Campus Rioters Not Just Hateful and Dangerous But Phony

What started several months ago with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza has morphed into rabid and violent campus protests against … what, exactly?

Certainly not the war in Gaza. Israeli troops have long evacuated most of Gaza, humanitarian aid has been flowing in, and while Benjamin Netanyahu keeps promising that the IDF will enter Rafah at some point, his restraint speaks louder than his bluster.

In fact, one can argue that the ugliest thing happening in Gaza right now is the continuing horror of terrified hostages being held captive for over 200 days by the terror group Hamas.

So, if you’re a college student looking for a noble cause, I can’t think of a nobler one than “Let the Hostages Go!”

Imagine for a second if instead of “Hamas we love you” and “We support your rockets” and “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” the protesters setting up “liberation zones” at Columbia and other campuses would direct their anger at Hamas, with banners and chants calling to “Liberate the Hostages, Don’t Wait Another Day!”

What these protesters miss is that it’s not enough to have the “optics” of justice-seeking warriors unafraid to take on the police and get arrested — as in the epic protests against the Vietnam War on those same campuses during the 1960s.

It’s not enough to perform justice — to set up tents and play drums and wear keffiyehs and yell “globalize the Intifada” and throw temper tantrums trying to convince the world there’s no country worse than Israel.

To come across as authentic, a cause also needs credibility.

These Israel-hating groups lost their credibility right after Hamas murdered, mutilated, raped and burned alive 1200 Israelis on Oct. 7 — before any war started in Gaza. Instead of condemning the carnage, they brazenly defended it in the name of “resistance” and “liberation.”

The protests now roiling our campuses have never been about a war or about helping the Palestinians. The war was the ideal pretext for protesters to unleash years of pent-up fury against Jews and Israel and everything they hate about the West. These riots are anti-America as much as they are anti-Israel.

If they cared about justice, these wannabe rebels might have marched for the millions of oppressed souls in places like Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia and Iraq. A quick Google search would have given them all the ammunition they needed to feed their outrage.

Instead, they have directed their rage at pro-Israel students, at elite universities and their feckless leaders, at the United States, at Western civilization, at law enforcement, at pretty much anyone who disagrees with them and is not named Hamas.

These disruptive acts have nothing to do with free speech. Intimidating and harassing fellow students, and violating university codes of conduct, is not protected speech. If anything, it is an assault on the free speech of others.

As we confront this hateful assault that singles out Jews and Israel, it’s important we not overlook the hypocrisy and the phoniness.

These are not noble warriors. If they cared so much about Palestinians, they wouldn’t have remained silent for decades while Palestinians suffered (and continue to suffer) their worst oppression in places like Jordan and Lebanon. But those “other” Palestinians never mattered, just as millions of refugees around the world don’t matter, because they have no connection to the world’s ultimate oppressors — the Jews.

No wonder so many of these groups went berserk right after Hamas invaded Israel and committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. They couldn’t swallow the possibility that big, bad Jews would enter the oppressed class, even for a day or two.

In this narrative, Israel will forever be an oppressor state. That’s why we shouldn’t fall for the trap of “criticism” of Israel. These protests are about crushing Israel, not criticizing it. No one has ever claimed that Israel is perfect. In fact, you’ll find the biggest protests against the Israeli government in Israel itself. If ever there was a country that didn’t need more piling on, it would be Israel.

The fact that the United Nations condemns Israel more than all other nations combined tells us plenty not about Israel but about the feckless United Nations.

The fact that campus rioters focus their venom on the world’s most condemned nation tells us plenty not about Israel but about the rioters. It tells us, among other things, that these are not cool revolutionaries; they’re boring conformists.

Anxious Jewish students need not be fooled by the optics of protest. They can gain strength from knowing the true colors of those trying to intimidate them.

The hysterical rioters in their midst are not social justice warriors who want peace in Gaza. They are blowhards pretending to be rebels and picking on the world’s easiest target.

The only thing real about their cause is the terror group they support.