College protests
Why are the protesters protesting?
They say they are against genocide by Israel against the Palestinians. And who among us isn't against genocide? But there is no genocide happening (US has seen no evidence that Israel has committed genocide, Austin says ... Did ICJ Say Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza?).
Protesters also say they are against the war and want a ceasefire. But it wasn't Israel that began the war. There was a ceasefire on October 6, and then Hamas attacked Israel and started the war. Hamas could end the war anytime it wanted to, surrendering and giving back the hostages. But Hamas won't do that.
And then there's the idea that Israel stole their land from the Palestinians. The British held that area after WWII, the UN created a Jewish state in 1947/8, all the surrounding Arab states then declared war on Israel, and Israel won. It's complicated and worth reading more about.
But if we are going to talk about some countries taking land from other countries, I'm ready for that conversation. Let's start with the UK, the empire on which the sun could never set. My favorite eample is Northern Ireland, but we could talk about the Falkland Islands too. Are we calling for all countries to give everything back, or just Israel?
I think the truth is that the protesters hate Israel. This war has given them a plausible "idealistic" reason to express that hatred. That hatred is expressed daily at the various protests, with tributes to Hamas and calls for "intifada" and "from the river to the sea".
People have compared these protests to the protests against the Vietnam war in the 60s. They are nothing alike!
posted by crystal | 11:14 AM
2 Comments:
I agree that these protests are nothing like the Vietnam era ones. Especially when they say that it could turn into another Kent State. Apparently they don't remember that one of the main things driving the Vietnam protests was the draft. No Americans are being conscripted to fight in this war, and there are no American troops on the ground in Israel. My husband drew a low number in the infamous Vietnam "lottery". The low numbers were certain to be drafted. These students do not have skin in the game.
Exactly. Young men were getting drafted and sent off to fight and die in Asia in a decades long war that was being fought, supposedly, to stop the spread of communism. It wasn't like it is now for Israel ... the Viet Cong didn't come to the US and rape and murder a bunch of people and take hostages, and then we were going after them. That's more like 9/11, and in that case we started a war that lasted 20 years.
Post a Comment
<< Home