Opinion

College campuses have outdone themselves in demonstrating fealty to the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas since they brutally slaughtered thousands of civilians in cold-blood and injured thousands more. All of the talk from student bodies of micro-aggression, safe spaces, and tolerance fell quickly aside when they openly call for the destruction of the lone Jewish state and the millions of Jews that live within it.  People are beginning to notice, and the pushback is beginning. It will take decades, however, to truly undo the damage. 

In the aftermath of the attacks on October 7, President Joe Biden gave some statements that were in strong support of Israel. For a moment, those who criticized the President’s leadership on the world stage were pleasantly surprised and somewhat dumbfounded by his ability to call out evil and stand firm with the greatest ally the United State has. Biden didn’t surprise his critics for long, though, as a mere few weeks later he has begun to waver in his support and is showing considerable weakness to America’s enemies.

Nearly two weeks ago, Hamas terror squads murdered more than 1,400 people in a premeditated rampage directed mainly against civilians. Indisputable evidence shows that there was no strategic goal to this attack. Literature published by Hamas, photos, and videos distributed by this barbaric sinister organization, highlight, without any shame, the desire to kill as many human beings as possible. While Jews were the intended target, the savage hoard also killed Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. While Israeli blood was sought, these cowards indiscriminately murdered and abducted civilians from 17 nations. Currently, they hold more than 200 hostages including children, women, and the elderly. In contempt of International Law, Hamas refuses to allow the Red Cross to assess the condition of these hostages.

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.

A few days after the outbreak of the war, I went into a neighborhood hardware store where two old timers were muttering that things would be different today if only Begin were still prime minister. My goal is not to disparage Netanyahu or any of Israel’s politicians. Rather, I would like to examine the life of Menachem Begin in order to understand why so many Israelis admired, revered, and trusted him – and why numerous schools, government buildings, parks, and roads were named after him.

The news drifted around slowly, picking up fervor on the morning of Sh’mini Atzeres, as American Jews learned of the attacks by Palestinian terrorists into the heart of Israel. Hundreds of dead, thousands wounded, and a Jewish state declaring its first war in exactly 50 years. This is the time where even the most fair-weather friends of Israel back their actions, and the most despicable among us reveal themselves even more. The reactions from America are damning and telling.