By Don Schmitz
The protests at over 33 college campuses all over the country are mislabeled as “Pro Palestine” or “Anti Genocide.” None of us can peer in the hearts of all the protesters, and likely many are deeply sincere in those beliefs, but we can listen to what they are chanting, we can read their banners and literature, which is often an ugly, anti-American, anti-Semitic picture.
Their own words often aren’t pro-peace, they are pro-war and support terrorism against Israel and the U.S. Banners calling for “Intifada” are displayed. The Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005 in Israel included 130 suicide bombings at restaurants and on buses, designed to maximize civilian casualties. At George Washington University protesters chanted, “Smash the Zionist settler state” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution”! Of course, the favorite is “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, which means the complete destruction of all of Israel. Signs were held up next to pro-Israel demonstrators reading “Al-Qassam’s next targets.” Al-Qassam is the armed branch of the Islamic movement. Not subtle. It is naked political manipulation to put a palatable face on this despotic movement by the usual suspects on the radical left.
“Squad” member Ilhan Omar denounced the arrests of “peaceful protesters” at Columbia University who “were only speaking out against genocide.” Nationally 2,100 have been arrested, but most are simply released and face no real consequences. Many of the protesters aren’t students. Thirty-two of the 112 arrested in Columbia aren’t affiliated with the university, and last week in 11 of 12 instances where statistics are available, more outsiders were arrested than students.
Fortunately, mainstream Democrats and Republicans are denouncing their hatred, vandalism, and violence. Democrat New York City mayor Eric Adams lamented “outside agitators” for escalating the protests. Democrat California Assemblyman Rick Zbur wrote the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate civil rights violations of Jewish students at UCLA. California Republican leaders have demanded the firing of UCLA and Cal Poly Humboldt leadership for failing to protect Jewish students. Senator Marco Rubio (R) is calling for students who are not American citizens to be sent back to their countries if they are participating in these widespread demonstrations.
President Biden struck the right tone in a short speech stating; “vandalism, violence, hate speech and other chaos has no part in a peaceful protest. Dissent is essential for democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Appropriately, no protesters are being arrested for exercising their free speech, no matter how reprehensible. They are being arrested for creating illegal camps, intimidating other students and not allowing them to get to class, defacing and breaking into buildings, which they barricade. Legitimate peaceful demonstrations are occurring across the country on and off campuses on both sides of the issue, with no interference from law enforcement. However, should a demonstrator be expelled from a university for their illegal actions, Seyed Mahmoud Aghamiri, the dean of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, said his school would “accept students who have been expelled for protesting against the actions of the Zionists. We have considered scholarship for these students and we fully cover the cost of education, dormitory and accommodation.” Telling. Hamas, along with Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, are proxy armies trained, armed and funded by Iran to attack Israel and the U.S.
Have you noticed that the encampments all have the same tents, are well organized and supplied? According to the New York Post the encampments at Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, and Emory in Georgia were organized by branches of Students for Justice in Palestine, which are funded by the radical leftist Soros family. They are not spontaneous. A united America is far too strong to defeat from without, so our enemies from Russia to China and Iran seek to fracture us internally, and separate us from our allies, by sowing discord from within. Our left-wing universities have been fertile ground for their efforts.
Refreshingly, Americans are starting to see through this, recognizing Hamas as a brutal terrorist organization seeking a worldwide caliphate imposing Sharia law by force, starting with Israel. After observing with disgust demonstrators replacing Old Glory with the Palestinian flag at UCLA, we cheered when fratboys at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill surrounded their flagpole to protect our flag from screaming Palestinian groups throwing water bottles at them. Eventually they were overwhelmed, and the Palestinian flag replaced the Stars And Stripes, whereupon Chancellor Lee Roberts personally walked into the crowd and put our flag back up. Sadly, reflective of our national confusion, the flagpole ultimately was left empty with no flag, right here in our land. Our cherished God given First Amendment rights are integral to this amazing country, but respect our laws and America while exercising it. On this Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, agree.