Does Someone Need to Die?

As a Jew and an engaged citizen, I’ve been uneasily following the pro-Palestinian protests across the country. Even with the summer break, protests continue, violence continues, and the legal and administrative responses to them have been useless, inconsistent and hypocritical. I thought it might be a good idea to study the state of these conflicts, since I anticipate they will increase and become even more intense with the coming fall semester.

Although some half-hearted efforts have been made to authorize punishments against protestors, most of the responses have been ineffective, in spite of the continual violence. Violence occurs in the form of destroying property, defacing statues and buildings, and destroying school or government property (burning flags), along with other activities:

‘Destroying property is not a peaceful protest, it’s against the law,’ Biden said. ‘Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation, none of this is a peaceful protest.’

And yet from the start, destruction has been downplayed, and excuses have been made for not identifying perpetrators, although there have been some arrests. But many of those arrested have been released only to renew their efforts through these protests. Some students have been suspended, but have been reinstated by their schools. Others have received threats of disciplinary action, but the data on follow-through is limited.

As if violence were not enough, students have demanded that schools divest from their investments with Israel and insist on creating campus encampments. (I’d wager that they haven’t made those threats against the Palestinian businesses in Gaza.) The obscene truth is that the schools are giving in to these demands and are rewarding the protestors:

Northwestern University, Brown University and Rutgers University are among colleges that have reached deals to disband camps. Brown will hold a vote on possible divestment from firms connected with Israel. Rutgers agreed to set up an Arab cultural center and look into creation of a Middle East studies department.

Part of the problem is that these agreements send the message that the protestors have legitimate demands and that the universities are unwilling to stand up to them. How far will the protestors go in making their demands before the authorities act to stop them?

Does someone need to die?

The media have to a great extent identified that these protests are being funded by outside forces, including George Soros and Iran. But much of the funding is coming from entities in our own country:

Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It has given nearly $500,000 directly to Jewish Voice for Peace, which explicitly describes itself as anti-Zionist, over the past five years. Rockefeller Brothers has separately given grants to both the Tides Foundation and the Tides Center. Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.

Now that Kamala Harris will be the new Democrat candidate for President, it looks like she will be even more vocal than Biden in condemning Netanyahu and Israel, which will only provide more fuel for these angry protests:

On Thursday, Harris told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a White House meeting she would not ‘be silent’ on the ‘dire humanitarian situation.’ ‘What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,’ Harris said. ‘We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.’

I wonder if she will have anything to say to Hamas?

* * * *

Do we have any outcomes that we can look forward to in the next several months that will turn down the temperature and encourage the pro-Palestinian protestors to pull back? I’m skeptical.

Let’s remember that the protestors are not just angry with the Israelis, but also furious at the Jews. Any Jews. And even if a truce is reached in Gaza, tensions will be high and skepticism will abound. My guess is that any truce that is agreed to will be violated, since it’s questionable whether Hamas really wants to end the conflict; it’s clear they don’t want a two-state solution. In addition, there are uneasy questions about whether hostages will be released and how many are alive.

For now, we can hope that Kamala Harris will limit her inflammatory rhetoric, that positive decisions begin to emerge from Gaza, and that an end to the protests here might be in sight.

If you are interested in seeing a dashboard that tracks protests across the country, you can go here.