Antisemitism cloaked in progressivism
As college campuses across the company are roiled by “pro-Palestinian” protests, it has become clear that the world’s oldest hatred, antisemitism, is propelling this movement forward. Following the murderous rampage that Hamas perpetrated in southern Israel on October 7, when its bands of terrorists mercilessly slaughtered over 1,200 Israelis, raped and mutilated women, burned families, including children alive, and kidnapped over 250 more as hostages held in Gaza, most of the world sympathized with the State of Israel for about a week.Where is the outrage from the student protesters about Hamas’ October 7 murderous attack and where are the calls for Hamas to agree to a ceasefire?
Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, took over control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, after the Palestinian people in Gaza voted for Hamas to govern them and after their ouster of Fatah from any governance ofGaza. Instead of seeking to better the lives of the Palestinians by building a societal and economic infrastructure, Hamas immediately began to build a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip to facilitate the smuggling of arms and weapons into Gaza and to build rockets to launch into southern Israel. This was all done in furtherance of Hamas’ Charter, which calls for the killing of Jews, the annihilation of the State of Israel and the establishment of only a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.” This heinous conduct of Hamas, acquiesced in by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for the past 16-17 years, resulted in Hamas’ horrific attack on southern Israel last October.Complicating the calibrating of a properly measured response to the bloodthirsty assault by Hamas was the fact that Hamas deliberately places its Palestinian noncombatants in Gaza in harm's way to maximize the civilian casualties by placing its rocket batteries, stores of weapons and militant fighters in and around hospitals, schools and densely populated residential areas. Hamas’ October 7 attack was meant to derail the Israeli-Saudi Arabia peace initiative, as a follow-up to the Abraham Accords and to provoke a massive military response by Israel.All attempts to pursue peace between Israel and the Palestinians have been met with calculated violence and destruction coming from Hamas. This is the history of the conflict, of which most of the student protesters are not only woefully ignorant, but steadfastly so, because it gives them one more reason to hate Israel and Jews, both here and in the Middle East. American Jews, both those on campuses and otherwise, do not determine and are not responsible for the policies adopted and implemented by the State of Israel any more than Arab Americans are responsible for the mayhem committed by Hamas. Yet, the “progressive” pro-Palestinian protesters seek to demonize and, at times, threaten the safety of Jewish students on campus. This goes beyond being anti-Zionist, it isantisemitic. They have so contorted reality that they have elevated the Hamas murderers to the moral high ground. This I say to the protesters — learn your history and your facts and look at yourself first before seeking to denigrate and marginalize others. Advocate for peace, not violence!Every student on a college or university campus has a right to an education not free from “free speech,” but free from threats of violence and intimidation, particularly when they are motivated by the ethnicity of the group beingdisparaged. Conversely, every student has a duty to comport herself or himself within the rule of law so that all other students can partake of their education in a safe environment conducive to learning.
Steve McCloskey is a resident of Bonita Springs.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Antisemitism cloaked in progressivism
