Since the October 7 Hamas pogrom – the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust – the world has witnessed not an outpouring of mourning for the 1,200 Israelis killed, but an alarming increase in Jew-hatred.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have taken place on college campuses across the United States, with support for Hamas seen and heard at some demonstrations. Mob-like behavior and threats against Jews were tolerated and in some cases even encouraged by faculty and administrators.
I have no problem with those who call for peace – although I believe peace between Israelis and Palestinians is further away than ever before – nor with those who lament the loss of innocent Palestinian lives, which is undoubtedly tragic. Civilians pay a disproportionate price in all armed conflicts without exception, and many Israeli civilians were among those killed and kidnapped by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian armed groups during their barbaric attack on October 7th Babies and the elderly.
Since October 7, Palestinian civilians have suffered – more than 15,000 people have been killed, including more than 6,000 children. But the protests that have erupted since that day are not just about calling for peace or expressing sympathy for the loss of Palestinian lives. These protests are showing a level of violence not seen in any other recent conflict, even though the scale of death and destruction in these conflicts and the length of their duration have been far greater than that of the current war in Gaza.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in March 2011, more than 500,000 people have been killed by the Syrian regime. The vast majority were civilians. It is estimated that up to 400,000 Yemenis died as a direct or indirect result of the war in that country, with 70 percent of these deaths being children under the age of five. Earlier this year, ethnic violence in West Darfur left 10,000 people dead and millions displaced.
Where were the widespread, angry university protests over the loss of innocent lives in these countries? The reaction to these deaths – if there were any – was far more muted. For some reason they don’t seem to provoke the same bouts of moral outrage.
I cannot escape the conclusion that this is because the standards in Israel are completely different.
As White House Middle East envoy from 2017 to 2019, I supported Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as they waged what I believed to be a just war against the Houthis in Yemen. They and their Yemeni allies faced a decision similar to that faced by Israel now: kill or be killed.
Nations must be able to protect their people from attack. It is a tragedy that innocent people are being killed. The loss of innocent Palestinian lives is tragic, as is the loss of innocent Syrian, Yemeni and Darfurian lives. But we must recognize that it is Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that caused this tragedy.
Israel has a duty to defend itself. Wars have terrible consequences, but just wars must be fought. I can fully support Israel’s war against Hamas, under whose brutal rule Palestinians have suffered for decades, while deploring the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. I am clear that Israel has no other choice. The only realistic solution for Israel, the Palestinians and indeed the Arab world is to uproot groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. I fully defend Israel’s actions and believe that what it is doing is necessary for its survival and will make the region and the rest of the world safer.
But to those protesting on university campuses, I ask: Where were you when Syrians, Yemenis or Darfurians were killed? What motivates you to protest so violently now? I think the answer lies in the fact that anti-Semitic attacks in the United States have reached shocking levels. According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents increased by around 400 percent from October 7th to 23rd compared to the same period last year. It is hatred of Jews, hatred of Israel and support for Hamas – a group designated a terrorist organization by the US, UK and EU that has vowed to destroy Israel and repeat the October 7 atrocities over and over again – that motivate you. It is time to acknowledge and speak this truth.
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