This righteous rant comes via Commentary executive editor, Abe Greenwald, who distilled so many key points into one social media post. The ignorance, moral rot, or outright bigotry required to ignore the questions and points he raises is actually quite disturbing — especially because this sick worldview has become shockingly prevalent within so many of our ‘elite’ institutions. I tweeted yesterday that it’s nearly impossible to reason with people who celebrate an actual genocidal terrorist massacre — and shout the terrorists’ genocidal slogans — then rationalize their subsequent insanity, bullying and bigotry as fighting a “genocide” that doesn’t exist. Some people are too radicalized and too far gone to reach. But I must believe there are others who may be nominally “pro-Palestine,” or are not sure about how they feel, or might at least be somewhat open-minded, who are willing to willing to grapple with the challenges and arguments Greenwald raises below. Since it’s posted on Twitter/X, I’ll quote it in its entirety, and I recommend reading it twice (edited slightly for explicit language):
Why aren’t the “protestors” demanding that the terrorist group Hamas release hostages and surrender? Literally none of them are calling for that. All the fury is aimed at Israel, none at the party that started the war with an act of mass slaughter and rape and that keeps it going with hostage-taking and human-shielding. Hamas has turned down every “ceasefire” offer. Why would pro-ceasefire activists support the side that refuses a ceasefire? Why would a supposedly anti-war movement overtly support the side of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas, all of whom exist only to wage war? Why haven’t these wonderful humanitarians mounted similar campaigns in response to actual genocides, such as those carried out against Muslims in China, Syria, Sudan, and Myanmar? Slaughters that have claimed many more innocent lives than the war in Gaza? I’ve screamed and written about these atrocities for years. Where were they? Why do protesters cite Hamas statistics as gospel? Why do they ignore the fact that most wars—especially those wars that have been overwhelmingly celebrated as righteous—have far worse civilian to combatant ratios than does the current war in Gaza? World War II comes to mind.
Why did they start protesting Israel immediately after October 7, before Israel even launched its ground invasion in Gaza? Why do people who would be apoplectic over the most microscopic indication of anti-black racism or Islamophobia downplay the flagrant and widespread violent anti-Semitism of these rallies as the unrepresentative behavior of “just a few jerks”? Have they not seen the total saturation of Hamas slogans at these events? Why are these protests growing larger, more active, and more violent at the moment that Gaza has been becalmed? Israel pulled out the majority of its troops weeks ago and the death toll dropped dramatically months before that (even by the bullsh*t Hamas numbers). Why does a political movement that claims to believe in indigenous rights, immigration, gender-equality, refugee acceptance, democracy, and religious pluralism support a non-indigenous, conquering, theocratic tyranny of female servitude, murderous homophobia, religious intolerance, and totalitarian subjugation against a democratic state of an indigenous people that values equal rights and personal liberty?
And here’s his catch-all answer that unquestionably applies to so many within the explicitly pro-Hamas ranks:
Because they’re full of sh*t. And f*** them. If Gazans ever know anything resembling freedom and peace—and that’s a massive “if”—it will be because Israel broke the boot of Hamas and the Islamist oppressors that’s been on their necks for countless generations. Am Yisrael chai. No mercy for terrorists and totalitarians.
To my point about the invented, non-existent Israeli “genocide” the Hamas crowd cites as their broad justification for all manner of odious sentiments and actions related to their hatred for Israel and its allies, there’s this context, which Greenwald also references:
Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) defends Israel: “2,200 American servicemen killed at Pearl Harbor. We go on to kill 3.5 million Japanese, including 100,000 in one night. 2,800 Americans in 9/11. We go on to kill 400,000 people in Afghanistan and Iraq. We weren’t accused of… pic.twitter.com/HCNZnVEN9K
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 23, 2024
The retort from some of the anti-American hordes would be, ‘yes America is also a nasty, genocidal country.’ Some might even toss in a, “death to America!” for good measure, as that’s becoming all the rage. It’s not just for Islamists overseas, or in Dearborn, anymore. It’s for heavily white, COVID mask-wearing Communists preparing to disrupt the Democratic National Convention. And it’s for “activists” at major American universities. Death to America, and Go Blue:
NEW: @UMich's new "Liberated Encampment Zone" is handing out pamphlets calling for "death to America" and a third intifada. H/T @rubin_a1 & @jbis9051 pic.twitter.com/5CiooMn2DH
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) April 22, 2024
The damage control responses to the unhinged bigotry, menacing and violence we’ve seen afflicting various campuses around the country have involved (1) revolting ‘both sides’ equivalencies — Biden’s Charlottesville moment — (2) outright gaslighting about anti-Semitism and violence, and (3) placing blame on outside agitators and interlopers meant to discredit an otherwise “peaceful” movement. They’re peaceful, you see, because they wear shirts glorifying notorious murderous Communists, erect signs calling for another expanded round of ‘Intifada’ Jew-killing, put up hagiography of convicted terrorists, publicly encourage terrorists to murder Jewish students, and commit assaults. But aside from all that peace, all the trouble is caused by those terrible, allied “agitators” (with whom they also agree):
The talking points have gone out. It's all the fault of faceless agitators. https://t.co/HhKTJ7PZAw
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 23, 2024
As an aside, the Ferguson riots were sparked by a destructive and debunked lie about a police shooting deemed justified by even the Obama/Holder Department of Justice. Bush’s fellow anti-Semitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), whose daughter we wrote about earlier in the week, piled on this conspiratorial claim — only to receive an absolutely epic response from a social media user. Ouch:
Oof pic.twitter.com/ADlWENrPS1
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 23, 2024
I’ll leave you with a case study in divergent leadership and values:
It is not lost on people that while both sides have issues with antisemitism, these mobs and the accompanying harassment is only really occurring in areas dominated by radical progressives. https://t.co/Ohll3dioJH
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 22, 2024
99% of college students are to mush brained to know what they are doing, they have no idea what they are protesting about which is based on lies. The colleges should be actual institutes of higher education not graduating indoctrinated fools.