Ah California, a bastion of modern liberalism that houses many citizens committed to such liberal causes as social justice and human rights. As a kid from the humble state of Wisconsin, I found myself refreshed by the cultural awakening I received upon starting school at UC San Diego. At every turn, I heard a student advocating for a just cause here or an oppressed people there – all noble causes.

At a school like UC San Diego, those causes for social justice and human rights abound throughout the campus, much like any other UC. Honestly, knowing how much many of my fellow students care about the welfare of our fellow man makes me feel incredibly lucky. That the desire for human decency radiates out of every orifice of some in our student body reaffirms the greatness of this university. At the end of the day, however, there is one movement on campus I have never understood, no matter how you slice it. That movement is the anti-Israel movement.

Common causes liberals support include, but are not limited to, gender equality, gay rights, equal rights for people of all races, and many more. In the chaotic, bloody, oppressive hellhole that is the Middle East, Israel is the one champion of liberal ideology in a region consumed by murderous dictators (see Bashar Al-Assad), radical religious clerics (like the Iranian Ayatollahs), and the archaic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women still cannot legally leave the house without a male relative. Ironically, a Saudi Arabian delegate currently heads the United Nations Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia, a country that stones gay people and punishes women for being rape victims, heads the United Nations Humans Rights Council. That’s akin to appointing David Duke head of the NAACP.

Let’s take a closer look at Israel. The only country in the Middle East that grants women equal rights- Israel. The only country that grants homosexuals equal rights- Israel. Can you find another country in the Middle East that has gay pride parades besides Israel? The only country in the region that grants rights to all its ethnic groups- Israel. The only country with full political rights for all its citizens- Israel. To date, Israel remains the only country in the Middle East that practices democracy and respects the rights of all its citizens.

Do Khaled Mashaal, Mahmoud Abbas, Bashar Al-Assad, and Ayatollah Khomeini protect these rights?

The truth of the matter is this: if you defect from their way of living, you are persecuted. Finally, consider the opinions of a majority of Arab-Israeli citizens: they would rather live in Israel than in a Palestinian state governed by either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. That says it all. Only in Israel does one have the freedom to live how they want to live, without fear of persecution.

Let’s move back to the campus climate concerning a majority of liberal students and student groups demonizing the state of Israel. It is astonishing to see groups hate like Students for Justice in Palestine, masquerading as a collection of students calling for Palestinian rights, disguising their hate speech as free speech advocating for a just cause. Any decent human being would support equal rights for Palestinian men, women, and children. They’re people just like anyone else. I would ask these students, however, if they are aware of the true villains behind the struggles of the Palestinian Arabs – men like Mashaal and Abbas.

After hearing the slanderous vitriol and libel assailed against the state of Israel for my first three years on campus, I am flat out shocked. After spending three years withstanding the incessant acrimonious diatribe hurled against Israel, I feel compelled to speak in support of her. Just last week, Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley gathered and chanted in support of Intifada, an Arabic word meaning “to get rid of” that is often used to refer to an uprising against oppression. Palestinian terrorists, however, have bastardized the movement, gearing it towards the removal of the state of Israel and the Jewish people through acts of terrorism and violence.

Appreciate this for a moment: UC Berkeley students, among the most liberal in the country, chanting in support of the most illiberal movement in the world today. This was nothing but disgusting hypocrisy on behalf of these students. How can a group of students claiming to champion liberal causes can stand there and call for the destruction of an entire group of people?

Methods of terror used in past Intifadas have included suicide bombings, shootings, knife attacks, car rammings, and other acts of violence perpetrated against the people of Israel. Not only does the Palestinians’ willingness to target innocent people baffle me, but the indoctrination of their children into their culture of hate and violence is morally repugnant.

Unfortunately, these attacks continue in Israel on a daily basis. As some of you know, all Israelis, regardless of age, religion, and gender are under attack from radical terrorists hell bent on the destruction of Jewish state. These attacks are not politically motivated. They are attacks on people simply because of who they are. Because they are citizens of Israel, the Jewish state.

The worst part is that in many Western media outlets, the murderers are portrayed as victims. Outlets like BBC, CNN, and the LA Times portray the terrorists as innocent victims in an ongoing war. They do not include the vital detail that they were the first aggressor and were subsequently repelled by Israeli security forces.

It is growing increasingly dangerous to walk the streets in Israel, knowing that at any moment, you may be attacked simply because of who you are. This needs to stop, and the world needs to take action.

I stand in solidarity with the citizens of Israel, who are being attacked simply for who they are. I also personally call upon all of my liberally minded students to recognize that Israel remains the only liberalized democracy in the region and to support it as it withstands attacks on its citizens on a daily basis from an enemy dedicated to destroying its people and its way of life. Arabs, and everybody else, in the Middle East, need help. They need to be freed from the oppressive regimes in which they find themselves. But we cannot do this without Israel. We must use Israel as a model for all other countries in the Middle East, so that, one day, every man, woman, and child in the region enjoys the same freedoms in their countries as Israelis do in theirs.

Joshua Teitelbaum is from Mequon, Wisconsin and a Senior at UCSD studying Management Science.  He became involved in Israel advocacy through his brothers in his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.