Behind a paywall
Pro-Palestinian protests are not about human rights by Cathy Young for Newsday
Quote:
New York City saw another surge this week of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activism on and off campuses — with displays of shocking ugliness which remind us that this movement has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with grotesque fantasies of revolutionary violence.
On Labor Day, a group called Within Our Lifetime marched from Union Square to Washington Square Park, chanting “Globalize the Intifada” and waving the flags of the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups. This is at least the third time the group has done that; one of its protests in June was held outside an exhibit commemorating victims slain and abducted at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7.
This celebration of terror was particularly obscene since it happened just two days after the bodies of six murdered hostages, including that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a California-born Israeli-American with dual citizenship, were found by the Israeli military in a tunnel in Gaza.
Protests have also resumed on the Columbia University campus, where the fall semester has just begun. Activists disrupted convocation on Sunday by banging pots and drums and attempted to disrupt the first day of class on Tuesday by picketing at the campus gates, harassing and berating people entering the campus. While the activist groups’ ostensible goal was Columbia’s divestment from companies associated with Israel, a statement they have released, shared by the national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, articulates a much more grandiose and truly demented agenda.
According to this manifesto, “True divestment necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself.” In case that wasn’t clear enough, the statement goes on to say that divestment must “undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”
One may ask why these people are attending a prestigious and expensive university — many of them probably with government-subsidized financial aid — if they want to bring down both the university and America itself.
This infantile campus radicalism is particularly disturbing because, as a report released by Columbia last week acknowledges, its anti-Zionist animus — combined with its verbally and physically aggressive tactics — have been particularly intimidating to Jewish students. According to the report, based on student testimonies, Jewish students have been “shoved, pushed to the ground, [and] berated for showing support for Zionist causes.”
The plight of Palestinians is real, and there are good reasons to criticize the current Israeli government and its ultraright elements. But just as the murder of the six hostages is a potent reminder of the Oct. 7 atrocities and the inhumanity of Hamas, the actions and rhetoric of Hamas’ American defenders are a reminder of the radical left’s moral bankruptcy.
This is way too much painting a broad brush. Surprising because I am a fan of this particular columnist because she usually is anti moral absolutes.
What she is hyperboling is a real phenomenon that is a continuation of elements of the Black Lives Matters movement. There is not good polling so all I can go on is assumptions. Most pro Palestinian protesters are not about razing America to ground but are motivated by the images on their phones. Add to that disproportionate casualty numbers and genocidal statements from Israeli leaders.
They will often discount the nefarious elements of their movement because they dismiss them as a few bad apples because they are. Unfortunately those bad apples are too often the leaders who are quite effective at using catchy innocuous slogans that are chanted by people who are often recent to the cause and thus do not have context. “From River to the Sea’ has plausibly been partially been branded as an aspirational call for a multiethnic one state solution where everybody has rights and lives in harmony. If you use Hezbollah or Hamas symbolism you should not get benefit of the doubt.
Ms. Young is right about one thing. Those calling for revolution will be the first ones wetting their pants if they get their wish. The reason I say that is that there are close to 6,000 colleges in America. As of May 6 140 of them saw Pro Palestinian protests. That means many if not most of the “radicals” are elitists living in spoiled bubbles.
There is a message in the above stats for hyperbolizists. Yes some of what has occurred is
dangerous. Yes because of their elite status and smart use of slogans and intimidation their influence goes well beyond their small numbers and should not be ignored. No this is not a modern day Kristallnacht, not close. If you are Jewish, even a zionist one, unless you are near an elite campus or big city etc, you are not in much if any more danger then you were prior to all of this. This is true for students at most American campuses.
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07 Sep 2024, 9:05 am
