by Renee Parsons
At what point does the US government, its Congress, its financial, media, social or cultural institutions or the American people themselves ever take responsibility for being the greatest global generator of military conflict and violence, a disruptor of economic stability and civil turbulence since WW II. Whenever there was an opportunity to pull the plug or vote against those who would jeopardize the historic foundations of the world’s greatest Constitutional Republic, too many Americans fell for the lie.
Even with the Ukraine war daring the US to walk away, how many average Americans recognize that the country i acknowledged around the world for its warlike and totalitarian tendencies.
Therefore, it may have come as a shock to many Americans when a majority of US campuses around the country erupted in protests in response to the Zionist campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Those early October Hamas attacks came in response to and as a result of Zionist settler incursions at the third holiest Islamic site, also known as the Temple Mount, at the Al Aqsa mosque. The Israeli settlers also blocked Palestinians from attending its most holy mosque.
Most disturbing is that those protests have been met with violent and abusive reaction from law enforcement and the country’s political establishment who have proven to be beholden to AIPAC, the ADL and other Israeli connected organizations. The level of brutality used by American law enforcement against American students conducting peaceful protests as they call for a ceasefire in Gaza created its own level of shock and outrage as the First Amendment failed the test.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin observed prior to the protests, responding to the lawfare assaults on Trump as evidence of the deep level of corruption in the US political system. Who could argue with that?
The irony is that those protests are now being dismissed as anti-semitic racism rather than the result of American students being appalled by the inhumanity of the Israelis toward the Palestinians and that they are better informed, if not thoroughly knowledgeable about the true history of Palestine and its indigenous population since antiquity.
Many of those protests are led by Jewish students who are knowledgeable and less accepting of the Zionist version of history when the UN Mandate of 1948 initiated the ethnic cleansing that continues today. That history, however, has not stopped the Israeli lobby from using the protests as an opportunity to stifle all dissent, to allege the protests as anti-semitic or oppose any questions of its own immoral behavior.
In order to squelch any legitimate examination of IDF behavior or that of the Israel government, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for an FBI investigation while asserting that “Russia is connected” to the protests. Here we go again! Others are asserting that George Soros hired former antifa terrorists to participate in the current protests – and yet while there may be those of more extreme elements mixed in the crowd, the sheer number, the thousands of students participating far outweigh any rational dismissal of the valid objections they continue to raise.
The irony is that those protests have been accused of being ‘anti semitic’ because they dare articulate the behavior of the IDF and the Israeli government in its inhumane treatment of the Palestinians are now being met with threats to their constitutionally protected free speech. Congressional members are proposing ‘monitors’ on campus for federally funded colleges be established in American schools to scrutinize and censor any perceived ‘anti semitic’ speech.
Going over the edge, Governor Ron DeSantis has pledged to expel students from Florida schools if they protest Israel which will eventually spread to the wider population as what has been popularly called ‘hate’ speech becomes a metaphor for the loss of speaking one’s mind.
Even Sen. Bernie Sanders who is Jewish by birth has clearly spoken out on the Senate floor:
“I am going to stand with American people today who oppose more money for Netanyahu. What we are doing today is very bad policy. We are aiding and abetting the destruction of the Palestinian people. What we are doing today is not what the American people want and i say to my Democratic friends, it is absolutely not what and what alot of my Republican friends want to continue as well but a strong majority of Democrats are saying enough with Netanyahu’s war. We just cannot give him another $10 Billion for unfettered military aid.. but as things happen in Congress ….we ignore the needs of American people. We will not pay attention to what they want..and then we are shocked, just shocked that we have a 14% Congressional approval rating.”
It is clear that American college students heard Bernie’s message loud and clear; especially those who are Jewish. Even before Bernie’s statement, not long after the October 7th attack, American students were well aware of the Zionist history in Gaza and the origin of those historic and territorial lands that have been called Palestine since forever. That land was renamed ‘Israel’ only after the 1948 UN Mandate that began the Nakba in 1978 when thousands of indigenous peoples were forced out of their native lands. Thankfully yet unfortunately for AIPAC, ADL and others of the Zionist persuasion like the Bannon War Room, a huge swath of the American public have witnessed the daily cruelty and heartless treatment are now aware of the truth and brutality of US foreign policy with Israel.
Despite the power of the Zionist movement, there is a strong pro Palestine presence in the US as Americans have favored an independent Palestinian state since JFK supported Palestinian rights in the early 1960s. With over 30,000 Palestinian women and children killed, American students are no longer willing to remain silent in the face of the continued anguish and sorrow. To date, no responsible American leadership has stepped forward to question how much longer can the egregious bloodshed continue. Who will demand a stop to the suffering?
In addition, there has been a pronounced lack of Arab solidarity or leadership in defense of the Palestinians except for the Houthis who have blocked passage to the Red Sea with control of its territorial waters through the Bah al Mandab Strait. There has been no oil embargo against Israel as in 1967 when Saudi Arabia led the boycott against Israel that helped end the Six Day Egyptian-Syrian war; at a time when the USS Liberty was attacked killing thirty five American sailors. Today the Saudi’s remain silent.
To believe these students do not follow US foreign policy with great interest is to underestimate their level of interest, their intelligence and their sensitivity of the suffering of others or that they remain ignorant of US policy details. They may be young in years but many of these students are well aware of the WW III potential as they are not immature in their thinking about the future world they will inherit. They are politically sophisticated enough to understand that Palestine deserves to be an independent state and a participating member of the UN as they question the recent US vote, the only vote to deny Palestine membership.
These students are aware of the existing imminent risks including the probable IDF attack on 1.5 million Palestinians in the Rafah, the risk of a major conflict between Iran and Israel taking WW III to the next level, Israeli deliberate targeting Palestinian journalists, the exit of millions of Palestinian forced into the Sinai desert and the real risk of escalating military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
More attuned to current political considerations, students are aware of Israel’s recent bombing of the Iranian diplomatic Embassy in Damascus killing a high ranking Iranian General as a violation of international law and the Vienna Convention – absent any outrage from American political leaders. When US diplomatic missions were bombed in Afghanistan by al Qaeda, the US reacted immediately with a major bombing campaign.
These protests have proven that these students are unwilling to be apathetic about the future of the world and unwilling to be lethargic as their parents generation. These protests have put that false observation to rest as the political establishment’s over-reaction to the student revolt is directly analogous to the desperation being experienced by a vanishing hegemon which has lost control of the narrative.
In conclusion, the following was written by wise young friends in Colorado addressing their feelings about the current political chaos around ‘anti-semitism”:
“At this moment, students, faculty, and staff are being targeted for speaking out, protesting, and organizing against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the financial complicity of their institutions. They are being met with drastic repression and violence in the name of fighting antisemitism and concern for “Jewish safety.” Yet we know that this is not about antisemitism or Jewish safety but, instead, reflects an agenda devoted to destroying the movement for Palestinian justice and supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza and US imperial interests.
It is also an agenda set on undermining other struggles for justice and suppressing resistance that challenges institutional and political power. We know that antisemitism is being exploited for ideological purposes.
Now more than ever, greater clarity is needed to understand what is and what is not antisemitism. Greater clarity is needed to resist the abhorrent tactics of repression, and—inspired by the powerful resistance against genocide and oppression we are witnessing—to build movement solidarities and organize for justice in principled ways. And greater clarity is needed to consider, truly, what safety looks like, and is, for all of us.”