TL;DR: After the October 7 attacks, online discourse and campus activism quickly turned against Israel, revealing a movement driven less by concern for Palestinians and more by a broader ideology. This climate has eroded empathy, debate, and moral clarity, especially among young Americans. In partnership with Global Jewry, Let’s Do Something is on a mission to foster healing, advocacy, and constructive engagement in a fractured world.
On October 8th, 2023, social media feeds filled with posts excusing, even glorifying, the massacre of a day earlier. It felt as if the world had slipped into moral free fall. When in history have people, mere hours after a terrorist attack, condemned the victims instead of the perpetrators?
Accusations against Israel began instantly. Words like “genocide,” detached from facts or meaning, were deployed with stunning ease. In the two years since, the noise has only grown louder. The extremes now dominate, drowning out reason and even basic humanity.
When I began spending time on U.S. campuses, I wanted to understand the sudden surge in antisemitism, the hostility toward Jews, and the reflexive hatred of Israel. What I found was deeply unsettling. The explosive anger on campuses has little to do with the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The “Free Palestine” movement, at least in its loudest forms, is not primarily about Palestinian lives. It has become a vessel for a broader ideological project, one shaped by a fusion of far-left revolutionary rhetoric and Islamist extremist narratives.
This became unmistakable after the recent ceasefire proposal was accepted. In Tel Aviv and Gaza City, people welcomed the news. Across the Muslim world, there were prayers of relief. Yet the one place where the ceasefire was not celebrated was among Western activists who claim to stand for Palestinian freedom. Their fury at peace revealed the truth: this movement is not driven by compassion for Palestinians, but by opposition to America, the West, and the values that uphold open societies.
There are two kinds of movements in the world. Those that build and those that destroy.
This past October 7th at Columbia University, that distinction was impossible to miss. On the same lawn that had been the site of intimidation, vandalism, and encampments, we placed 1,205 empty chairs, each honoring a life taken on October 7. They stood as a tribute to the dead and a challenge to the living.
The memorial was a reminder that we can choose to build:
Paradoxically, the Middle East may now be ahead of the West in this regard. The Abraham Accords showed that Muslim and Jewish nations can find common purpose in a world threatened by radical jihad. Peace is possible in the region. My greatest worry is not the Middle East. It’s the young American mind.
There is no resource more precious or more targeted. Russia, China, Iran, and other hostile actors understand how vulnerable American society has become, and see every crisis as an opportunity to deepen chaos. Universities, once the guardians of inquiry, have become fertile ground for ideological capture.
What campuses need is not more radicalism of the left or the right, and certainly not the nihilistic radicalism of jihadists. They need something radical in a different sense: a radical center.
A radical center that resists hatred, restores debate, replaces fear with courage, and encourages young people to talk to each other instead of past each other.
The 1,205 chairs on Columbia’s Butler Lawn were more than a memorial. They were a message that we do not have to accept a future defined by rage and polarization. We can choose dialogue. We can choose to build.
Let’s Do Something was founded on that belief. On October 8th, after losing my best friend David Newman at the Nova festival, I created a small WhatsApp group simply called “Let’s Do Something.” What started as friends grieving and trying to help became one of the fastest-growing Jewish organizations born from the tragedy of October 7. This is why Let’s Do Something is excited to be a partner of Global Jewry. Connected with a vast network of Jewish leaders and organizations from around the world, we’ll be able to strengthen our bonds, inspire action, and open new doors to open and effective conversations.
Our mission across defense, healing, and advocacy is rooted in the same conviction we brought to Columbia: in a world pulled toward extremes, choosing to build may be the most radical act of all.
Shavua tov and may this be the week the remains of all hostages return home,
Baruch Apisdorf
Founder and CEO, Let’s do Something
Originally published at: https://globaljewry.org/a-new-radical-center/