As we approach the six-month anniversary of the attacks against Israel of October 7, 2023, we must take stock of the reaction and aftermath of such attacks and how they impact our own nation.

Many of us were rightly outraged at the October attacks as we compared them to the attacks against America of September 11, 2001. We have seen the horrifying videos, expressed our solidarity with the Israelis and cheered on long overdue pushback against media and academic enablement of terrorist sympathizers.

But the leftist response to the October attacks has been more brazen, more immediate, and more entrenched in recent months than it ever was in response to September 11. Pro-Hamas protestors in this country have shut down New York’s Manhattan Bridge, shouted “Allahu Akbar” in sustained protests outside the World Trade Center, chased down and threatened a Jewish teacher inside a Queens high school and coordinated a bus strike at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. -- thus stranding hundreds of Jewish visitors hoping to attend a rally.

While our nationwide response to September 11 was not completely unified, these sustained and coordinated actions reveal much more strength in the pro-terrorist movement within our borders. These activities go beyond mere mass protests. They now have the imprimatur of official support from within the highest levels of our establishment.

The notorious Rep. Rashida Tlaib is a member of a secretive Facebook group that unashamedly supports Hamas and its war goals. DSA congressional representatives including Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Casar, and Cori Bush refused to condemn pro-Hamas terrorists that violently attacked Democrat party headquarters in Washington D.C. in December. Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman publicly dismissed claims of Hamas atrocities as “propaganda.”

Nationwide controversy erupted in December when the presidents of leading universities could not say that student calls for genocide would constitute harassment or justify expulsion. This policy is consistent with the conduct of other colleges that refuse or fail to protect Jewish students from harassment.

The Washington Post removed the work of political cartoonist Michael Ramirez that mocked Hamas’ use of human shields. An NBC “journalist” was arrested in Israel for inciting and glorifying Hamas terror attacks. In December, fourteen attorneys general across the U.S. felt the need to warn the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and CNN that providing material support to overseas terrorists violated U.S. law.

In October, it was discovered that the Department of Homeland Security employed and even promoted a former PLO official who began posting online in support of Hamas shortly after Hamas’ invasion of Israel.

The genocidal phrase “from the river to the sea” has now become common at protests and rallies, in music, social media and even in Congress. One almost expects to hear it sung at an upcoming Super Bowl.

That pro-terrorist elements would reach such high positions in the federal government, academia, and the legacy media reveal a situation far worse than existed following September 11. Efforts to fight, denounce, and expose terrorism now face headwinds from within our own government and the forces that shape our culture. Those that would speak out against terrorism must compete with terrorist allies and supporters at every turn. The anti-terror message is drowned out. They face harassment, violence, and even loss of income and educational opportunity.

Gresham’s Law states that bad money drives out good money. The same can be said for public debate. Terror and its enablers have gained a foothold in all corridors of this country’s deep state. The anti-terror message cannot compete in this context. Support for the victims of terror or strategies for opposing and preventing terror cannot outshout the noise generated by the supporters of terror.

Many commenters have noted this situation and blamed it blandly on the rise of “antisemitism.” They attribute the constant attacks and terrorist infiltration at all levels on nothing more specific than prejudice -- as if Archie Bunker had risen from the grave and was somehow responsible for the post-October 7 mayhem. Contrary to this euphemistic explanation, something far more sinister and permanent is at work. Our nation’s borders are open. They have been open for a long time to varying degrees. It is not just about Mexico anymore. People are swarming in from all over the world to overwhelm our services and resources. They are not content simply to occupy space. They are in the process of remaking the United States.

There is a tipping point beyond which we will have lost our country. Commentators have debated about the exact year that this tipping point will be reached. As we get closer, Americans will have less and less control over our political process, government policy, the educational system, and our very culture. The prevalence of the above pro-terrorist activities in the wake of October 7^th reflects the approach of this tipping point.

Foreign-influenced factions have helped to elect some of our most extreme congressmen in more than one state. They seek and obtain public office -- sometimes even refusing to take the oaths that are so much a part of our traditions. They attend and occupy our institutions of higher learning. They work at all levels of government. They react violently to those who speak out on social media against their preferred policies. They have allies in Congress that labor endlessly to entrench them further in our society. 

Their numbers dwarf those that we faced in the immediate aftermath of September 11. The United States is a different country than it was in 2001. If we do not control our border soon, it will take far less than another twenty years to see even more drastic changes. Our country is becoming foreign in nature. Concepts such as free speech and freedom of religion do not prevail in much of the world and are now in jeopardy here. Unlike the rest of us, today’s immigrants were not raised on a steady diet of Archie Bunker television reruns. They were not taught for decades that the response to any public issue is to laugh at Archie Bunker. Many of them will not shrink from antisemitism in pursuit of their goals.

For decades, American political and cultural battles have often turned on whether one side or the other would say something prejudiced -- after which their opponents could say “gotcha!” and then carry the day. The foreign invaders do not play that game. They have or will soon have the numbers to immunize themselves from the consequences of their own antisemitism. They do not care whether their statements would be laughed at on “All in the Family.”

We must wake up to the fact that our television rerun culture will not immunize us from the consequences of allowing an open border. Nothing in our cultural establishment is equipped to stop the next October 7^th or September 11^th -- either in Israel or in the United States. Controlling the border is the only tactic that will give us a fighting chance.

Image: Ted Eytan