> cannot fathom why we are vetting people on behalf of Israel
The animating reason has less to do with Israel and much more with popular distaste with academia's left-leaning tendencies, particularly since the 1990s, combined with the Columbia protests having been incredibly poorly handled by all parties.
Nope, it has everything to do with Israel. This is not a recent phenomenon either.
Obviously, if left-leaning academia was actually impaired by it's tendencies then right-leaning academia would overtake it. Alas, there is not a better-known school in America than Harvard. The auspices of free market competition have not funded the construction of more conservative schools. The liberal academics have American innovation by the balls, and the market is okay with that.
The good news is, that's a very American process. Your school can be dirty, base, vile, poorly-sorted, distasteful and frugal, but completely validated if your results are superior to your peers. Attempting to force any other outcome is a subversion of the market's will, tooled by the instruments of a planned economy.
> particularly since the 1990s
You know, I recall a certain jingoist American conflict before the 1990s where students protested nationwide. It didn't do much, adults also blamed "both sides" for handling it poorly, but it did ultimately prove the students right when America lost the war. Goes to show how quickly things can change, but I'll leave that as food for thought instead of bringing up Saddam's WMDs.
I think this an excuse that people who hold no power like to believe to convince themselves it is a left/right wing issue and that they have a say in this. Free speech is one issue that every American embraces. The truth is no American has a say in this, because in our free market economy, the ones who hold power would rather see the Capitol burn than oppose Israel. Today, the head of Columbia is someone who gave speeches for AIPAC, sponsored by billionaires. If you sincerely believe this is a left/right wing issue, then I genuinely feel sorry for you. When foreign nations dictate who can come into our country, or what our universities should teach, then America's freedom is under attack. Also, it is explicitly stated as an Israel issue by Marco Rubio, who is a recipient of quite generous sums from 2 pro Israeli lobbies (his top 2 donors for quite a while have been Israel first lobby groups that advocate on behalf of a foreign nation in Florida).
[0] https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/marco-rubio/...
The animating reason has less to do with Israel and much more with popular distaste with academia's left-leaning tendencies, particularly since the 1990s, combined with the Columbia protests having been incredibly poorly handled by all parties.