College is a place where opposing viewpoints and ideas can flourish and clash, but institutions have long had a responsibility to avoid formal recognition of hate groups like the KKK or the Nazi Party. Today, as pro-Palestinian terror grows, groups that support it should be added to this list.
Some colleges, including Columbia University, have canceled recognition of pro-Palestine groups like Students for Justice in Palestine following campus protests in support of Hamas’ terror attack on October 7, 2023. However, this is not enough.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, allegedly murdered Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, two Israeli Embassy staffers on Wednesday night in Washington. Video footage shows him yelling “free free Palestine” in a 60s-style sing-song cadence that echoes across campuses.
On those campuses, we also hear a call to “globalize the intifada,” which Rodriguez answered. The intifada, after all, is a call to murder civilians in the name of Islam. Why would any American university let itself be associated with that?
These schools may argue that it is possible to be a pro-Palestinian group on campus that does not advocate for violence and instead fights for fairness, but that is not what “from the river to the sea” means; it means the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
How much difference exists between a movement that would presumably exterminate all Jews in the Levant in the name of Palestinian birthrights and one that would murder minorities in the name of racial purity?
The pro-Palestinian movement shares similarities with the banned KKK, including portraying themselves as ethnic victims, using terror tactics, wearing symbols of violence (e.g., white hoods and green Hamas headbands), and claiming to only hate “what Jews have done.”
Neither organization has a place on any college campus.
We don’t need starry-eyed freshmen (mostly girls) walking into a college organization fair, seeing a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh, and exclaiming, “I want to help the oppressed people,” without any context.
While the Palestinian flag can be traced back to earlier pan-Arab fights against the Ottoman Empire, it was adopted in the 1960s by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a prototypical modern terrorist organization.
In the 60 years since, this flag has always represented a leadership and government, if you can call it that, of Palestinians who have been terrorists the entire time, including everyone in charge.
The Palestinian flag was banned in Israel until 1993, when the Oslo Accords raised hopes that peace would be found soon, but Palestinian leaders and their Iranian puppet masters have cruelly mocked that optimism for decades.
Colleges should support free speech, but if they can – and should – ban Nazi flags or Isis’ black flag, why shouldn’t they also ban the Palestinian flag?
We’d like to believe that there’s a peaceful pro-Palestinian movement out there that despises terrorism and simply wants a reasonable solution, but there isn’t. They do not chant for Hamas to release the hostages and accept a two-state solution; rather, they call for Israel’s destruction.
It is very similar to Black Lives Matter, a phrase that, on the one hand, appeared anodyne and obvious, but also represented hardcore Marxist ideology disguised as civil rights. Demands to protect Palestinian children are almost always accompanied by a willingness to kill Jews.
Recent political violence, such as the DC murders, Trump assassination attempts, and arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion, has come from the far left, despite claims that the online manosphere is radicalizing right-wing men.
A progressive ideology that apologizes for, and even embraces, violence has taken hold in our prestigious universities, with pro-Palestinian groups at the forefront, often backed by foreign money.
How many more antisemitic assassinations in our country must occur before we take this issue seriously and address the poison being fed to our college students?
We no longer have to accept the twisted rules of wokeness and privilege, nor do we have to lie to ourselves and claim that the Palestinian cause is righteous simply because they are supposedly oppressed.
The pro-Palestinian movement must be judged on its own actions, not on a sliding moral scale that considers skin color or privilege points. There must be a line drawn against terrorism.
It is not too late to save our country’s colleges, and a good place to start would be to remove the cancer of anti-Israel, anti-America, and pro-terrorist organizations from every quad and library in the country.
