The Godfather is a classic in American cinema. The 1972 film won numerous awards including in the Best Picture category. The penultimate scene cemented the script in daring story-telling, as the leading figure, Michael Corleone, set himself as head of the new order.
While Corleone stood in church to be the godfather of a young child being baptised, his hitmen took out the heads of the competing crime families. In doing so, Corleone positioned himself to control the region without challenge.
Perhaps the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia will consider doing something similar to the warlords backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, including the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Each group has caused death and destruction, dismantling any chance for a civilized life for residents and neighbors.
Now, as Iran attempts to stop Saudi Arabia from getting nuclear power from the United States, and establishing an alliance with Israel, it has released its dogs of war to inflict brutality and carnage.
To avert mass destruction and set a better course for the Middle East, the troika of US, Israel and Saudi Arabia could take out the leadership of Hamas in Qatar, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthis in Yemen. It would send a clear message to Iran that the US has not left the world to a Russia-China-Iran axis, and avert the deaths of many thousands of civilians throughout the region.
In ‘The Godfather,’ it took a “massacre” to get the families to stop killing each other, and ultimately the heads of the crime syndicates paid the price. As the Middle East prepares for a large scale war, the United States may want to send a clear and unmistakable message to Iran that the period of terrorism in the Middle East is over.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16), representing one of the most Jewish districts in the country, has a running tab of antisemitic and anti-Zionist actions:
Would not sign letter to Department of Education to fight antisemitism at colleges (February 4, 2022)
Original sponsor of resolution calling the founding of Israel a “catastrophe” (May 17, 2022)
Does not recognize discrimination against Jews (March 9, 2023)
Authored letter to President Biden to condition aid to Israel (April 23, 2023)
Voted against the Abraham Accords (April 25, 2023)
Voted against condemning antisemitism, and that Israel isn’t a racist state (July 18, 2023)
Boycotted speech by the Israeli president to a joint session of Congress (July 19, 2023)
Office called Republicans “Nazis” to distract from Bowman pulling fire alarm (October 2, 2023)
Called for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza without any mention of, or attempt at freeing hostages and bringing Hamas terrorists to justice, nor that Israel has a right to defend itself (October 16, 2023)
Voted against resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel (October 25, 2023)
Car in White Plains (NY congressional district 16) on October 25 as vigil for Israeli hostages held a block awayRep. Jamaal Bowman , representing White Plains, voting on October 25 to not stand by Israel
“Present” voters included Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), another member of the far left-wing of the party. Other left-wing extremists who have been critical of Israel like Betty McCollum (D-IL) did vote in favor of the resolution. One Republican, Thomas Massie (R-KY), also voted against the bill, who was not coincidentally the only Republican to not support funding the defensive Iron Dome system for Israel.
The votes of the socialists is not surprising. It is a movement that is trying to dismantle the west and its approach of capitalism, “imperialism” and “colonialism”, wanting to bring back the good old days of the Russian revolution.
In the immediate aftermath of the gruesome Hamas butchery, The World Wide Socialist Website, posted a quote by Leon Trotsky from 1938 on the eve of the Holocaust, “A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains–let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!“
That is the view of socialists. Barbarism is a rightful act by the Palestinians because they fought a war to destroy Jewish “invaders” in 1948 and lost. They support Palestinians taking over Israel, and if it be by blood, rape, fire, beheadings, or other acts of evil, so be it.
The socialist site discussed its disgust at the United States supporting Israel, stating “The World Socialist Web Site condemns the vicious and obscenely hypocritical statements of President Joe Biden and leaders of the European Union denouncing the Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”…. As always, the sympathies of the imperialist powers are with the oppressors. Any manifestation of resistance by the oppressed is greeted with frenzied denunciations. The media ignores the fact that the Israeli government is led by a criminal, whose coalition is dominated by fascistic racists and is engaged in efforts to suppress the constitution.”
It would go on to compare Gazans to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Israelis to Nazis. Blatant antisemitism.
A toxic mix of rabid antisemitism and socialism have penetrated American universities and congress. It is coming for the Jewish State and soon diaspora Jewry. In the end, it will come for the West.
In the weeks following the brutal slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel, Israel has been actively trying to bring over 200 hostages home, bring the Hamas perpetrators to justice, and ensure that peace can prevail. In its efforts to minimize civilian casualties, Israel asked Gazans living in the northern part of the strip to move south. It continues to give the civilians additional time as requested by the United States, before it begins a ground incursion.
This is all too much for the United Nations Secretary General.
On October 24, UNSG Antonio Guterres lambasted Israel saying “Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields. Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than 1 million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.” He seemingly doesn’t want Israel to bring the Hamas terrorists to justice in ensuring that civilians stay in the north and act as human shields for the Satans of Gaza.
In his comments, Guterres finally made it clear why he excuses Hamas. He does not believe that Hamas is like ISIS, a genocidal jihadi group hell-bent on killing infidels. He believe they are part-and-parcel of the Palestinian mainstream.
In his remarks yesterday, Guterres said: “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
There was no separation between Hamas and Palestinians. Guterres tied the terrorists’ actions directly to Palestinians’ complaints and demands. While Guterres said “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians,” he immediately went on a long list rationalizing the Arab brutality.
For the United Nations, Hamas and the Palestinian people are one and the same. Bringing Hamas terrorists to justice is an anathema, as it would mean inflicting harm on the United Nations favorite adopted wards, Palestinian Arabs.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at Cairo Peace Summit, October 2023
On June 28, 2016, Ban Ki Moon, Guterres’s predecessor as Secretary General, visited Gaza and told the audience: “I stand with the people of Gaza to say that the United Nations will always be with you.”
He wasn’t lying.
The United Nations has kept its promise of always standing with the people of Gaza, even the evil terrorists who hack children to death, rape women and burn families alive.
ACTION ITEM
Write US Ambassador to United Nations “The Secretary General cannot say there’s no excuse for terrorism… and then give excuses for terrorism. If Hamas indeed represents the will of Gazans as the UNSG states, then their hopes for killing Jews and destroying Israel must be vanquished as well as the terrorists who commit atrocities.”
To listen to the media, would would imagine that Gaza is the worst place to live, much worse than neighboring Egypt for example, which controlled the Strip from 1949 to 1967.
Here are the statistics as reported by the World Bank.
Table 1: Life statistics in Gaza and Egypt
The average life expectancy in Gaza is 74 years, about 1.5 years longer than in Egypt. There are roughly 2.5 fewer deaths per 1,000 people in Gaza than in Egypt, with death rates of 3.8 and 6.3, respectively.
The medical care in Gaza is quite good and has extended the lives of Gazans beyond those found in neighboring Arab Egypt. The United Nations providing healthcare to its adopted wards similarly helped the young Gazans.
Table 2: Infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births in Gaza and Egypt
As seen in Table 2, babies born in Palestinian territories do significantly better than they do in Egypt. This is primarily driven by free healthcare services provided by the United Nations to Palestinian Arabs but not to Egyptians.
The United Nations also provides free education to Palestinian Arabs but not to Egyptians.
Table 3: Literacy rates for Palestinian Arabs and Egyptians
The gap in literacy scores between Palestinian Arabs and Egyptians is staggering. According to the World Bank, Palestinian literacy rate is 96.2%, while it is a terrible 67.4% for Egyptians. The Palestinian literacy rate is slightly higher than Saudi Arabia and is only surpassed by Jordan among Arab countries in the region.
Despite the better education and healthcare, Palestinian Arabs have a weaker economy, especially in Gaza.
Gaza’s economy is much weaker than in Egypt or the West Bank as the territory is ruled by the Hamas political-terrorist group. Israel and Egypt have a blockade around the area to stop the flow of weapons into the strip which has launched five wars against Israel since it seized the area. Many countries won’t trade with the region because of its violent jihadi leadership which pours its resources into waging war rather than to develop society.
Local Gazans often incorrectly attribute “social services” to Hamas, when the healthcare and education are principally provided by the United Nations. The similarity in healthcare and educational statistics in Gaza and the West Bank prove this out.
Despite Hamas failing Gazans, it remains extremely popular. According to a September 2023 poll, Palestinians would elect the leader of Hamas (58%) over Fatah (37%) to the presidency. Much of that is because 53% of Palestinian believe that the pathway to end the “struggle” against Israel is via violence (as pushed by Hamas), while only 20% support negotiations (as voiced by Fatah).
The United Nations has given Gazans the very best healthcare and education among the region’s Arab nations, all for free. Despite the better education and physical health, Gazans focus their efforts on destroying Israel and in the process, their own economy, and now, their infrastructure.
The United States long ago understood that Hamas is a terrorist group. When the US set up a list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 1997, Hamas was in the first class based on its 1988 Charter calling to kill Jews and destroy Israel, and following through killing dozens of people.
After the barbaric Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, the U.S. designated additional people and organizations which assist Hamas, to stop its flow of millions of dollars. Yet the United States has still not pressured many of its allies and trading partners to similarly designate Hamas, in order to isolate and destroy it.
Canada lists Hamas as a terrorist group along with several other Palestinian Arab groups. Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union also list the group as a terrorist organization.
But what about the countries in Central and South America? In eastern Europe?
The European Union ” reiterates that the terrorist organisation Hamas needs to be eliminated” but what is it doing to facilitate that outcome?
There cannot be peace in the Middle East as long as evil jihadist groups and ideologies exist. It is time for the United States and European Union to apply pressure for all countries to label the noxious evil clearly and plainly.
ACTION ITEM
Email White House “Pressure all trading partners to label Hamas as a terrorist group immediately and call for its destruction.”
Hamas, the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, is seemingly getting some media support from The New York Times.
Just two weeks after the brutal slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel in an unprovoked attack, The Times is softening language around the evil group.
Despite raping women and dragging them by the hair through the streets, cutting the throats of children, shooting old people at bus stops, burning families alive, and kidnapping over 200 people in one of the largest hostage seizures ever, the paper decided to not call the group “terrorists” or even “militants.”
Cover of New York Times on Saturday October 21, 2023
In two articles on the cover page of the paper, the paper referred to “Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza” and “Hamas, the group that controls the territory.”
It’s as though the Times thinks Hamas is a co-op board.
In 2014, after the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped 200 Nigerian girls, the Times was apoplectic. It wrote that Boko Haram was a “ruthless Islamist group” which committed a “horrifying abduction.” And the group didn’t even beheaded anyone.
Israel is still trying to identify the victims of Hamas’s atrocities, with people so dismembered and incinerated beyond identification, that two weeks on, the number of dead and missing is unknown. But the media has moved on to their victims of preference.
As Israel pursues maximum justice for the savagery of Hamas, New York’s liberal paper is distancing the terrorist group from its evil roots and actions. It’s a form of antisemitism in which justice for Jewish victims is being reframed as an unprovoked attack on 2 million helpless and innocent residents of Gaza.
There are several matters fomenting antisemitism at universities. One of them surrounds the topic of “decolonialization” and its impact on Jews on campus.
It is a plain fact that many European countries planted colonies in far away lands. The United Kingdom planted flags in the Americas, South Africa, India and Australia. Portugal took over Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Macau and others. Belgium took the Congo. France had controlled Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and Madagascar. Spain took much of Central and South America while Italy took Libya. It seemed that any European country with a fleet sailed the world from the 15th to 19th century and seized lands and goods.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, European countries left their colonies and those emerging countries had varying degrees of success establishing new functioning governments. Universities established departments devoted to this topic, which analyze how the past 75 years shape events today, such as Brown University connecting the 2011 Arab Spring to “Decolonization, Development and State Building in North Africa.”
Many of the departments and conferences consider how post-colonial state-building left countries vulnerable to autocratic regimes. The issues are typically handled by region, such as Columbia University discussing decolonialization in the Americas in the Latin American Studies department and those in Africa in the Middle East Studies departments. Other schools do much the same.
Things devolve when it comes to Israel.
Many professors in Middle East Studies departments are deeply anti-Israel. They consider the Jewish State to be a colony thrust upon the local Arab population by the United Kingdom and other countries after World War I. They ignore the fact that the UK did not send any Jewish citizens to Palestine nor did the British seize local resources for British use.
Most glaringly, the anti-Israel professors ignore the fact that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. The history of Jews and the core of Judaism is in the Jewish holy land.
Those basic truths are not only ignored on university campuses, but a counter-narrative is proffered. For example, Columbia University’s Joseph Massad called the Jews in the Bible “Palestine Hebrews,” ignoring the reality that Arabs did not come to the land en masse until the 7th and 8th centuries.
It’s grossly antisemitic, and ignored by the school administration.
Beyond the cultural appropriation and historical theft, the anti-Israel movement manufactured a lie that Zionism isn’t even Jewish. At a BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) vote at the University of Wisconsin in 2017, a student said “Israel in its inception is not a Jewish idea but a European one,” a principle at the heart of the decolonialization project.
That insane idea is gaining backers. The Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ) is hosting conferences to advance this proposition in universities around the country. According to its “Points of Unity” which people must sign-on to, the number one affirmation is “Zionism is a settler colonial racial project. Like the US, Israel is a settler colonial state. The Institute opposes Zionism and colonialism, and abides by the international, Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.”
Its webite goes on that it “aims to support the delinking of the study of Zionism from Jewish Studies, and to reclaim academia and public discourse for the study of Zionism as a political, ideological, and racial and gendered knowledge project, intersecting with Palestine and decolonial studies, critical terrorism studies, settler colonial studies, and related scholarship and activism.”
This group is trying to sever Jews from the Jewish State and Zionism, and place Zionism in the camp of “decolonial studies” and “critical terrorism studies.”
Not surprisingly, this group masks its Jew-hatred under the guise of “academia.” It said that Jews had the October 7 savagery coming to them as part of decolonialization, and was outraged at Jews demanding justice. ICSZ wrote an “open letter to universities and other institutions, demanding they retract their statements endorsing Israeli genocide against Palestinians.” By “genocide”, they meant Israel trying to rescue 200 hostages seized by Hamas, pursue maximum justice for the Satans of Gaza who butchered 1,400 Israelis, and try to return the region to coexistence on either side of the border. Equally upsetting to these evil people at ICSZ, they were “horrified by the ubiquity of messaging from our university administrations that has expressed empathy for Israeli life,” because beheading children and raping women doesn’t deserve “empathy” if the “victims” are Jewish “colonizers.”
This is the state of American academia.
Universities are miseducating students that Jews have no history in the land of Israel and that the Jewish State’s founding was a racist European colonial project. They believe that Israel’s continued existence is an “ongoing Nakba” and Israel must be dismantled “by any means necessary,” which includes the October 7 massacre.
When Joseph Massad of Columbia University wrote about the “start of the Palestinian War of Liberation,” he did not see Arab terrorists hacking children to death and killing the elderly; he saw freedom fighters throwing off the yolk of oppression of Jewish invaders as a moment of “jubilation and awe.”
America’s universities are indoctrinating students in the antisemitic screed of the Hamas Charter, retouched with leftist jingoism to support the slaughter of Jews. And they are pushing the movement to go global. Jews on campuses everywhere have every reason to be terrified.
ACTION ITEM
Demand antisemitic professors and clubs like Students for Justice in Palestine be kicked off campus.
The “Believe Women” slogan arose in the wake of the #MeToo movement in the United States in which women came forward with stories of sexual abuse. The idea was to stop discounting the testimony of women in favor of say, a powerful male boss. The hashtag was a call to treat the testimony of a female victim with, at a minimum, the same legitimacy as a man.
The premise that truth is not the sole domain of either sex is not controversial in western societies. Males and females are both capable of lying and hurting people, and certainly, telling the truth.
The “he said, she said” played out in the arena of terrorism this week, after a rocket hit a Gaza hospital. Palestinians and the Israeli Defense Forces traded accusations as to which party fired the missile.
Gaza hospital in flames
Beyond the narrative of “one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter,” are basic truths, beyond perspective. Should people believe both the terrorists and victims equally, or, having slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians with particular barbarity, should one assume that telling a fib is not too bright a line for the Satans of Gaza.
When the explosion rocked the hospital reportedly killing hundreds of people, Palestinians accused the IDF of a deliberate attack and the accusation was picked up by Al Jazeera, CNN and dozens of Arabic channels. Soon protests erupted around the world against Israel and the United States.
While the tsunami of Jew hatred gained energy, the IDF protested that the rocket originated in Gaza, supplying evidence of their findings. The United States agreed with the Israeli conclusion but the Arab world would have none of it. Even after CNN and other channels back-tracked on the attribution of blame on Israelis based on evidence, the question remains as to why the media quickly believed terrorists, after they had just butchered over 1,000 people in the most horrible fashion.
It goes to a matter of narrative over truth. The pro-Palestinian world – including people like Rep. Rashida Tlaib – don’t really care about the origin of the rocket; they care about spreading their narrative that Palestinians are victims at a macro level. The hospital, and for that matter truth itself, is simply a tool in the narrative. While helpful to the story if the IDF actually targeted a hospital, if the fact is that the Israelis didn’t, then that doesn’t mean that Israelis wouldn’t theoretically do such a thing.
Pro-Palestinians ignore the hospital bombing and butchering of civilians by Arabs because it disrupts from their global view which they are imparting: Palestinians are victims even when they blow up hospitals and when they slaughter babies. They are victims when they launch rockets at schools and when they rape women. They are are victims when they burn people alive and when they take hostages.
Truth is inconsequential, a tool or an annoyance to be dismissed. It is the narrative that is holy to extremists, and the Hamas narrative includes an action plan called jihad. A bloody, horrible jihad which will engulf the world if not stopped now.
When western media decides to believe terrorists’ version of facts which are completely uncoupled from reality, it transmits an antisemitic narrative and brings a dangerous jihad that much closer.
The United Nations Security Council tried to get a resolution passed last night to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza. The Russian resolution was supported by China, United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and Gabon for a total of five, while four opposed (the United States, Britain, France and Japan) and six abstained (Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta and Switzerland). Nine votes are needed to pass a UNSC resolution so the matter failed.
Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN was appalled that the resolution did not even mention Hamas by name, let alone condemn it. In summarizing her remarks the UN wrote that the October 7 “acts brought to mind the heinous atrocities by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, and it is these acts by Hamas that led to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, she said, stressing: “Civilians should not suffer for these atrocities, and it is the Council’s responsibility to address the crisis, unequivocally condemn Hamas and support Israel’s right to self-defence under the Charter of the United Nations.” However, the proposed resolution does not meet these conditions, by failing to mention Hamas, she said, calling this “outrageous and indefensible”. The United States could not vote for a resolution that dishonours victims. It is Hamas that set the crisis in motion, she said, stressing that members cannot allow the Council to shift the blame to Israel.“
US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Albania, which abstained, said that “Albania abstained from the draft resolution presented by Russia because the text failed to adequately address all critical issues, including the condemnation of terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
It is obvious and essential to call out and name and condemn Hamas. Observers may question whether the omission was done to protect Hamas or give countries an easy reason to reject the resolution so Israel can bring Hamas to justice.
But this is familiar territory. In December 2018, the UN General Assembly tried to pass “Activities of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza” (document A/73/L.42). While the text gained plurality support in a recorded vote of 87 in favour to 57 against, with 33 abstentions, it failed to meet the two-thirds adoption requirement. As summarized by the UN “The text would have had the Assembly demand that Hamas and other militant actors, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, cease all provocative actions and violent activity. It would have also encouraged tangible steps towards intra‑Palestinian reconciliation, including in support of the Egypt’s mediation effort.”
The United Nations has never in its history condemned Hamas.
Evil to condemn (Boko Haram, al Shabab, Hezbollah)
Evil to tolerate (governments of Syria and Saudi Arabia)
Evil to ignore (Hamas)
He went to war with the first category, tried to help other forces get rid of the second, considered it realpolitik in needing to deal with the third group and thought the fourth was other people’s problem.
That is essentially a recap of the world regarding placing Hamas in the right category. Whether the group is evil and a terrorist group is not really relevant for many. Hamas speaks for local Palestinians who want to destroy the Jewish State and move into that thriving land where grandparents used to live.
Western countries are demanding that the world call out and condemn Hamas (category 2 at a minimum) and ideally support Israel, which has a category 1 score for the group. But that will not happen because those countries are not looking for a two state solution but a single Palestine solution, and Hamas is the tip of the spear (it’s a category 3 or 4 at best, and may be a force for good).
Or maybe for them it’s just theater, as Israel is so unique that there is unlikely to be spillover into their countries.
In an intense scene from Game of Thrones (The Mountain versus The Red Viper S4E8), a man came back to avenge the rape of his sister and murder of her children. He returned to a place he despised to demand a confession from the killer and bring quick justice for the heinous crimes. “Say her name!” he demanded as they fought to a common death, as spectators looked on. So it is with Israel’s return to Gaza which it left in 2005, to reclaim hostages and bring Hamas to maximum justice.
There is no debate about the atrocities committed by Hamas, they are plain facts. When people and governments refuse to call it out, they are not simply siding with those who want to see the end of the Jewish State; they are awaiting the theater of Jews and Arabs slaughtering each other over the narrow strip of land far from their shores.
If and when the United Nations can call out the evil of Hamas, thousands of lives in the region will be saved, and the terrorist group will be on a path for elimination. I am not optimistic.
In the aftermath of the grotesque massacre by Palestinian Arab terrorists of 1,300 Israelis and taking nearly 200 hostages, the most prestigious school in the largest diaspora community in the world served warm water to allay Jewish fears.
The scale and barbarity of the crime against humanity has few parallels in modern times. Yet Minouche Shafik, President of Columbia University in New York City, could not clearly condemn the Hamas massacre. Instead she discussed her sadness of violence impacting BOTH SIDES. She led with:
“I was devastated by the horrific attack on Israel this weekend and the ensuing violence that is affecting so many people. Unfortunately, at this moment, little is certain except that the fighting and human suffering are not likely to end soon.
“I know many members of our community are being impacted in profound ways and I want to assure each of you that Columbia will provide any measure of care or comfort that we can. This is your community, and you are not alone.”
She would go on to discuss logistical support at the school for everyone.
She refused to clearly comfort Jews in the worst slaughter of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust and instead offered a generic “many people”, “many members” and general “human suffering.” She tied the attack in Israel to “ensuing violence.” By being generic like “All Lives Matter” in a moment of severe anguish, she very much made Jews feel alone and abandoned.
This same university has a professor, Joseph Massad, who celebrated the attack as the “start of the Palestinian War of Liberation.” Not a surprise when he has also stolen the entire history of the Jews by calling the Children of Israel in the Old Testament “Palestinian Hebrews.”
In September 2019, Columbia invited Malaysian Prime Minster Mahathir Mohamad to speak on campus, even though he is a known Holocaust denier and “proud antisemite.”
Shafik thinks that Columbia’s “job to educate, enlighten, and engage” students involves enlightening people by bringing antisemites onto campus, miseducating students that Jews have no history in the holy land, and engaging Jews that their torture is quite unimportant.
It is shocking that the last president of Columbia was so moved by the killing of a single Black man, George Floyd, to internalize the “destructiveness of racism, and of anti-Black racism specifically,” that he had the university take on many new initiatives and openly support the Black Lives Matter movement, yet the current president cannot recognize the collective trauma of Jews from the butchering of 1,300 Israelis, to clearly condemn Hamas’s brutality and antisemitism, and support Jews specifically.
Marc Rowan and Jon Huntsman announced that they will stop donating to their alma mater which has become ‘unrecognizable,’ elaborating in an email “Moral relativism has fueled the university’s race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option.” Their university president at University of Pennsylvania had penned a letter about the Hamas slaughter which was very similar to Shafik’s tepid comments.
It is time to ask for more, much more of Columbia University. And of its alumni.
ACTION ITEM
Call Columbia University President Shafik at (212) 854-9970 “Fire the antisemitic professor Joseph Massad who incites violence and miseducates, clearly condemn Hamas, and support Jewish students whose community just experienced a trauma multiples the impact of 9/11.”
