Enough already

It's hard to make sense of these student protests spreading throughout the country.  Palestine has never really been foremost on American minds, even young minds, but here we see thousands of students closing down buildings on college campuses, waving Palestinian flags and calling for the end of military aid to Israel.

In part, I can sympathize with them.  I've long thought the US has given far too much military aid to Israel when it uses it mostly to repress Palestine, which it has occupied for close to 60 years.  Jimmy Carter once likened the situation in Israel to Apartheid South Africa.  He was roundly chastised for doing so, but it does bear a lot of resemblance.  The protests echo those against South Africa in the 1980s, demanding that universities divest in Israel. 

However, many of the grievances being expressed don't make any sense.  The US is trying to negotiate a ceasefire and has used its political sway in the region to bring all sides to the table.  It can't negotiate directly with Hamas, so the US has asked Egypt, UAE and other sympathetic third parties to communicate with Hamas leaders, who are mostly in exile in these countries.

Many of these students also conveniently forget what spawned this war - the utterly ruthless attack on Israel by Hamas forces that resulted in over 1000 deaths and an undetermined number of captives being held in tunnels and bunkers of Gaza.  Hamas is not the good guy here.  They have long sought for ways to destabilize the region, determined to encourage another Arab-Israeli war out of which they hope to gain the ascendancy in Palestine.  No surprise this attack comes on the heels of Israel signing historic agreements with its Arab neighbors.

The problem is that Palestinians get caught in the crossfire - resulting in over 30,000 deaths most of them women and children.  It is safe to say that Hamas uses its fellow Palestinians as human shields in what has amounted to a cowardly war against Israel.  That doesn't excuse Israel's brutal assault but it helps put it in perspective.  

Hamas has never been a willing partner in negotiations.  It broke away from the Palestinian Liberation Organization when Yasser Arafat chose to recognize Israel and begin negotiations for a two-state solution back in the late 1980s.  At that time, Palestinians still retained much of the West Bank and there was even a corridor to Gaza.  Hamas set up its operations in Gaza and radicalized those who lived in the strip, eventually breaking away from the newly established Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.  

Hamas steadfastly refused to recognize Israel or engage in any peace talks.  It felt itself justified in its actions when these talks broke down in the late 90s, which led to the return of hard right governments in Israel.  Attempts to kickstart negotiations in 2005 came to halt when Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke and left the government in the hands of Ehud Olmert, who proved hopeless at the task and paved the way for the return of Bibi Netanyahu, who has been ruling the country virtually ever since.

Netanyahu is the "architect" of these settlements on the West Bank that started in the 1990s and have grown to over 500,000 Israelis now living in occupied lands.  He has no interest in a two-state solution, seeing the occupied lands as part of Israel and determined to kick the Palestinians out, or at least herd them into smaller territorial boundaries. 

This is of course great news for Hamas as they can say "I told you so," but their lack of engagement is what led to the breakdown in talks, not to mention their ceaseless attacks on Israel which resulted in hardliners winning the Israeli elections from 2000 onward.  It has been an endless Intifada ever since that for the most part has played into Israel's hand.  

It is understandable that most of these students protesting on campuses don't know the full story as it has become buried in all the other wars that have occurred in the region.  Some have been moved by the images coming out of Palestine, but I think many have been misled by internet trolls trying to spawn unrest on college campuses and using the images from Gaza as a means to encourage protests.  Who is doing it is anyone's guess, but such unrest generally is used to belittle Democratic presidents in power.

These protests are an extension of the attempt to undermine Biden’s reelection campaign by voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries in response to Biden’s soft stance on Israel.  In some states this protest vote reached as high as 20 percent.

This is why Bernie Sanders is trying to appeal to students to take a more pragmatic look at events.  You may think your protests are just, but you have to look at the bigger picture.  Biden is not the bad guy here, and if you think things would be better under Trump you are sorely mistaken.  These protests feed directly into conservatives' hands, who have been all over the news demanding that these protestors be prosecuted for taking over campus buildings.  Of course the same conservative senators supported the assault on the Capitol in January, 2021.

If you are a college student then it is incumbent upon you to gain a better understanding of an issue before joining protests that seem largely designed to undermine authority, not in promoting causes.  There are many ways to show your sympathy toward Palestinians, but taking over campus buildings is not one of them.  At that point you have given conservatives the false equivalent they have been looking for to defend the January 6 insurrection.

I imagine it will blow over soon, as do all these protests, as they don't seem to have much staying power.  They are largely a product of the latest social media challenge and a nice way to avoid exams.  Once summer comes these students will return home for the most part, with the instigators of these protests hoping to renew interest in the Fall.  Hopefully by then a ceasefire will have been reached in Gaza and Netanyahu voted out of office, as his coalition breaks down.