October 24, 2023
On October 7, Israel suffered the worst terrorist attack in its nation’s history. Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel in an unprovoked and shocking display of savagery.
Overwhelming the iron dome with thousands of rockets while simultaneously invading the Jewish state on all fronts -sea, land, and even air in monstrous paragliders, Hamas killed more than 1400, wounded around 5,400, and kidnapped approximately 250.
Horrifically, the terrorists raped many and even burned innocent civilians alive. Among them were small children and babies, some even beheaded. The aftermath of the carnage leaves no doubt that Hamas targeted civilians with the intent to kill as many as possible -in contrast to the Israeli military, which acts in self-defense and warns civilians to take cover, killing them only as collateral damage in their fight to defeat those aimed at extinguishing their existence.
You would think that expressing support for Israel and condemning barbaric terrorists would be a given among every American, regardless of political affiliation. Shockingly, not so. The day after the Israeli slaughter, the Democratic Socialists of New York sponsored a pro-Palestinian rally. On October 8, the only dead Palestinians were the Hamas terrorists killed while slaughtering more than 1400 Israelis. At the rally attended by more than 1,000, many chanted the popular Hamas refrain “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” meaning extinguish Israel. This rally was not just pro-Palestinian- it was pro-Hamas.
Six members of Congress identify as Democratic Socialists- the most prominent being Reps Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Prolific social media poster Ocasio-Cortez took days to acknowledge the slaughter and distance herself from the grotesque rally. However, she quickly followed up with criticism of Israel and a call for them to lay down arms.
Tlaib also remained silent for days until she released a statement expressing her grief for Palestinians before mentioning the actual victims -Israelis. Tlaib went on to blast Israel and justify the actions of Hamas, never condemning them. Reminder- Palestinian American Tlaib draped herself in the PLO flag at her victory party and displayed a map in her office with a post-it marked “Palestine” over Israel. She also currently flies the PLO flag outside her office in the halls of the US Congress.
Shockingly, numerous other members of the Democratic party profess significantly more empathy and concern for Palestinians than for the US’ only democratic ally in the Middle East- more than a dozen Democrat House members signed onto the “Ceasefire Now Resolution” introduced by Reps Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, among others. Never mind that Hamas incited the war, killing 1400, including 30 Americans, and holding 250 hostages, including a dozen Americans, in their declared quest to extinguish the state of Israel and the Jewish population.
The horrific Israeli terrorist attack has highlighted the rampant bigotry and vile antisemitism among the left as displayed at demonstrations in blue cities throughout the US. Saturday night in Brooklyn, which has a large population of Arab- Americans, thousands marched at an anti-Israel pro-Hamas protest, many chanting for the eradication of Israel. While anti-Israeli rhetoric and anti-Israel signs were prolific, “No speaker mentioned Hamas atrocities against innocent Israeli civilians”, according to former Democrat and new addition to the Republican party City council member Ari Kagan writing on X. He added that “It was a shameful pro-Hamas anti-Israel rally…”.
In Dearborn, Michigan, where 55% of the population is of Arab descent, thousands took to the street waving the PLO flag, chanting for Israel’s destruction. Biden and the mainstream media assert that Hamas is distinct from the Palestinian people. However, if that is the case, why do American Palestinians in US Arab enclaves and Palestinians seen throughout the world chant for Israel’s demise and not the destruction of Hamas?
In their defense of the Palestinian people, the legacy media attempts to distance Hamas from the people of Gaza. Fact check- In 2006, one year after Israel relinquished control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, Gazans voted Hamas into power.
Moreover, a 2021 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 53% of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza believe Hamas is “most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people”. Only 14% prefer the secular Fatah party. When broken down into territories, more than 60% of Gazans claimed support for Hamas in the 2021 poll.
Notably, at higher education institutions, pro-Palestinian demonstrations continue to occur. And, many of these rallies, like the Democratic Socialist rally, are not just pro-Palestine- they are pro-Hamas. A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student made clear who she sided with when she screamed, “Palestinians are Hamas, We are all Hamas” during a recent demonstration.
Similar rallies and anti-semitic rhetoric occurred at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, North Western University, Cornell University, George Washington University, University of Virginia, University of California, Columbia University, Clemson University, and numerous other elite schools.
Just hours after the attack, Derron Borders, the diversity and inclusion director at Cornell University, wrote a scathing post justifying the attack as “resistance” explaining they are just fighting “colonization, imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, which the United States is the model”.
At the University of Michigan, a business professor posed for photos as he ripped down flyers with the names and pictures of the Hamas hostages. An associate professor at Cornell, Russell Rickford, gave an impassioned speech calling the Hamas terror attack “exhilarating” and “energizing”.
Columbia University professor Joseph Massad referred to the Israeli slaughter as “the stunning victory of the Palestinian’s resistance” against “cruel colonizers”. He described the terrorist attack against innocent civilians as “astonishing”, “awesome”, and “incredible.”
Hours after the deadly attack, Yale associate professor Zareena Grewal tweeted, “My heart is in my throat. Prayers for Palestinians, Israel is a murderous, genocidal settler state and Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle, solidarity.”
Walaa Alqaisiya, a research fellow at Columbia University, tweeted: “Time to understand that Decolonization is NOT a metaphor. Decolonization means resistance of the oppressed and that includes armed struggle to LITERALLY get our lands and lives back!”
A group of 31 student groups from Harvard released a public letter blaming Israel for the attack and justifying the actions of Hamas. Days later, after a public outcry, Harvard’s president released a statement condemning Hamas but refused to denounce the students, laughably citing freedom of speech. Harvard scored 0.0 out of 100 points on a report published just a month ago by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) on this year’s College Free Speech Rankings.
Commonalities among many of the pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian supporters are the use of buzzwords such as “resistance”, “colonizer’, “racist”, and “oppressor” -words the left often uses when describing the United States. It is noteworthy that US demonstrators wave Palestinian flags and even Taliban flags at Palestinian rallies, unlike the US Pro-Israel rallies where many attendees wave the US and Israeli flags.
The horrific terrorist attack reveals not only vile antisemitism in the US but also an ever-increasing rejection of Western values and the default position by many on the left to side with the so-called “oppressed” even when aligned with terrorists.
Today’s left view everything through a race, class, and gender lens and reduce all discrepancies to victimizer vs victim, where the successful must be oppressors and the unsuccessful, the criminals and those financially dependent on others, must be oppressed. Only when there are equal outcomes, no matter effort or merit, will racism and oppression be deemed eradicated in the eyes of this growing faction of the American population.
The US is not only importing and embracing those culturally aligned with this mindset, but young Americans throughout the US are steeped in the diversity, equity, and inclusion propaganda by anti-American far-left educators. Contrary to Joe Biden, the biggest threat to our nation’s national security is not climate change or white supremacy- it is the moral and intellectual rot breeding among the left and within the Democratic party. The horrific October 7th terrorist attack was just the latest wake-up call.
