Who is calling for a ceasefire in Israel and calling for a reprieve in the war to fight the terrorists that slaughtered over 1300 Israelis on October 7^th? Are these protesters Palestinian, Middle Eastern, or Muslim? Some are, but many are college kids, teachers, and middle-class people whose ideas have been shaped by Western education. Their view of Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinians are seen through the lens of oppression ideology. This frame of reference creates a skewed view of the world which often ignores history, ignores facts, and has a callous disregard for the value of life.

The absurdity of this view can be seen in the support for Hamas that comes from LGBQ groups, women’s groups, and even some Jewish groups. They are supporting a group whose stated goals include genocide, not only of Jews but of Christians and of anyone who is not a Muslim. Being gay in Gaza is a death sentence. Women are treated as chattel under an enforced Sharia law.

These groups, if they ever encountered Hamas directly, would be killed. The very cause they support would slaughter them in the name of Allah. In the case of LGBT folks or the Jews and in the case of women, forced to follow Sharia law where they had to wear burkas and hijabs, and where women’s rights do not exist. Under Sharia, women are nothing more than property. Yet these groups are marching to support a cause where, if that cause were to prevail, it would annihilate the very group offering support. How is such support not against these groups' own self-interest? How is it that propaganda and instruction have led these people to support a cause so hostile to their existence?

How do we understand when a college student is protesting and chanting, “From the river to the sea.”? Is it normal that college students are calling for genocide?

Israel completely left Gaza in 2005, leaving Hamas as the elected authority over all of Gaza, yet there has never been a year that Hamas was not firing rockets into Israel targeting Israeli civilians, attempting to kill as many Jews as they could. The attack on October 7^th was a continuation of their efforts to eradicate the Jews. The “oppression” that so many claim when Israel does not allow the free flow of people in and out of Gaza is nothing more than reasonable self-protection. When Palestinians leave Gaza, some would be wearing suicide vests and would blow up innocents inside Israel. Hamas has never stopped trying to kill Jews. They do not care if the Jews are innocent women, babies, or just bystanders. Hamas has stated its goal the killing of Jews, in Israel and across the world.

The propaganda and support for Hamas cannot be better summarized than by the views expressed in when the Oakland City Council voted for a cease-fire in Israel. The words of these speakers are laced with denials reminiscent of the Holocaust, denials fomented by Iran since the 1980s. These denials are blatant lies designed to support anti-Semitic rhetoric. They are a form of Jew hate. Some even claimed that the Jews killed their own people on Oct. 7^th. There is ample evidence of the truth, of the horrors of Oct. 7^th. Yet it is buried while anti-Semitism reigns. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and most European countries, yet they are painted as an oppressed group. One story, among many, is that of a baby killed in an oven while the parents were forced to watch. Evidence of rape, torture, beheadings, and kidnappings is ample, yet millions are denying that this occurred. They are justifying the killing of Jews en-masse. It never stops with just the Jews.

These protests are a mirror to Germany in the 1930s when the Nazis created narratives painting the Jews as the cause of economic ills and Jews as the cause of any struggle the people faced. These stories grew and were used to first strip the Jews of property and livelihoods, then to herd them into ghettos, and lastly to move them to concentration camps where millions died. It was not just the Jews who went into the death camps, the places such as Auschwitz and Treblinka where killing became an industrial activity with gas chambers and crematoriums. The Jews were exterminated along with Catholics, Romany, and anyone that stood up to the Nazi regime.

It all started with false narratives, justifying the extermination of the Jews. The stories that we are hearing about Hamas being oppressed as they rule the Palestinians in Gaza are the start of such narratives. Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2005 and has used its own people as human shields when shooting thousands of rockets into Israel. Hamas has torn up the electrical grid, sewer, and water systems to manufacture rockets and weapons with which to attack Israel leaving their own people, the Palestinians, without essential services. Even after the invasion of Gaza, Hamas has stated they plan to keep on killing Jews.

The truth must be spoken to counter these narratives, to foil the stories that somehow this terrorist group has the right to kill as many Israelis as they can. The videos of the atrocities committed by Hamas need to be widely distributed and people encouraged to understand that what they are supporting is not just against their own self-interest but is a step toward their becoming the monsters they are rooting for. If allowed to go unchecked the hate represented by these groups will justify another Holocaust.

The voices trying to counter this movement, speaking against this misdirected support of terror and genocide are too few. The Jews have a saying regarding the Holocaust, “Never Again!!” The horror of Oct. 7^th has resurrected that saying. Israel refuses to live under the constant bombardment of rockets into their civilians. Israel was not the aggressor here. For years, Israel has tolerated these terrorist attacks from Gaza with limited response. Hamas says it will not stop trying to kill Jews. Israel cannot tolerate or maybe survive another Oct 7^th massacre. These protests are supporting hate in a way not seen since WWII. To think it will stop with the Jews is mistaken. It won’t stop until it is all of us.

It is time for good people, people armed with the truth about Hamas and about the history of Israel, to speak up. If left unchecked this terror will spread and it will be the Christians, the LGBT community, and women who will become the dead and oppressed.

Image: John Enghart