What is going on? 

A terrorist group massacres 1,400 Israelis on a single day, in the most vicious, cruel, inhumane ways, including women, children and the elderly and rallies across the world are celebrating the terrorists. In case you haven’t heard, on the morning of Oct. 7, terrorists infiltrated numerous towns in southern Israel, setting homes on fires to force families to come out to be kidnapped or murdered. They massacred 260 civilians from around the world at a music festival. More than 200 Israelis are reportedly kidnapped and are being held hostage in Gaza, including 30 children (including infants and toddlers). 

In a sane world, these acts would be condemned, but instead, these acts are being defended and even celebrated in cities across the world. 

What happened over the past 22 years that changed the world’s response to terror? On Sept. 11, 2001 when the U.S. was attacked, did people try to justify the acts of the terrorists? Were there rallies condemning the United States after the U.S. set out to destroy al-Qaeda’s grip on Afghanistan? Was the mainstream media using the Taliban as their main sources?

Last week when the Gaza Health Ministry (which is run by Hamas, the group that orchestrated the massacre) announced that an Israeli airstrike killed 500 Palestinians at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, this news was immediately reported by newspapers around the world and thousands of people around the world joined anti-Israel protests.

Israel denied that attack and videos showed that the explosion at the hospital occurred at the same time as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic terrorists were firing rockets at Israel. 

After sunrise the next morning, photographs of the scene show that the hospital was still standing and despite a few broken windows, there was no significant damage to surrounding hospital buildings. Instead, it appeared that the damage was to the courtyard and there were a few burnt cars and a small crater. 

The media has limited access to the area so relied on the Gaza Health Ministry as a source. Again, this organization is run by Hamas, the group that massacred, raped and kidnapped Israeli civilians earlier this month. (And many of these terrorists used their victim’s phones to film their brutal attacks and sent the videos and photographs to loved ones or posted on their social media accounts.)

Some publications have acknowledged their error and admitted that they published articles without being able to confirm the facts – but the damage has been done. After further research, it was concluded that the blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket that was being launched at Israel and an European intel report says a maximum of 50 people died as a result of this blast.

This war of misinformation has dangerous consequences as anti-Semitic acts are increasing around the world as a result of this. Has anyone outside the Jewish community noticed this? I wonder sometimes.

Anti-Semitic propaganda is nothing new – Nazi propaganda campaigns played a huge role in the Holocaust.

On Oct. 7, more Jews were killed on that single day than any day since the Holocaust and the weeks since Oct. 7 have felt surreal, as if we are living in a different reality than the rest of the world. Actions that I once thought were universally condemned by the western world are being ignored or justified. Things that I would have assumed that most people would find horrific are downplayed and ignored. 

There are more than 200 individuals – including infants, toddlers, children, women and elderly civilians – that were ripped out of their homes and torn away from their families and are now somewhere in Gaza. There were entire families found tortured and murdered in their homes. And the world is listening to these terrorists’ words? College students are chanting these terrorists’ slogans? Publications are taking their words as fact? Why are they listening to and advocating for terrorists? 

Those who are cheering on Hamas seem to see it differently. The Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel advocacy group that creates student activism on college campuses, call Hamas “freedom fighters” and call the Oct. 7 “justified retaliation.”

In their eyes, advocating for Palestinians’ rights seems justified because the Gazans are suffering and they’re showing compassion for those who are suffering. It’s true, the Gazans are living under horrible conditions, but why is Israel being blamed? Israel left Gaza under the control of the Palestinian Authority back in 2005 and Palestinians voted for Hamas soon after. According to an article today by NBC News, estimates of Hamas’ military budget ranges from $100 million to $350 million and Hamas has received hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid. So why hasn’t Hamas helped provide water for their people instead of turning the water pipes into rockets that they then shoot into Israel? 

Are college students who attend rallies through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) aware of what they are supporting?

Here’s the mission of SJP, based on its website:

“National Students for Justice in Palestine supports over two hundred Palestine solidarity organizations on college campuses across occupied Turtle Island (U.S. and Canada). We promote an agenda grounded in freedom, solidarity, equality, safety and historical justice, and we seek to elevate the student movement for Palestinian liberation to a higher level of political engagement. We aim to develop a connected, disciplined movement that is equipped with the tools necessary to contribute to the fight for Palestinian liberation.”

(Are the colleges that support SJP aware that SJP believes their colleges are located on the “occupied Turtle Island”?)

The group believes that “the struggle for a free Palestine is also the struggle for Black liberation, gender and sexual freedom, and a livable and sustainable planet. All pursuits for freedom, justice and equality are materially connected and require us to struggle against state violence, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism, in all of their forms.”

I can understand why idealistic college students might be drawn to this, based on this wording but without an understanding about history, this compassion can be dangerous. (For instance, do the students know that Israel evicted more than 9,000 Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip so the Palestinian Authority could run the area? Then the Palestinians voted for Hamas (an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood) as their rulers. The Hamas charter seeks the destruction of Israel and at pro-Palestinian rallies, a popular chant is “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” 

By chanting these words, these college students and others are promoting a call-to-arms for pro-Palestinian activists, calling for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, essentially erasing the State of Israel and its people (the only Jewish country in the entire world.)

Why are college students around the U.S. cheering on the brutal murders and kidnapping of Israeli civilians by Hamas? 

Here’s an example from the Hamas charter that incites anti-Semitic rhetoric:

The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7)

So as we watched with horror as terrorists gunned down young adults at a music festival celebrating peace, does that mean that there are others celebrating that some were hiding behind trees and in garbage dumpsters trying to survive? 

What’s going on?!

Here are some videos/articles I came across this week that resonated with me.

Some background
Free Palestine: No thanks! (The Israeli Perspective)” 

Interview with the son of a Hamas leader
“Son of Hamas Leader Speaks Out”

I’m not sure who this is, but she identifies the issue so clearly in this video. 

An article by Ilan Benjamin, whose cousin Daniel Pearl, an investigative journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamist jihadis while on assignment in Pakistan:
“Once I was a peace advocate. Now, I have no idealism left.”

This article first appeared on Substack.