismisses their claims of microaggressions while highlighting the one-sided anti-Israel indoctrination on campuses.

Eli Lake, reporter for The Free Press, has denounced the hypocrisy of anti-Israel college activists who claim to advocate for free speech while actively suppressing the voices of Zionist students and professors on campus.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lake criticized the establishment of anti-Israel encampments and the exclusion of Zionists from these spaces, stating that such actions are discriminatory and not protected by the principle of free speech.

"It's not free speech," Lake emphasized. "It's discrimination. Maybe you could say it's civil disobedience, but it's not a question of free speech."

Lake pointed out the selective outrage of these activists, who claim to have been microaggressed by certain speakers invited to campus while also silencing Zionist students and promoting anti-Israel sentiments that border on antisemitism.

"Don't drag free speech into it," Lake urged. "I've noticed that over the last 10 years, you have been an enemy of free speech. So don't then make free speech the last refuge of the antisemite."

Delving into the root causes of the anti-Israel bias on campuses, Lake attributed it to decades of indoctrination, mainly stemming from "two generations of professors teaching the history of this region that are activists and far-left activists."

Citing the influence of Edward Said's teachings on campus, Lake suggested that the exclusion of opposing perspectives, such as those of Bernard Lewis, has created an environment of ideological extremism.

"Some of it is that the professors have encouraged this kind of insane radicalism and also this delusion that somehow you can eliminate the state of Israel, which is not going to happen," Lake observed.

To combat the on-campus radicalism, Lake advised university presidents to prioritize intellectual diversity and hire individuals who challenge the prevailing groupthink. He also recommended creating "super structures" outside of the compromised departments to foster intellectual pluralism.

"Students deserve much more ideological and intellectual diversity than they're getting right now," Lake concluded.

Fox News' Joshua Comins contributed to this report.