The last time Israel and Hamas were at war, in 2014, I flew from my home in Chicago to Israel (where we have a small apartment) with my family to show support.  I remember those three weeks as though it were yesterday.  I would have traveled to Israel again during the recent conflict, but COVID restrictions prevented that. 

So I do my best to use the platform offered by these pages and other media to set the record straight against the constant stream of lies spouted to defame Israel.  This includes "the international community," who largely blamed Israel.  The reality is that most of these hypocritical countries would have turned Gaza into a parking lot ten years ago if Hamas, which is supported by Iran, were their neighbor.

The biased media also did their best to slander Israel.  They failed to report that a major cause of the violence was the conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, including the P.A.'s postponement of elections, not Israel's planned eviction of a few dozen squatters in Jerusalem who haven't paid rent in 50 years.

Other bad actors include too many "woke" virtue-signaling Democratic politicians and ill-informed celebrities.  Very few of those criticizing Israel state publicly what we all know is true: Israel, as any government would, had an obligation to defend its citizens from Hamas's 4,000-plus rocket attacks, which were aimed at killing Israeli civilians and disrupting life.  In contrast, Israel targeted only Hamas's terrorist leaders and infrastructure and provided ample warning before it struck buildings. 

Sometimes I hate being proven correct, and the aftermath of the war is one of those instances.  For years I've argued on these pages, on my social media blog, and on TV and radio shows that anti-Semitism from the left is more dangerous than from the right.  The vicious displays of Jew-hatred across the world from the usual suspects — Islamists and the Progressive left — following Israel's justifiable and measured defense of its citizens proves my point.  From universities to restaurants to shops to the streets and neighborhoods in cities worldwide, we have seen constant calls to violence against Jews, Jewish institutions, and Israel by the Progressive left and Islamists. 

Meanwhile, moderates and conservatives, no matter their ethnicity and religion, are largely defending Israel.  Predictably and sadly, my friends on the left, who are so quick to call out more benign anti-Semitism from the fringe right, are silent.

Josh Kantrow is a cyber-security lawyer in Chicago.

Image via Max Pixel.

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