One of the most frustrating things about talking to people who are critical of Israel’s war in Gaza is how fundamentally they misunderstand the war.
I am not talking about the student protests or really any of the protesters. Most of them either understand how murderous Hamas is and support the genocide of Israelis or they are utterly indifferent to the cause and only care about LARPing the revolution.
But there are millions of people half paying attention, and when they do, they just want the war to go away. It is distressing, especially seeing all the suffering on TV. Many of these people believe that the war would end if Israel would just stop fighting, and hence they blame Israel for the suffering.
Hamas has carried out an attack on the Kerem Shalom Israel-Gaza border crossing, saying it was targeting Israeli soldiers in the area. https://t.co/36vlWCoTTO
— ABC News (@abcnews) May 5, 2024
These people have outsourced their thinking about the war, and but for the fact that they are putting pressure on our political leaders I can’t blame them. We can’t think deeply about everything and all of us outsource analysis on most issues. There are not enough hours to dig deeply into every issue.
My frustration with these people is not that they are wrong but that they keep trusting the framing of people who are almost always wrong. If you still trust the MSM after the past 10 years, you need a reality check, not me. Worse still, if you have outsourced your analysis to others, then at the very least, you should refrain from getting passionate about an issue–passion and ignorance are a bad combination.
Insane videos from MIT…
In Arabic they chant that “Palestine will be Arab” and “Death to Jews,” then in English they chant “we don’t want no Zionists here” and that “there is only one solution, Intifada revolution”
Don’t look away. pic.twitter.com/OIiazxJaqt
— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 5, 2024
I was thinking about this as I followed events over in Israel this weekend. As people I know are screaming about cease-fires and humanitarian aid, Hamas was insisting they want no cease-fires, and they attacked the humanitarian aid. Earlier in the week, Hamas hijacked a convoy of aid, shooting at civilians, and yesterday, they shelled the border crossing where the aid comes in.
Earlier, Hamas shelled the pier Biden is building to bring in aid from the sea.
Yesterday at New York University, this student led a teach-in on how North Korea has never formally recognized Israel, has always been an ally of Palestinian “self determination and resistance”, and “actively armed and trained” the Palestinian resistance” for decades.
“So while… pic.twitter.com/UzIwllPXwE
— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 5, 2024
As protesters escalate, announcing their support to Hamas, North Korea, the Houthis in Yemen, and of course our old friend Iran, they also hold mock tribunals at George Washington University where they sentenced their school administrators to DEATH.
Hamas has fired 14 rockets and mortars at their own humanitarian aid crossing. They injured 10 people and they fired from Rafah – the exact location they’re begging the IDF not to enter.https://t.co/1TDDJBQLVF pic.twitter.com/vOLIgKIst4
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 5, 2024
Biden “understands their passion,” and a lot of good liberals nod their heads. It is just youthful passion, seeking peace.
Peace? They are calling for jihads, bullying people, destroying their campuses, announcing their support for murder, and insisting that none of this will end until every Jew is out of the Middle East. What is happening on our campuses is not fundamentally different than the student movement that put Ayatollah Khomeini in power in Iran.
Ironically, most students want nothing to do with this. The war in Gaza barely registers as an issue for most of them. But the liberals are letting the tail wag the dog because they have a soft spot for revolutionaries.
Successful revolutions don’t require a massive shift in public opinion; they only require a small part of a population willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. The passivity of others and the desire to just be done with the controversy empowers the zealots to destroy everything.
LGBTQI+ man praises Hamas:
“I don’t care if they’re homophobic. It’s not like Hamas is bombing West Hollywood. No. What Hamas has done is retaliate against an illegal occupation.”
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 5, 2024
These zealots want a successful revolution, although their chances of success are somewhere between 0 and 0.00001%. What they can achieve, though, is massive destruction, including of our social fabric.
The Washington Post has a piece in which they talk with a frustrated student and capture the essence of the moment: “Everything is on fire.”
Yes, it is. And the people who just want all the controversies to go away and trust our manifestly incompetent (and worse) elite to do the right thing need to wake up. Their desire for peace and quiet empowers the worst members of our society to keep lighting fires.
I understand the moderates and good liberals who just want the war to go away, but they are misreading the situation. Hamas, these protesters, and the revolutionary movement don’t want the war to go away. They want the civilian casualties. They want to keep the killing going.
Because they want to win, and by win they mean destroy it all.