Why Israel is the one thing you can’t protest against in Western universities. The crackdown on pro-Palestine campus protests might just make college kids hate the establishment again. By Rachel Marsden, a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.

To that end, the US Congress has just passed a new bill broadening the definition of anti-Semitism on university campuses to include “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” How about another law banning criticism of Iran because it’s a collective of Muslims? Or of Russia because it’s a collective of Orthodox Christians? Or of China because it’s a collective of Buddhists? Can’t have that, because it would enable the state in question to act with carte blanche impunity by scaring critics into silence.

The Western establishment supports free speech and democratic values – just as long as you find yourself on the same side as those with the power to redefine them at any given moment to suit their agenda on any given issue. The real revolution will be when this is no longer the case. Until then, episodes like the current campus chaos will only provide glimpses of this hypocritical reality as the facade of freedom temporarily cracks.