The U.S. Campus Demonstrations . . . Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah are Celebrating
When the postmortem is conducted on the anti-Isreali demonstrations on American college campuses this spring, the findings are likely to include items like these:
1) The demonstrations were anticipated and scripted by Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah – entities whose stated goal is to abolish Israel.
2) The demonstrations are, in effect, cause for celebration among those who sympathize with these organizations.
3) Many, perhaps most of the participants, have been spoon-fed — or have voluntarily chosen — an extremely one-sided perspective regarding what has been happening in Gaza for the past six months.
4) Few of the participants know anything about the history of Israel. It would be a good bet that no more than one in 100 of these students ever has read a book about Israel.
Yes, it is understandable that some college students are morally outraged at the death and conditions in Gaza – a seashore location bordering Israel, which, by the way, Israel essentially gifted to the Palestinians in 2005 by unilaterally withdrawing its armed forces and settlements.
But consider this question: What was Israel supposed to do in the aftermath of the murderous October 7 attack in which more than 1,500 Israeli citizens were taken hostage or murdered by the group that rules Gaza?
Remember as you ponder this question: The October 7 deaths did not result from unintended collateral damage, as have the deaths in Gaza since October 7. They were intentional and vicious. Children were beheaded in front of their parents. Babies were put in ovens as family members stood screaming. (Footnote: I have not written these details in previous columns because they are so utterly abhorrent. The time has come to tell the full story. THIS is Hamas, the organization the Palestinians of Gaza have elected to govern, and the organization the college demonstrators are supporting.)
Israel was left with only two choices: Attack Hamas, which had anticipated a military response, and imbedded itself in Gaza within and around Palestinian schools, hospitals, and homes – or ignore the attack, move on, and wait for it to happen again.
Still another factor to consider: 20 of the hostages who have been killed by Hamas were Americans and another six Americans remain hostages of Hamas.
Also, as you think about the some 28,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza in six months, (details below), consider that there are other existing situations in the Middle East and the world that are far more outrageously horrifying in terms of human rights violations and civilian murder than what has been happening in Gaza in recent months.
There is a civil war in Syria that has been raging since 2011. The Syrian government has murdered 500,000 of its own people and displaced millions more – all civilians.
In Sudan, 10 million people have been made homeless and placed in starvation by an independent paramilitary force that attacked the government and the populace one year ago – just six months before the Hamas attack on Israel. Amnesty International reports that the people of Sudan are facing rampant violations of human rights and humanitarian law including gender-based violence and an internet shutdown that makes it impossible to deliver food, water, and humanitarian aid to the millions of civilians who are starving. For details, including what outsiders can do to help, see https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/sudan-conflict/#:~:text=For%20the%20people%20of%20Sudan,displaced%20over%2010%20million%20people
For the record, here is a close look at what the civilian deaths among Palestinians in Gaza looked like in March, when I published an earlier column about the Hamas-Israeli war:
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 30,000 Palestinians have died with 10,000 more missing under the rubble. Many people have good reason not to trust a government agency in Gaza, where Hamas runs the government. But let’s accept these numbers for this exercise. The total number of deaths in Gaza would be about 40,000.
Not all of these deaths, however, are Palestinian civilian deaths. The Times of Israel has reported that according to the IDF, ast least 12,000 of these deaths have been Hamas fighters.
The net number of non-Hamas Palestinian deaths – civilian deaths – thus would be about 28,000.
One more set of numbers that is relevant at this point: The population of Gaza has been estimated at between 2 million and 3 million people.
There are two realities about unintended casualties of war. One is that they are tragic and the utmost care must be taken to avoid them. The other is that it is impossible to avoid all such deaths in a war. It is almost certain that every war in history has produced unintended casualties.
However, 28,000 civilian deaths among civilians in Gaza equals something between 1.4 percent and .9 percent of the Palestinian population of Gaza. In effect, they are the victims of their oppressors — Hamas. These deaths, again, are tragic. But they are not genocide.
Here is what genocide looks like:
In 1994, the President of Rwandi’s plane was shot down, killing both the Rwandan and Burundian presidents. The radical Hutu radio channel announced the deaths, urging Hutus to “go to work” and attack the rival Tutsi population. During the next 100 days, nearly one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed.
From 1941 through 1945, Hitler systematically murdered 6 million Jews, two-thirds of all the Jews in Europe.
From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot in Cambodia systematically killed 1.5 to 2 million Cambodian people, 25 percent of the population of the country.
Back to the campus demonstrations:
For those among the protestors who would argue that they have a constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech, few in America will disagree.
However, there is no guaranteed right to disrupt an event or to violate laws. If you choose to disrupt college attendance, classes, even graduation activities, you have chosen to risk putting yourself in jail. If you choose to threaten the safety of other college students, employees, and faculty members, you have chosen to risk your status as a student.
There already is discussion of students being pardoned for participation in these demonstrations without being penalized in any way in terms of their standing as continuing students.
That is for the individual colleges/universities to work out with their multiple constituencies. This means that Jewish students and others who were threatened by these events, denied the opportunity to complete their spring semester, or, in some cases, prevented from participating in graduation ceremonies, must be consulted and considered before decisions are reached.
Final note: The average annual cost of tuition and fees at Columbia University in New York is $86,000 a year at full rate, $13,000 a year, on average, after scholarships and grants. No matter where a family may be on this spectrum, it is reasonable for the university to be held to account for how it has handled the protests and protected the rights of all students.
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Amy.
Merriam Webster defines anti-Semitism as specifically and exclusively referencing Jews