The ripped remains of posters showing recently kidnapped or missing Israelis after the Hamas attack in Israel, are seen on a bus stop in central London on October 26, 2023. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
We’ve devoted hundreds (literally) of Morning Shots to the deplorables on the right and will continue to do so. But what’s happening with the pro-Hamas left is a cancer. And it needs to be talked about.
Once again, a caveat: Sympathizing with Palestinians is one thing. Support for Hamas is quite another. They should not be confused, and what follows is not a suggestion that “all” leftists, or “all progressives” support or excuse this sort of thing.
But it is absolutely essential for every movement to police its own side, because if it doesn’t, the cancer will metastasize.
We see the consequences of the right’s failure to confront its extremists all around us. Every day.
This remarkable article starts with a reminder of the atrocities that took place less than three weeks ago.
There are a lot of horrors that have been reported in the last seventeen days—rape that broke women’s pelvic bones, babies riddled with bullets, children whose fingers and feet were cut off, entire families that were burned to death with their hands tied behind their backs, a pregnant woman whose fetus was cut out of her stomach while she was still alive. For parents, though, there may be nothing as agonizing as the ongoing terror of children being held captive by an ISIS-style jihadist terrorist organization that revels in Jewish suffering. As one parent put it, that would be worse than death.
There have been widespread efforts to call attention to the fate of the missing children.
One information campaign that has been gaining traction is called Let the World Know, which was started by Anna Tambini, an Israeli woman who lives in San Francisco. Volunteers across America, and around the world, have been hanging posters of the hostages on streetlights and posts, subway walls and coffee shops. Each poster has an individual picture and name with a simple call to action: “Take a photo of this poster and share it. Please help bring them home alive.”
The posters are not political statements. “There is no Israeli flag on these posters. There is no mention of politics. They are as anodyne as the missing children that used to appear on the side of American milk cartons.”
And still. People all over the world—especially young, cool-looking people, with nose rings and neon backpacks—are ripping them down.
Across the internet, videos have emerged of people angrily tearing down these posters wherever they find them. In NYC. In L.A. In San Diego. In Santa Cruz. In Richmond. In Miami. In Philadelphia. In Ontario. In Paris. In London. They are ripping the faces of real people who are missing—babies, children, teenagers, women, elderly—to shreds.
Who does this sort of thing? The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg notes that some of the perpetrators are in “straight-up denial” about the reality of the atrocities. Others, however, have no such excuse.
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At George Washington University, activists projected Hamas slogans on the library, including a call to exterminate the Jewish state: “GLORY TO OUR MARTYRS and FREE PALESTINE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.”
After a walkout of students at NYU, a video circulated on social media of students chanting “We want all of it. We don’t want no Jew state.”
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As the ADL notes, the intimidation of Jewish students on campus is also rising.
But we’re just talking about fringe actors, right? A handful of extremists who can and should be ignored, because “No Enemies on the Left,” or something?
After all, it’s only a handful of professors who are rationalizing Hamas’s terror and accusing Israel of “genocide”. Oh wait, it’s actually thousands. Via Nellie Bowles:
Nearly 2,000 sociologists signed a letter that Israel was committing “genocide” and anything Hamas does is justified by the “context.” The University of California, Berkeley Ethnic Studies Faculty Council released a statement condemning anyone who describes what Hamas did as “terrorism,” which is offensive. The student leader of a Wellesley residential house wrote to the entire dorm she oversees: “We firmly believe that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” Harvard launched a task force to help ensure the pro-Hamas protesters feel safe and can get jobs while also berating any Jews they might find.
A map of the incidents shows clusters in various states and regions. In California, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles featured high levels of anti-Israel rallies, some with support for terrorism. Numerous protests also took place around Detroit, near the state’s 12th District represented by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
High levels of anti-Israel protests—some with overt advocacy for Hamas and outright hatred towards Jews—also took place in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, which was marked by anti-Jewish and anti-Israel vandalism and harassment. Indiana and Ohio saw six and eight protests, respectively.
On Oct. 8 in Clifton, NJ: A car with individuals holding Palestinian flags appeared to intentionally swerve out of its lane, nearly hitting a visibly Jewish family.
On Oct. 9 in Detroit, MI: A Jewish student was harassed, shoved and called "Fucking Zionist" while painting a free speech rock with an Israeli flag on the campus of Wayne State University.
On Oct. 10 in Los Angeles, CA: An individual shouted "I am Hamas" and made death threats to Jewish individuals standing by a Kosher restaurant.
On Oct. 12 in Indianapolis, IN: A man carrying an Israeli flag was allegedly assaulted by a pro-Palestinian protestor.
On Oct. 15 in New York, NY: An individual allegedly punched a Jewish woman in the face at Grand Central Terminal. When she asked why, he responded: "You are Jewish."
On Oct. 15 in Walnut Creek, CA: White Lives Matter California, a white supremacist group, held a rally on a highway overpass and displayed signs stating: "Save Gaza," "No More Wars for I$rael" and "Watch Europa the Last Battle.”
On Oct. 18 in New York, NY: A group of Israeli individuals were harassed and at least one assaulted by a pro-Palestinian protestor in Times Square.
In 2023, three weeks after Jews in Israel were set upon by marauders who murdered 1,400 and injured nearly three times that many, in cities around the world and now in New York, the Jews outside Israel are under attack as never before in recent history — rather than finding themselves protected as never before.
No, they must stay inside.
Like Anne Frank, trapped for two years in an attic because any outdoor public breath would mean capture and death — and captured anyway because someone in the house below the attic ratted the Frank family out.
Stay inside.
Like the pianist Władysław Szpilman, played by Adrien Brody in “The Pianist” 20 years ago, who did not talk to another person for more than a year as he remained silent and all but motionless in a room in Warsaw after his family was deported to and slaughtered at Treblinka.
In my 62 years of life, I have thought every day of the blessing America has been to the Jewish people — a blessing unlike any my people have ever known.
And this, the most Jewish city in the world outside of Israel, has been a blessing as well.
At this moment, though, the Jews had better hide.
I cannot tell you how terrifying this is.
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The good news: Lots of Democrats — including Joe Biden — have pushed back. Here is Democrat Josh Gottheimer calling out the Squad:
RIGHT NOW, ROUGHLY $38 BILLION in frozen Russian assets is sitting in the coffers of American financial institutions. With the stroke of a pen, President Joe Biden can send those funds to Kyiv, and so turn an authoritarian adversary’s wealth into a defensive weapon for besieged Ukrainians—and democracy.
To ignore or dismiss human suffering in Gaza would be to allow war to harden one’s heart to an alarming degree. The crisis in the 140 square-mile strip, which is home to some two million people, certainly merits compassion. But that compassion must begin with a clear-eyed look at the causes and details of the crisis.
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