BY MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS OCTOBER 18 2023
In February 1939, the German American Bund threw a pro-Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden that drew over 20,000 attendees. In the late 1970s, the National Socialist Party of America regularly demonstrated and marched in Chicago in support of neo-Nazi ideology, despite their numbers dwindling to a tenth of what they were. In 2017, with a few hundred on their side, neo-Nazis showed their face again in Charlottesville, Virginia. At each of these events and throughout the last century, most Americans ask themselves how it’s possible that people believe such a disgusting and perverse ideology that celebrates death and hatred. American college campuses are showing that not only does that ideology and mentality exist, but it is also in far larger numbers than American Nazis have ever had.
There is an argument to be made that Hamas, at a smaller scale, is worse than the Nazis. Given the means and ability, Hamas would happily commit the atrocities that the Nazis did. Whereas Nazi war criminals felt a modicum of shame towards the end and tried to hide their barbarism, Hamas videos it and shows it to the world. Whereas Nazis retreated to their army bases, Hamas hides behind their own women and children, placing their bases of operation in hospitals and schools. This is who American college protesters are defending.
Do not defend these protesters by claiming that they are separating the Palestinian cause from the Hamas cause. They are not. Take, for example, a speaker at the pro-Palestinian protest rally at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” the speaker shouted. “What did you expect would happen when you besieged Gaza for all of these decades!” How about the chants at George Mason University of “they’ve got tanks, we’ve got hang gliders, glory to the resistance fighters.” Hang gliders are a direct reference to the massacre at a music festival of innocent secular Jews.
A Yale professor had a response to a post that claimed that “civilians are civilians are civilians,” implying they should not be targeted. She claimed that “settlers are not civilians,” which not only justifies terrorism and murder, but also speaks aloud the belief that all Jews in Israel are “settlers,” not just those beyond the Green Line. At the University of Michigan, a professor smiled as he tore down posters of kidnapped Israeli children. Over 500 professors, lecturers, and PhD candidates signed a statement condemning the U of M President for not making the “both sides” argument in his statement. Merely condemning Hamas attacks on civilians is too “pro-Israel” on college campuses.
Joseph Massad, a tenured professor at Columbia University, authored a piece for Electronic Intifada, a pro-terrorism website. He described the attack as “innovative,” a “major achievement,” and expressed a feeling of “jubilation and awe.” He fully justifies the attack, referring to towns in mainland Israel as “settler-colonies” and that this was justification for the violence in Huwara and that Jews davened on the Temple Mount a couple of weeks ago, despite Hamas themselves claiming that they’ve been planning this for two years.
Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford gave a speech at a pro-Hamas protest where he referred to the attacks as “exhilarating” and “exciting” because Hamas challenged the “monopoly of violence” and shifting of the balance of power. He claims that anyone not exhilarated by these attacks is not human. That’s right, the proper human thing to do is cheer when innocents are burned alive in their homes.
Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford gave a speech at a pro-Hamas protest where he called the attacks “exhilarating” and “exciting”
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is having a field day, organizing these massive rallies, phone banking, and pushing for university presidents to side against Israel and with Hamas. The leader of SJP at the University of Virginia, Josh Rosenberg (make of that name what you will), put out a statement saying that they “unequivocally support Palestinian Liberation and the right of colonized people everywhere to resist the occupation of their land by whatever means necessary.” Notice the phrase “right of colonized people everywhere.” These same extremists view America as “colonizers,” meaning they are essentially justifying their own eradication.
“In an unprecedented feat for the 21st Century,” Rosenberg continues, “resistance fighters in Gaza broke through the illegitimate border fence, took occupation soldiers hostage, and seized control of several Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law.” Yes, SJP is pushing the lie that the only ones kidnapped were soldiers (unless they count babies, Holocaust survivors, and any other civilian kidnapped as “soldiers”) and that all Israeli towns, from river to sea, are “settlements.”
SJP at Columbia University has been planning this for a long time and disseminates this message to its students. “As Columbia students, our classes regularly discuss the inevitability of resistance as part of the struggle for decolonization,” they posted to their Instagram page. They lament that Columbia “actively normalizes Israeli apartheid and subjugation of Palestinians,” and “fighting will continue to break out until justice is achieved.” Justice, in this case, is the eradication of Israel. We know this because they chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Joseph Massad, a tenured professor at Columbia University, wrote an article describing the attack as “innovative,” a “major achievement,” and expressed a feeling of “jubilation and awe”
The most viral statements from the University system came from Harvard and NYU Law. Harvard’s letter from student groups drew condemnation from both alumni and CEOs. Groups are withdrawing their names from the letter because of the backlash, claiming they didn’t read the statement they signed which holds “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” Former President Larry Summers and former Professor Alan Dershowitz condemned Harvard incredibly strongly, with Dershowitz calling for all members of these groups to be identified and blacklisted from employment, a sentiment echoed by the CEOs of several hedge funds, capital management firms, and tech startups.
NYU Law Student Bar Association President Ryna Workman had her job offer rescinded when she posted a statement blaming Israel for the violence. “Israel bears full responsibility,” she wrote, claiming: “This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary.”
The tragic irony of this is that these same campuses are the epicenter of cancel-culture, trigger warnings, and micro-aggressions. If you say that men and women are different, or that Western culture has improved humanity, or that capitalism lifted people out of poverty, you are far more likely to be attacked on campus than you are if you side with Hamas. The same people who abhor religious adherence and cry about toxic masculinity and the patriarchy are choosing fundamentalist Islamist terrorists over a multicultural liberal democracy because that Democracy is mostly comprised of Jews.
The examples of this on college campuses are too numerous to include in one column. In 72 hours, pro-Hamas rallies or anti-Semitic incidents occurred at the University of Michigan, Stanford University, Harvard University, Drexel University, Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, New York University, Brandeis University, Michigan State University, along with numerous high schools and in cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tampa, and others. This is Nazis marching in Charlottesville times a hundred, or more.
Do not send your children to these institutions. Do not give them money. Demand that they are defunded, either from any public funds or private donations they receive. Enough is enough. “Never again” is now. These aren’t “dog whistles” or “writing on the wall.” These are bullhorns and public statements. Listen to them and act accordingly.
Moshe Hill is a political columnist and Senior Fellow at Amariah, an America First Zionist organization. Moshe has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Daily Wire, CNS News, and other outlets. You can follow Moshe on his blog www.aHillwithaView.com, facebook.com/aHillwithaView, and twitter.com/HillWithView. A Hill With a View is now on YouTube! Subscribe today to get the latest content. Just search “A Hill with a View” to get started. Get A Hill with a View directly to your inbox! Text HILLVIEW to 22828 to sign up to the newsletter.
