I’m all about the First Amendment, the establishment of a free press and speech, but the college campus protests about the crisis in Gaza have WRONG stamped all over them.
There is nothing wrong about being horrified by war, especially when innocent civilians are caught between the combatants.
Unfortunately, there will always be such casualties. The military, in an effort to confuse onlookers, have long called it “collateral damage.” That sounds like your house being wiped out by a tornado before you could pay off the mortgage. It doesn’t begin to convey, for example, the agony captured in an iconic photo of a girl running down a road in Vietnam, naked and crying because she has been accidentally burned by napalm
Many young people have apparently never seen pictures of cities flattened by bombers in World War II, including major portions of London during the Blitz. Nor, apparently, have they seen films of Nazi death camps where 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
What makes the pro-Palestinian protests wrong is that they fail to mention that thousands of Israelis have been killed, injured or kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in ceaseless rocket attacks and in the horrific attack on Jewish civilians on Oct. 7.
Other Iran-backed terrorist groups have also attacked Israel.
Ignoring the terrorist’s intent is not just ignorance but a deliberate attempt to promote antisemitism.
Accusing Israel of genocide would be laughable if not for the bitterest kind of irony. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for genocide of the Jews.
Many protestors are not even students but outside agitators. So, who are they and who is funding their cause?
Many of the protesters, including those presumed to be students, are wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves.
Violence, vandalism, threatening students, disrupting classes and graduations have become the norm. “Wrong” doesn’t even begin to describe it, especially when you look back at the 1960s Civil Rights demonstrations by Dr. Martin Luther King and others.
Civil disobedience means accepting the consequences of breaking immoral laws, whether it is jail time or being attacked by a water hose or a nightstick.
It means showing your face and refusing to be violent. It does not call for genocide or hateful speech against another group. It means, if possible, working within the system for constructive change. Anarchy achieves nothing but chaos.
Violence is not the answer. The Oct. 7 attack has set back the ideal of a two-state solution.
This is what happens when a terrorist organization like Hamas governs hapless Palestinians. Should Israel agree to a ceasefire? It’s beside the point for the moment. The memory of babies being beheaded, and civilians being kidnapped is too fresh, too painful, too horrific. So is the carnage in Gaza.
There is a saying, “Truth is the first casualty of war.” A half-truth is a full lie.
Peace in the Mideast is a worthy, if not impossible goal in a region scarred by war for centuries. It is not made any easier by murder and calls for genocide.