Out of tragedy comes opportunity. The demonic attack by Hamas on the Israelis exposed people for who they are. Perhaps it tipped some people that were on the edge into radicalism, but I believe most of the pro-terrorist anti-Semites were just hidden, triggered by circumstance to expose themselves, like cockroaches caught by the flip of the light switch. While polls show that these morally confused or bereft individuals are in the minority, at least in this country, their numbers appear to be more substantial than many of us imagined, and magnified by their visibility via unabashed activism. Internationally, the situation is even more dire. Two factors complicate any accurate assessments of the magnitude of the problem: a baseline disinclination towards similar activism by the morally centered, and a lack of courage.
Prior to this world-changing event in the Middle East, I would have included apathy and ignorance in the mix. But I no longer believe claiming either as exculpatory factors for individual or group silence can be justified. Those that support Hamas, support terrorists. Those that that hide behind the worn “cycle of violence” argument and a false shield of moral equivalence, and claim they’re there for the Palestinians and are “anti-Zionist” (how many of these so-called “nuanced” supporters have demanded Hamas’ release of hostages or surrender in return for demands of cease-fire?), support terrorists. For everyone else, an intact moral compass is like an unloaded gun. Without chambers locked and loaded with courage, it’s no more than manifest weakness. This doesn’t mean that, in the eternal scheme of things, it’s unimportant; moral clarity is necessary for the health of the human soul. And only God can be the judge if it’s sufficient. But here in the material world, evil cannot be vanquished by silence and inaction.
A few years ago it struck me how few, if any, substantial massive street-level counter-protests occurred in response to the violent Black Lives Matter defund-the-police campaign. I worried that these overwhelmingly good, honest law officers who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us would abandon us, and many did. It seemed to me that if ever activism on the Right and for the right was needed, it was then. The absence of a rapid and overwhelming push-back from the majority has probably impacted law enforcement recruitment and procedures negatively for decades to come. And now the circumstances are even more desperate.
We see thousands of radical Hamas/Palestine supporters in the streets, but a relative paucity of individuals and groups out there proclaiming support for the Israelis. Radicals feel free to pull down pictures of Israeli hostages with impunity, with only sporadic and isolated instances of push-back. In England, the cops join in to preserve the “peace” in the community, saying “there’s more of them than us.” Here, we’ve allowed our statues and White House gate pillars, in a pathetic attempt to appease, to be desecrated with Palestinian flags and graffiti. It seems as if we’ve learned nothing from history. Appeasement never works against evil, only strength. And to show strength, you must first have courage.
Of course, courage comes with a price. Pro-Israel students have been beaten and an older man was killed. And while larger peaceful counter-protests will increase the cost to the Hamas supporters who are considering engaging in such violence in the short term, they also increase the risk for larger scale, more dangerous melees. But this does not obviate our obligation to look evil in the face and fight it, peacefully when possible, and with force when necessary. Free speech has been a cornerstone of our human rights, but we’ve always drawn the line at suborning violence. And make no mistake, support for extermination of the Jews, crosses the line. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is a not-so-veiled euphemism for “exterminate the Jews.” When you ask Hamas, they will tell you (it’s even in their constitution). When you see young “Palestine” supporters on the street interviewed and asked where the Jews should go, they tell you.
This is an existential fight for the moral foundation that undergirds what America stands for and is its lifeblood. The fight will incite more radical Hamas/Palestine supporters as well as their right-wing radical counterparts to violence. The radical Left-controlled government will try, as usual, to focus on the latter as the ascendant threat, just as it will diminish the alarming increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes by focusing on the equally execrable but far less prevalent unprovoked anti-Muslim violence, in service of its narrative. But fight we must—we have no choice. Staying in the current lane or veering onto the dead-end road of appeasement Biden seems set on pursuing is not only useless, it’s dangerous. The Israelis have learned this the hard way. They will not stop this time until Hamas is obliterated.
And neither should we.
P.S. As this went to post, I found a video documenting a demonstration against anti-Semitism by reportedly thousands of lawmakers and citizens that just occurred in France. Hopefully, a belated harbinger of more to come.
heartheaded
Heartheaded 