In the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held across the States, many by students at the nation’s various universities. This is hardly surprising given the caliber of “intellectuals” presently allowed to teach at those institutions, no doubt in the name of “inclusiveness.”
Russell Rickford is an African American professor born in Guyana who presently teaches at Cornell University. At a pro-Palestinian rally in Ithaca, N.Y., he declared he was “exhilarated” by the Hamas attack which he saw as a perfectly justified response to Israel’s “monopoly of violence.” In subsequently defending his statement, he has accused the Israelis of instituting a regime of apartheid, no doubt referring to the so-called West Bank Barrier which they claim to have built for purely defensive reasons. His accusation that they have been guilty of “war crimes” is equally simplistic and exaggerated.
Now no one is suggesting the Israelis have not pursued policies worthy of criticism, but it is unequivocal that all of them were motivated by the threats lurking on their borders while none of them entailed the sort of savage, disgusting disregard for innocent human life evident in the Hamas attack. Approximately 200 young people attending a music festival were needlessly slaughtered. Amongst the 1500 or so reported dead, were a number of infants. Women were raped. Dead bodies were paraded about in celebration, some having been beheaded. Over a hundred innocent civilians were taken hostage to be used as human shields against the anticipated and perfectly justified Israeli response. Whatever injustices the Palestinians have endured, and they pale by comparison to what Jews have suffered, there is no justification for such barbarism. Professor Rickford agrees yet refuses to retract his support for Hamas. He is trying to have it both ways, a stance that is both intellectually and morally ridiculous.
Without naming names, Cornell’s President Martha Pollack condemned those faculty members and students who were exonerating the Hamas attack. Two petitions containing over 2000 names were subsequently circulated demanding Rickford’s dismissal.
In a sadly similar incident at Columbia, History Professor Joseph Massad, a Jordanian by birth, referred to the Hamas attack as “awesome” and a “stunning victory” for the Palestinian people. The petition demanding his termination, quickly signed by over 45,000, made the very same point I am expressing here, suggesting that political grievances, even when somewhat justified, never exonerate the sort of moral abominations perpetrated by Hamas. It read: “Regardless of one’s stance on the conflict, supporting and praising one of the worst acts of terrorism in history is never acceptable.”
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 413 to 10 in condemning the Hamas attack. Among the 9 Democrats who demurred were Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, clearly not members of the White, Western European majority. But gee, is it possible both the professors cited above as well as these two “progressive” icons are motivated by racial considerations rather than Reason? Is it possible it is not only the “far-right” fanatics constantly mocked by the mainstream media who are in fact racists?
No doubt those millions across the West who have succumbed to the Leftist notion that any demographic deemed to be “oppressed” is entitled to even the most barbaric of retaliations, would judge my criticisms of both Hamas and the 4 individuals cited above as just so much Racist, “alt-Right” fanaticism. But those criticisms were rooted in fundamental human values and have nothing to do with Race. The fact is the mainstream Left and its media minions constantly resort to childish name calling because they can’t afford to engage in a Rational debate of the Moral implications of their world-view. What better illustrates their moral bankruptcy than Professor Rickford’s ludicrous assertion that while he abhors the atrocities recently inflicted upon innocent Jewish civilians, he nevertheless was “exhilarated” by the Hamas attack!