Early on Saturday, Hamas invaded Israel, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza into the Jewish State while simultaneously launching an incursion into Israeli border towns, killing and kidnapping residents as they celebrated the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
As of yesterday morning, approximately two thousand people were dead, thousands more injured, and over a hundred held hostage by Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns of a long war. The body count will undoubtedly increase on both sides of the conflict.
Meanwhile, In the U.S.
Dearborn, Michigan is a multicultural city west of Detroit, approximately 25 miles from my home. Yesterday, October 11, 2023, hundreds of Dearborn citizens rallied in Dearborn to celebrate Hamas’ attack on Israel. Babies and senior citizens were brutally murdered during the attack.
Still, a local Imam denounced Israel, not the Hamas terrorists, saying, “They left the fire in our hearts that will burn that state until its demise.” An Imam is the spiritual leader of a Muslim congregation. He leads the service and prayers like a Rabbi leads a Jewish congregation. When did you last hear a rabbi call for the demise or destruction of a country or a state?
Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman for Michigan’s 12th District, which includes Dearborn, poured fuel on the fire. Initially silent after Hamas attacked, the congresswoman released the following statement:
"I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity.
"The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance. The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere, should suffer or live in fear of violence."
So, congresswoman, these brutal attacks on concertgoers, a civilian population of women, children, and senior citizens were “resistance” to an “occupation?” Seriously? Where is your condemnation of Hamas terror? Hamas has oppressed your people for years!
Hamas is the governing body that rules the Gaza Strip, home to roughly 2 million Palestinians. Is their invasion of Israel any different than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Since when do terrorist regimes get to claim some moral high ground? The suggestion is not only outrageous, but also terrifyingly dangerous.
Yet, Hamas (as Congresswoman Tlaib demonstrates) is not the subject of universal condemnation. In fact, in the United States, several university protests support the terrorists. Students at Indiana University, Harvard, Arizona State, Cal State, and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill demanded the liberation of Palestine in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks.
Perhaps a future conversation about Palestinian grievances might make sense, but is a show of support appropriate in the wake of a terrorist attack? If college students protested Muslim oppression immediately after 9/11, how would that have gone for those students?
When was the last time you heard a head of state call for Jihad? Yesterday, the head of Gaza’s government called for a ‘global day of rage’ to be held on Friday, October 13, 2023. Khalid Mashal asked Muslims across the globe to show anger and a message of rage to Zionists and America. He called for financial contributions from Muslims around the world to compensate the fighters of Gaza for the destruction. He demanded that Muslim nations and leaders assert political pressure to stop Israel’s “military invasion of Gaza.” Finally, he asked all Muslims, especially those in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt (those surrounding Israel), to apply Jihad on the ground and not in theory. “We are asking for your blood and souls to be sacrificed for Palestine.”
If we learned anything from these recent attacks on Israel, we learned to take the terrorists seriously and believe what they say. Video evidence depicts Hamas soldiers laughing as they shoot innocent women, children, and older adults. American students and student organizations who ignore these despicable acts of terrorism, insensitivity, and depravity have blood on their hands.
Those who once considered contributing to the universities mentioned above may wish to reconsider their donations. Many so-called social justice advocates have remained silent after these attacks. Shame on you—we hear your silence loud and clear. Silence in the face of such brutality and inhumanity is inexcusable. Come Friday, America must be on high alert
Images of Nazi Germany come to mind. Martin Neimoller was a Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and early 30s, he was a Nazi sympathizer and supporter of radical right-wing ideology. After Hitler came to power, Niemoller became an outspoken critic of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church. He spent most of the war in Nazi prisons and concentration camps. Niemoller believed the German people were complicit in Nazi atrocities through their silence. He was especially critical of German religious leaders. The following poem expresses his feelings about silence in the face of terror:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Speak Out, America
Political advocacy in college is a powerful tool. The Internet and social media permit our voices to be heard around the globe. Now is not a time for silence, nor a time to protest Israel’s handling of the Palestinian issue. It is time for America and Americans to declare unwavering support for Israel, our strongest ally in the region.
Speak out, America, in protest of man’s inhumanity towards man. After the Holocaust, the Jewish mantra was ‘never again,’ yet here we are—it is déjà vu all over again. Raise your voice, America. Our freedom and way of life depend on it.
If you haven’t done so already, please check out Mark Bello’s ripped-from-the-headlines legal thrillers, all available online at Amazon and other major online booksellers. He has quite the hero in Attorney Zachary Blake, who fights for justice on all fronts. His books are Betrayal of Faith, Betrayal of Justice, Betrayal in Blue, Betrayal in Black, Betrayal High, Supreme Betrayal, Betrayal at the Border, You Have the Right to Remain Silent and his latest, and his latest, “The Final Steps – A Harbor Springs Cozy Legal Mystery. Also, he’s written a wonderful children’s book about bullying, “Happy Jack, Sad Jack.” For more info, just check markmbello.com.
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