The War in Gaza II

Pro-Hamas protestors are causing havoc on college campuses at mostly so-called elite college campuses.

The protests are asking the US to stop arming Israel, demanding a ceasefire and generally supporting the Palestinian cause. They're often also breaking laws which has gotten some reactions from police and campus officials.

There is more than a touch of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism and youthful stupidity among the protestors.

On the one hand I sympathize with calls for ceasefire; war is never a good thing. On the other hand I wonder at the naivete being displayed.

Hamas still holds 100 hostages. They need to be returned either before, or as part of, any ceasefire agreement. That is the bare minimum. Then the shooting can stop and humanitarian supplies can flow into Gaza.

Before the ceasefire can be permanent I suspect Israel will want some way of insuring that this doesn't happen again in the future. This is the part that worries me.

I doubt these kids, or even the teachers that appeared to have brainwashed them, have any clue as to the actual history of the conflict. Most of the protestors don't even remember 9/11. They are supporting the same sort of terrorists that attacked the twin towers and have set off bombs in Europe and in Israel.

These are not good people and do not deserve your support.

Of course the response will be that they're not supporting terrorists but peace and providing the innocent, peaceful Palestinian people a land of their own. Or even restoring the country "back" to the Palestinians which is what "from the river to the sea" means.

Well, the Palestinians never "had" the land so they can't get it "back." The last owners were the Ottoman Empire if we ignore the British during Mandatory Palestine.

They are supporting terrorists. This artificial line between Hamas and the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza is nonsense. Hamas crossed the border in an unprovoked attack and murdered, kidnapped and raped innocent people.

This led to a declaration of war. Waging war in reprisal for an attack is not genocide. Is Israel breaking international law and committing war crimes by attacking civilian targets? That might be a valid charge but I don't know for certain. I know with certainty that Hamas violated the Geneva Convention but two wrongs generally don't make a right.

 The question of Israel breaking international law is, unfortunately, a lot more complicated than most people think and simply making accusations doesn't make it so. There are lots of exceptions in the Geneva Convention because combatants, especially in urban warfare, have a bad habit of being in civilian targets.

So it would take a while to sort this out assuming anyone ever bothers.

To my mind you can't attack someone, commit a bunch of atrocities, and then whine that the people you attacked aren't being nice to you.