April 30, 2024
What is going on in this country regarding Israel’s response to the terrorist attack last October is truly disgraceful. The fanatical protests on several American college and university campuses, which have been virtually ignored and allowed to continue by the administrations of those institutions, are fueled by misinformation and ignorance.
The protesters chant “death to Israel” and threaten the safety of their fellow students who are Jewish, although they are not often Israelis. And in response to the pro-Israel sentiments expressed in the country, the protesters also now chant “death to America.”
In taking the anti-Israel position, the protesters claim to be pro-Palestine, but that increasingly has meant pro-Hamas, the terrorists who unleashed that horrible attack on innocent Israelis and others in October. Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organization that the Palestinians voted into power some years ago.
Israel has been and is the target of many of its Middle East neighbors where Islam is the religion. Islamic countries have tried over and over to eliminate Israel and its people, and have been soundly defeated each time.
Leaving behind for the moment the hatred of Israel held by these protesters and Muslims, not everyone is so blind to reality.
Israel is a special place for reasons other than just its role as a target of its neighbors. It is a beacon of democracy in an area where democracies are in short supply.
It is a country that despite its history of being targeted has demonstrated religious tolerance, and has made technological and other valuable innovations. It has made important contributions in mathematics, science, medicine, computing, defense, aviation and energy, to name just some areas to which it has contributed.
And, it is home to those of other religions. The U.S. government estimates the total population of Israel in 2022 at 8.9 million. And according to the Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2021 approximately 73.8 percent of the population was Jewish, 18 percent Muslim, 1.9 percent Christian, and 1.6 percent Druze. So, if Israel is such a terrible nation, why do so many non-Jewish people willingly live and work there?
The anti-Israel protesters want people to believe, and perhaps themselves believe, that Israel started all of this. It did not. Hamas started it with a violent raid killing more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including at least 35 U.S. citizens who were in Israel.
Among the slaughtered were elderly people. Children were killed in front of their parents, parents were killed in front of their children, babies were beheaded and burned to death in ovens, and other atrocities also committed. Hostages were taken. Some have been released, some have died or been killed, and more than 100 remain in captivity.
So, the military actions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are not unwarranted attacks on innocent Palestinians. They are appropriate and justified responses to yet another attempt by an Iranian terrorist proxy group to eliminate completely the nation of Israel and every Jewish citizen in Israel. And the innocent Palestinian people voluntarily chose Hamas to lead them.
The IDF works very hard to avoid injuring or killing non-combatants. However, the Israeli military killed seven aid workers, including three British veterans, of World Central Kitchen when it bombed a clearly marked vehicle belonging to the food charity, as reported by the Daily Mail.
“Israel Defence Forces chief Herzi Halevi … called the killings a 'grave mistake,' which he blamed on night-time ‘misidentification,’ and launched an independent investigation into the attack,” the Daily Mail reported.
The story continued, saying, “Israel is expected to pay compensation to the families of the aid workers killed in the airstrike on a food convoy in Gaza, military sources have claimed.”
In war, things do not always go as intended, as exemplified by this incident. The Israeli forces made a serious mistake, and innocent people died. However, had Hamas not unleashed that appalling, vicious attack last October, this mistake would not have occurred, and other Palestinians would also not have died.
Reuters reported that “protests against Israel filled streets in Brooklyn and escalated at universities across the United States.” These protests have recently grown to encampments, or tent cities, filled with tents that look alike, leading to the idea that these protests are sponsored and coordinated.
“Jewish Left-leaning billionaire and philanthropist George Soros and associations funded by him are reportedly funding the anti-Israel protests at college campuses across the US,” Business Today reported. “The protests, which started at Columbia University last week, have spread to universities and colleges across over 8 states in the US, The New York Post reported.”
“A large Brooklyn street protest reached a standoff on Tuesday when New York police began to arrest people over disorderly conduct, restraining those who refused to move with zip ties,” the Reuters story added.
Protesters and others are calling for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. The innocent hostages must be released. But a ceasefire by Israel will only delay the effort to destroy Israel, and kill all the Jews.
These institutions and law enforcement need to get moving and apply appropriate punishment to these students who are over-stepping the free speech boundaries and threatening innocent Jewish students.
