Below is a slightly expanded version of my column in The Messenger on the recent controversy over Cornell Professor Russell Rickford and his celebration of the massacre in Israel. I have opposed calls to censor or fire Rickford. However, this controversy should highlight a more troubling trend in academia in the hiring of extremists as a type of radical chic. The problem is not that we have radical left voices on the faculty. The problem is the lack of intellectual diversity left after decades of purging conservative, libertarian, and dissenting faculty members from many universities.Here is the column:Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford is much in the news this week with his celebration of the Hamas attack on Israel. While insisting he does not condone the targeting of civilians, he heralded as “exhilarating” an attack that led to the massacre of civilians, the raping of women, and the taking of hostages. As some in the media and academia now distance themselves from Rickford, they ignore their past support for him and others with the same radical agenda in academia.At Stanford, Ameer Hasan Loggins was suspended after telling a small number of Jewish students to collect their things and stand in the corner. “This is what Israel does to the Palestinians,” Greenberg reportedly said, “How many people died in the Holocaust?… Six million. Colonizers killed more than 6 million. Israel is a colonizer.”These academics were well-known by their schools for their extreme views and advocacy in classrooms. They are part of an academia that now runs largely from the left to the far left.
I have previously opposed efforts to censor academics or students based on their controversial viewpoints. What is ironic is that many of the figures who have led past cancel campaigns are now the subject of the same calls after supporting Hamas’ attack.
The greater concern should be that Rickford is not the exception but the rule for many faculties in a shift to the far left. Many schools have purged Republicans, conservatives and libertarians over the last two decades. In that sense, Rickford is the norm, part of academia’s radical chic.
Rickford made news in Ithaca when he worked a crowd with his joy over the Hamas attack. In the wake of clear atrocities, Rickford was ecstatic: “Hamas has punctured the illusion of invincibility. … Nothing will be the same again … It was exhilarating. It was exhilarating, it was energizing. And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.”
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Rickford has long been a favorite of some media, including the Washington Post which has run his columns. Citing struggles from Black Lives Matter to the Palestinian cause in one Post column, Rickford insisted that Blacks need to reclaim the radical image of Martin Luther King and realize that true solutions will not be found through the government but “from the unruly and subversive elements that lie below.”
Cornell was enthusiastic in adding him to its faculty ranks as it has other militant far-left faculty. At the same time, it has gradually eliminated the conservative voices that Rickford has denounced.
Even Cornell’s director of “diversity and inclusion” at the School of Management called the massacre an act of “resistance” in an Instagram post and told those traumatized by the terrorism to “F–k your fake outrage at Palestine.”
Recently, the Harvard Crimson found that the university had effectively eliminated conservatives from most departments. One survey revealed that more than three-quarters of Harvard Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty respondents identify as “liberal” or “very liberal.” Only 2.5% identified as “conservative,” and only 0.4% as “very conservative.”
A study by Georgetown University’s Kevin Tobia and MIT’s Eric Martinez found that only 9% of law school professors identify as conservative at the top 50 law schools. A 2017 study found that 15% of faculties were conservative, and another study found that 33 out of 65 departments lacked a single conservative faculty member.
Keep in mind that, according to Gallup, “37% of Americans described their political views as moderate, 36% as conservative” in 2022. Only a quarter identified as liberal (25%) — yet that segment of our society occupies the vast majority of university faculty positions.
Nevertheless, Rickford and others on campuses have been widely cited as describing such bias and the dominance of liberal values as a myth.
Academics like Asheesh Kapur Siddique, an assistant professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have written columns that the dominance of the left on campuses is a pure myth, as is the “alleged lack of ideological diversity on American college campuses.”
In reality, Siddique insisted, the “modern American university is a right-wing institution” and the “right’s dominance of academia and its reign over universities is destroying higher education, and the only way to save the American university is for students and professors to take back control of campuses.”
At the same time, Rickman and others have railed against whites on campuses — racist attacks that would never be tolerated if directed at other groups. Rickman has said that only a “sliver” of whites actually want equality. He insists that, for most whites, “deep in their heart, they despise your blackness more than anything else.” He called for an “antiracist movement to defeat capitalism altogether and it’s not going to happen at the ballot box.”
Many academic leaders seem desperate to prove they are part of that “sliver” of the enlightened, by hiring far-left advocates like Rickman. They nod in agreement or remain silent in the face of racist, inflammatory rhetoric.
For many professors, the risk is simply too great when they could be the next target of a cancel campaign. Now, those same long-silent academic voices are being raised in shock at Rickman’s latest rhetoric. Yet, in fairness to Rickman, he has hardly been subtle or restrained; he simply directed his hate-spewed rhetoric against others in the past.
After years of calling upon donors to respond to this academic echo chamber, a few are finally waking up after the rationalizations of Hamas’ terror attack. That response is a couple decades late, given the support of universities and colleges for years as they adopted increasingly intolerant and orthodox environments.
The solution, again, is not greater censorship but greater diversity on faculties. Donors and alumni need to demand a reversal of the elimination of conservative, libertarian, and dissenting voices on faculties.
Such reforms will occur only after they recognize that Rickford has long been the ideal, not the aberration, in academia.
You don’t suppose actual Americans will ultimately ask, “Whose ——- country is this?”
You just committed an anti-semitism.
When the King of Jordan declares no Palestinian “refugees” will be allowed into Jordan or Egypt, it’s reasonable to conclude they know something about what they’re preventing from entering their respective countries.
Perhaps Congress needs to revisit the law controlling what actions can result in losing U.S. citizenship. I am all in for making these radicals stateless. Once we start sending supporters of terrorists to the terrorist’s places of origin, it won’t take long before these “new thing” radicals get “woke” up.
Section 349 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1481), as amended, states that U.S. nationals are subject to loss of nationality if they perform certain specified acts voluntarily and with the intention to relinquish U.S. nationality. Briefly stated, these acts include:
obtaining naturalization in a foreign state after the age of 18 (Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA);
taking an oath, affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or its political subdivisions after the age of 18 (Sec. 349 (a) (2) INA);
entering or serving in the armed forces of a foreign state engaged in hostilities against the United States or serving as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (3) INA);
accepting employment with a foreign government after the age of 18 if (a) one has the nationality of that foreign state or (b) an oath or declaration of allegiance is required in accepting the position (Sec. 349 (a) (4) INA);
formally renouncing U.S. nationality before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer outside the United States (sec. 349 (a) (5) INA);
formally renouncing U.S. nationality within the United States (The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for implementing this section of the law, and any inquiries should be directed to DHS) (Sec. 349 (a) (6) INA);
conviction for an act of treason against the Government of the United States or for attempting by force to overthrow, or bear arms against, the Government of the United States (Sec. 349 (a) (7) INA).
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/Advice-about-Possible-Loss-of-US-Nationality-Dual-Nationality.html
Yes, it couldn’t be after the endless decades of land theft by israel, the leaders of border nations, indeed of the whole world, realize any refugee status means all that land is stolen as a default, immediately.
Just come out and say it. We want it all our god Baal (according to Sam) gave it us thousands of years ago. We couldn’t keep it, but we cried and whined and lied and cheated and stole our way back in from WW2, which we lie about constantly, lest we be kicked out, again, according to us the illegal nuclear superpower.
Are we going to see a big group worshiping some gold painted metal idol and sacrificing babies to it, again ?
Not like you didn’t have to have a slaughtering war the 1st time with moses not making it to take it over.
So I guess that answers it, slaughter away, as you did millennia ago, you shall do now.
Academia has selectively hired far Left personnel, and culled conservative professors and staff, so that universities today have become madrasas. There is no critical reasoning in academia, ironically.
The very same people who claimed that any limitations on abortion, at all, was a war on women, are in open support of Hamas, which mass raped Jews, murdered, tortured, and kidnapped. The position is that they were asking for it.
The original land for peace deal was when 90% of Israel proposed in the British Mandate was given to the Muslims in the creation of Jordan and part of Syria. Israel was left the size of New Jersey, yet it has regularly offered land for peace, which antisemites declined. Whether it’s the PA or Hamas, their only goal is the total extermination of Jews “from the river to the sea.” That’s what that phrase means. That’s what they tried to do when Hamas broke through. Rape and murder.
Israel pulled completely out of the Gaza Strip, and left the land entirely to the Palestinians. Did the Palestinians live in peace? Nope. They used that land as a base to state terrorist attacks. Israel, the US, and Brussels gave money and equipment to Gaza to create a state of the art water and power supply. Hamas cut up the pipe to make those missiles, and honeycombed tunnels and bunkers under hospitals, using Palestinians as human shields. Since Israel kept providing water and power, Hamas was freed up to use those supplies to try to kill more Jews.
Unbelievably, Joe Biden just promised $100 million in aid to Gaza. Hamas has been democratically elected to rule Gaza since 2006. They control all incoming aid. They JUST USED 100 million euros to make bombs and bunkers. Joe Biden is going to give them $100 million MORE. Perhaps if we cut off aid, Hamas would be forced to use previous money and supplies for the intended purpose of taking care of Palestinians.
It’s like the US giving money to the Nazis to help the Germans during WWII. This is insanity. I thought President Biden made some really moving remarks in support of Israel, before he ruined the entire effect by promising aid to terrorists.
The culture among Palestinians is overwhelmingly anti-semitic. Homicidally antisemitic. This is why they keep electing Hamas as government. Hamas’ slogan is “we love death more than Jews love life.” They have committed to a Holocaust. A majority of Palestinians support that. In 2015, Hamas declared it illegal for a Palestinian to dig a well, so that if and when Israel cuts off water, Hamas can claim it’s Israel committing war crimes or genocide. Hamas can rely on their supporters not to question why it’s Israel’s fault that Hamas used the materials for the water supply to kill Jews.
Hamas can rape every woman they catch, kill children and even babies, kill the elderly, cut fetuses from the bellies of pregnant women while they’re still alive, and the Left will still support them. It’s disturbing.
9/10 Republicans support Israel and condemn Hamas. Less than half of Democrats do.
Vote wisely.
Where do you stand on crime, police funding, antisemitism, biological males absolutely wiping out female athletes and breaking records, and biological males in women’s locker rooms and showers, telling the girls to shut up if they’re upset?
“The position is that they were asking for it.”
Well, the attacks were along the entire length of the mysteriously unguarded eastern border of gaza. The response times were 5 hours to 12 hours, also completely inexplicable. The IDF air force tweets claiming 45 minutes is a lie since they could not be seen by those on the ground and they would if they were there.
The rampaging war monger jew oldman pushed a link NYP at me with the HERO first lofted by israel, a smirking chunky well fed jew gal, who it is said grabbed weapons from the locked arsenal and distributed them, dispatching 20 terrorists with her commanded crew and of those 5 herself, single handed.
The article also stated other kibbutz never went to their arsenals and grabbed weapons, declaring orders were not given to do so. Well, isn’t that strange ?
So anyone with any common knowledge knows in israel it is MANDATORY to serve, so all this whining about attacking civilians is very strange – a dance party filled with trained killers, known as have served by mandatory order jews or now serving in many cases no doubt , as strange as the open undefended border and unbelievably long response times.
So one does have to ask in a different manner, was BB asking for it – under fire for corruption and taking over the judicial branch or whatever and on the brink with protests erupting, and the war machines lack of Ukranian money as McCarthy got booted and MY PEOPLE said ENOUGH.
Wow what a cohencidence, no border defense and hours and hours late response time.
Also the 40 babies beheaded is a lie, the “reporter” (read that IDF mossad agent) a jew, backtracked because after BB and joe lied about it confirming it , they both denied it, israel specifically claiming they had no evidence. Ben shapiro JEW posted an AI pic as proof and was busted instantly. https://twitter.com/sarasidnerCNN/status/1712415116363169884
Okay, so did they ask for it ? According to reports israel has demanded silence on the lack of response and lack of border protection.
Others deep in not (claiming to be) controlled by the jew state have blabbered the mossad had everything tapped and hamas was saying it wasn’t going to attack and fooled the greatest intel in the world.
Unfortunately, the USA warned them, Egypt warned them , and they ignored it all.
So that of course means what we are told by the official story is an absolute lie.
So did they ask for it ? That is a good question.
“The original land for peace deal was when 90% of Israel proposed in the British Mandate was given to the Muslims”
One certainly has to ask what gives Britian or anyone the right to give a giant slab of the earth to anyone ?
We should ask JEW jacob rothschild JEW whom houses the original balfour declaration in his glass case in his mega billion estate residence and displays it happily online in a video.
The whole thing is a mess and was completely screwed up from day one. I go and read on the stupid endlessly sick topic wa rwa rwa rwa rwa rwar WAR WAR WAR WAR WAR WAR WAR JEW JEW JEW JEW JEW – and what do I find out ? I don’t have to sometimes it’s all you hear about for YEARS.
There was an INSTANT WAR 1948 when the jews declared they’re moving in and taking it all over, instantly the whole place was at war.
Wow what a wonderful new neighbor.
I guess WW2 just wasn’t enough and those finally solutioned (GAG BIG LIE), needed some more war mongering.
you mention the supplying of both sides (happens in every or nearly every war) some day your tiny brain may figure it out
“This is why they keep electing Hamas as government”
Well, all reports claim hamas was elected once in 2005-2006 and never were elections held again – so unless you know something all the experts don’t … Zelinksy the jew has also stopped all elections for him in Ukraine, what a cohencidence
“They have committed to a Holocaust.”
So 275,000 total dead from famine (allies food blockade) typhoid and the general war according to the Red Cross and the actual counts not the endless lies before and since ?
It may be you confused that with the 6 Billion, with a B, for biden
“Hamas can rely on their supporters not to question why it’s Israel’s fault that Hamas used the materials for the water supply to kill Jews. ”
LMAO because they are so poor and have nothing, DUH
The BLOCKADE by Israel is the likely correct explanation, no it’s the only possible explanation otherwise they would have 2nd amendment powers.
I don’t have to question the answer is obvious by the simple facts. DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
What we are relying on is stupid liars like you, to play dumb, be ignorant, score a BS point.
What you should be saying is the TRUTH.
” We blockaded then so fkcn hard for over a decade they have to use ground pipes to make shanty shack rockets to try to attack us, we laugh at them, hilarious this has happened ! Not only that, no one can aim these fckn things they make from ground pipes, so we get on social media and all over the news stations all over the world and swear they attack randomly at us as they launch their (upgraded estes rockets) ( we call them missiles as if they are guided! HAHAHAHAHA) crap pipes and we wail and moan they aren’t hitting military targets.
All the dummies of the world believe us ! We can barely contain our laughter on air. It is difficult. ”
I know I know you will scream they want every jew dead, the 75 year old cry AND WHINE IS WORTHLESS BS, IT ALWAYS WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE BUT YOU WILL NEVER SHUT THE F UP ABOUT IT
Besides they blew themselves and their hospital away with water pipes… yeah sure thang… /SARC
“Where do you stand”
Can’t you war mongering murdering monsters get along with anyone ? Is the truth ever on your lips ?
According to all reports of any detail Trump made some huge progress on the whole mess.
Now the war mongering murdering fools are doing everything they can to take him out and still get away with it.
Shame on you for your antiSemitic rant.
Stephanie, I couldn’t even get past more than a couple of paragraphs of Shakdi’s Mein Kampf. That level of frenetic, excited antisemitism is too disturbing.
I know, right? People like Shakdi are revolting. It’s sickening seeing all his hate filled lies.
Shakdi, honestly, it’s hard to get past all the excited, feverish antisemitism in your post. You used terms like “warmonger jew” and “well fed jew gal.” You sound disturbed. Hamas are the warmongers, deliberately killing innocent babies like the cowardly fractions of men. Israel warns civilians to get out of the way. Hamas deliberately targets civilians.
I didn’t get too far into your rant because the antisemitism is just too off-putting. However, it sounds like you are blaming Jewish Israelis for Hamas’ terrorist attack on Jewish Israelis. It’s like antisemites blaming the Jews for the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attack. It’s utterly irrational, brainwashed antisemitism.
It took the IDF hours to fight their way through besieged towns. IDF went immediately active, and 150% of registered volunteers showed up to help stop the murdering, raping Hamas terrorists. The breach of the border was orchestrated to occur simultaneously with thousands of missiles. Those missiles were made from cut up water pipes that Palestinians were supposed to use to make a state of the art water system. They took a hundred million euros in aid money, supplies, and equipment, and instead of taking care of Palestinians and making a safe drinking water supply, they used it all to try to kill Jews. As violent antisemites do. A cyber attack took the touch sensor border fence monitoring system offline. There are myriad videos of IDF fighting town to town, to save people, and Hamas uploaded videos of their own crimes. There is no denying who fought to protect civilians, and who raped and murdered them.
IDF then went door to door, town to town, hunting down each and ever Hamas. This took time. There is currently a review of intelligence, technology, and logistical failures that allowed terrorists to harm innocent, unarmed people.
Past predicts future. They never stopped hunting Nazis. 50 years after WWII, investigators still found Nazis, and dragged their decrepit prisoners before a war crimes court. They will never forget what Hamas has done. Within 5 hours, Hamas raped, murdered, killed babies, tortured, killed elderly, and kidnapped so many people that every Israeli knows someone hurt, lost, or kidnapped. It’s a small country. It’s like a 9/11 happening in all 50 US states at the same time. They will never forget, and they will hunt down every member of Hamas, who will have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their miserable lives.
What Hamas did was demonic. True evil. You cannot negotiate or reason with evil, and there is no compassion to stir in their hearts. Hamas used Palestinians as human shields. They forbade Palestinians from following Israel’s urging to evacuate. Hamas wants Palestinians dead, so they can blame Jewish people. Hamas must be destroyed, down to the last member. That is the mission. Johannam awaits Hamas, and may they get their ticket soon. As the saying goes, “Their souls to the Devil.”
G-d bless you Karen S. for defending Israel & posting the truth regarding her history. I love your posts!
Shakdi
LIAR
Jonathan: Speaking of “extreme views and advocacy” you apparently missed Judge Chutkan’s hearing on Monday re Jack Smith’s request for a gag order on DJT re the the Jan. 6 criminal prosecution. Chutkan issued a partial gag order. DJT can generally criticize the case but can’t make direct threats against prosecutors, the judge or clerks. Chutkan said DJT “does not have the right to say or do exactly what he pleases”.
In describing DJT’s violent rhetoric against the judge and prosecutors Chutkan used a comparison with England’s King Henry the Second. In 1170 Henry was in a fight with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett. King Henry told his loyal followers: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest!”. Four of Henry’s Knights took that as a order, went to Canterbury and assassinated Beckett. Todd Blanche, apparently not up on English history, looked perplexed. But Judge Chutkan’s order was plain. If DJT continues to threaten the court and prosecutors he may have his bond revoked and he could end up in pretrial detention.
Will Todd Blanche be able to keep his client more subdued? Unlikely. On Monday DJT continued his personal attacks on AG Letitia James in the NY fraud case presided over by Judge Engoron– who issued a similar gag order against DJT after he revealed the name of one of Engoron’s clerks and posted her home address. This time DJT went on Truth Social and shared James’s home address online. Why? To terrorize and threaten. To paraphrase Henry the Second: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome prosecutor!”. Will the loyal MAGA supporters of DJT take this as an order? How much longer will Judge Engoron put up with the threats of DJT?
If America had a Supreme Court that supported the Constitution, per the sworn oath of judges and Justices, this “fake,” “affirmative action” project posing as a judge would have been admonished, corrected, forcibly recused, impeached and convicted for crimes of high office, and Real President Donald Trump’s constitutional rights would have been fully restored.
So she “ordered” someone to go murder Trump ? Wow what an idiotic lesson.
Trump can criticize her and anyone else in this kangaroo prosecution and court she isn’t the King who gives orders to subjects !
Now I think she has trans issues.
She is ordering him to stay silent. She is the king in this scenario, and yes she wants him dead.
This is not one of those issues where reasonable minds can disagree. Feeling exhilaration over a massacre of civilians is anti-human.
Israels JDAM into the hospital filled with widows and orphans slaughtering 500 innocent people and leveling the building is an international crime, anyone supporting it is anti-human and there is no reasonable disagreement.
Hamas has no firepower of such level.
Now get your rear end to Confession.
The professor of two evils
During World War Two it was not the Nazi soldiers who worked in the factories that produced tanks, aircraft and the rockets that rained down on London. The factories were operated by the civilian population. It was necessary to destroy the means of production of these armaments. I’m sure that civilians were killed in the bombing of these factories. It is necessary to destroy an enemies means of production to wage war. England had the right to stop the rockets aimed at London and Israel has the right to stop the rockets aimed at its cities. The rockets from Palestine are not aimed at military installations but are aimed at the civilian population. What would be the response from the U.S. if rockets were being delivered to our nation say from downtown Mexico City. The response rightfully would be swift and deadly. Yet somehow Israel is not entitled to the same response to protect its citizens?
How are you not entitled you are doing it and my country has been funding both sides of the war your side to a much much higher degree.
What I object to is the constant lies. Be man about it and tell it like it is. If you don’t want to do that expect correction.
Learn to speak English.
“”The terrorist organisations within the Gaza Strip fire indiscriminately toward Israel.”” said the IDF and blubbery.
Yeah, no guided missiles dumb dumb – mostly home made rockets. YOU LYING IDIOT CRIMINAL.
Iran provided Hamas with some advanced missiles, though most of them are with Hezbollah.
Do you ever bother to read primary information not released by terrorists?
The Koran 5 ‘The Table’:
“Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their number. God does not guide the wrongdoers.”
Edward Thorndike: ‘The Law of Effect’: “Operant Conditioning”: theory of learning where behavior that is accepted is rewarded and will be repeated, whereas behavior this not accepted is punished and will be less likely to occur.
John B Watson: ‘Methodological Behaviorism’: argued that behaviors’ in animals or humans are learned and are shaped by the environment.
Looking at this with filtered lens will not answer the underlying problem, hatred of fellow man. When self-righteousness guides your principles’ there is but one direction, confrontation of those you despise. Hate camouflages all paths to happiness and peace and only perpetuates misery.
Why does Hamas think that assault will lead them to Utopian paradise? Will they archive perfection while neglecting their populace? There has never been a utopian paradise on earth that lasted, most if not all have been digested into a dystopian hell on earth. We can see many examples of dystopia today here in American, cities where idleness and crime have impacted average citizen into protected conclaves fearful of fellow citizens and the future.
May God help us all!!!
The only type of diversity that would be meaningful in higher education is diversity of opinion, which will never come about as things are now structured because left wingers are so close minded, and tolerate no such diversity. I appreciate your position on Rickford, but I think there comes a point where someone’s opinion reflects such a delight in evil as to forfeit a faculty position in any institution worthy of the name. We’re not far from modern day Himmler’s holding distinguished positions at elite universities.
“DIWORSEIFICATION”
“Distrust diversifications, which usually turn out to be diworseifications.”
– Peter Lynch, One Up on Wall Street, 1989
Like the harvard students, I was shocked at the reaction to the Israel/Palestine statements – not the contents. As you point out, these statements are not surprising. Had they said these same things in September about whites, no one would have cared – it has all been said before. Are Jews special? Or were the obvious barbaric acts fresh in one’s mind too much to ignore?
Or possibly, did the barbaric acts give people that had been opposed to the academic stupidity the cover to speak up?
My guess is the later.
Jonathan: This not a new subject for you. You keep repeating the mantra that “Many schools have purged Republicans, conservatives and libertarians over the last two decades”. What is the proof? Anyone you can point to who has been deliberately “purged” because of their beliefs? Anything like the infamous Stalin “purge” trials? Perhaps you think that repeating your unproven claim will cause people to actually believe it. I don’t.
That said, and I know it’s hard to believe, I actually part company with the Biden administration over its policies toward Israel. Every administration, whether Dem or Republican, has supported Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians. It’s not popular to criticize Israel’s policies–at least with the prevailing political consensus in this country that reflexively endorses whatever Israel does to the Palestinians. But let’s be clear. The Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 Israeli citizens and the taking of hostages is a violation of the laws of war and humanitarian law. Since the Hamas attacks Israel has killed over 3,000 Palestinian civilians. Those are also war crimes. Biden is now in Israel and defends Israel’s air attacks on Gaza. He bizarrely claims Israel has a “right to defend itself” and says, siding with the Israeli claim, the air strike against the Palestinian hospital, that killed hundreds, was carried out by Islamic Jihad. Any proof? Nope. IJ says it did not carry out the attack and blames Israel. Why would they attack their own hospital? I suspect when all the evidence is in that facts will show it was an Israeli air attack.
Now Israel is preparing for a land invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas and other groups. Perhaps more thousands of innocent Palestinians will be killed. Israel says it has warned Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza–a narrow strip of land populated by over 2 million people–the largest concentration of people anywhere in the world. Where will they go? Palestinians are already fleeing south to Egypt. But the Egyptian government has so far refused entry. With no place to go what happens to Palestinians stuck in Gaza City? The Gaza infrastructure has been destroyed–no water, food or electricity, medical care–not even internet service. For the Israeli military it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.
I would compare what is happening in Gaza to the Jewish rebellion in the Warsaw ghetto in 1941-43 against the Nazi occupation. We applaud the Jews for fighting against their oppressors but somehow we don’t support the Palestinians in their resistance to the Israeli military. It’s a double standard that Biden doesn’t want to recognize. He sides with Israel no matter what they do. Former Israeli PM Golda Meir put it best when she described how Israel responds to periodic Palestinian resistance to occupation: “Every once in awhile we have to go in and mow the lawn”.
Dennis: I wholeheartedly concur with what you wrote. The Palestinian people have a right to a peaceful, dignified homeland without being controlled by Israel. And, you are correct that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians has been brutal. Amnesty International has a piece on line about it–here is a thumbnail: “The comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.”
Israel has taken over Palestinian territory and set up Israeli settlements, and, despite being condemned for doing this by the UN and other countries, the US says nothing. That is wrong. It is Israel’s brutality that created an opening for Hamas and other extremist organizations, and even if Israel could somehow wipe out all of Hamas, another organization would arise to take its place until or unless the rights of Palestinians are respected. They want sovereignty–a 2-state solution. This is a ripe opportunity for the US to coerce Israel to agree to do this. Instead, because Netanyahu is fighting for his political future and criminal indictments, he appears to be hell-bent on evening the body-count score. That is wrong, but even worse, it places in jeopardy innocent hostages, some of whom are Americans, Canadians and European citizens. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Hamas’s attack on Israel was wrong, but Israel was for cutting off food, electricity, gas, internet service and water to Gaza, knowing that 2 million + Palestinians had no way to escape from Gaza and their homes were bombed out, too.
And, the reason Egypt has, up to now, refused to admit refugees is because it is concerned that Israel might not let them back in, and that it isn’t prepared to take in and provide for up to 2 million homeless people that have nothing. They view the suffering of the Palestinians as a problem created by Israel that Israel should be accountable for solving. They probably wouldn’t have any homes to return to anyway.
So far there seems to be no proof of rapes in the Hamas attack. Sounds like normal war propaganda. Just like the 40 beheaded babies propaganda.
Gigi: I couldn’t have said it better!
Sadly true.
Just like Japan.
Of course, Japan had to unconditionally surrender first.
Why? Wars, like elections, have consequences. My father’s family was expelled from Prussia and my mother’s from Bohemia after WW II. Do they have a right to go back?
No, they do not.
“Japan had to unconditionally surrender first.”
Yes. And then, just like Germany, its dictatorial, genocidal ideology was shorn from its culture. In other words, they were Westernized. And look at the results in both countries. Some 70 years of economic prosperity, and neither country has invaded anyone.
The same should be done to Gaza.
The United States and the Western world intervened preventing a conclusion to the wars in the Middle East. When Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem and denied funding to Hamas, there was peace because Hamas had to deal with Israel. Biden made America resume its old path, and war broke out.
The amount of funding to Israel’s enemies from the US, Europe, and Iran is astounding.
Oil, anti-Semitism, and the use of proxies have caused Israel to be in the middle of things even though the country is only a dot on a huge map while other nations in the region have oil.
Take note of the productivity of this small dot of a nation compared to the Arab and Muslim world, with about 1.5 billion people. In recent history, Israel has given more to the world than any of these other nations and perhaps more than all those nations combined.
Who are the Palestinian people? There is no such thing. Some are Egyptian, North African and elsewhere. Why do you call them Palestinian as if that is their origin? Formerly the Jews were called Palestinians, and historically they are indigenous to the area. There are Arabs living in Israel. They are known as Israeli citizens. There are indigenous Jews living in Israel. They are known as Israeli citizens. There are Christians in Israel, and they too are known as Israeli citizens.
What is it that confuses you?
So if you’re having a barbecue with your family, relatives and friends in your backyard and your neighbor(s) will lob rocks and all kinds of objects at everyone in your party causing physical injuries and even causing deaths what would be your immediate reaction? Your post portrays an appeasement of the Hamas barbaric attack to innocent civilians and innocent babies…It’s sad that you’re taking the side of the barbarians who’ve been using innocent civilians as their shields in their terrorist activities…Do you idolize those barbarians?
“Do you idolize those barbarians?”
You’re giving them too much credit. Nihilists do not idolize anything. They want destruction for the sake of destruction — by any means necessary.
“Perhaps more thousands of [so-called] innocent [Gazans] will be killed.”
Such are the consequences when your government invades another country, and butchers its citizens.
Regarding the requirement to “stand in the corner,” where were the other students? Is a grade really worth one’s self-respect?
Rockford does not even has his facts straight. Some Israelis are european But the vast majority are of middle eastern origin and show the same genetics as the Palestinians and the other Arabs around them. They are not colonizers. Their ancestry and origin in Israel and Judah are over 3000 years old. I would not fire anyone who uses his free speech. But I would say that anyone who is exhilarated by mass death of human beings is somewhat sick and bordering on being a psychopath. The US dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan. I don’t know any records showing anyone dancing in the streets because they were exhilarated by the mass death in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and our leaders were sickened by the fact they had to use the weapon. The exhilaration came later when the war ended and the mass death worldwide ended, mostly. There is a difference.
Maybe some leftist professors who spout such things should be fired. It may be the only way they realize such behavior cuts both ways. You get what you reward and ignoring such behavior is rewarding such behavior.
Turley: “I have opposed calls to censor or fire Rickford.”
I, too, oppose any action to censor or fire any “academic” – if they can still be called that with a straight face. Instead, those who are exhilarated by innocents being wantonly slaughtered for no other reason than ‘reasons’ should be immediately airdropped directly onto the battlefield (Gaza, in this case) to further show their “support”.
JAFO,
Lots of people are all big and bad when it comes to cheering some actions on . . . from afar. From safe streets. From their keyboard.
I have noticed our one anonymous friend who was always calling out for the escalation of violence in the Ukraine/Russian war has not posted lately.
Or, maybe he did finally get his butt down to the recruitment center?
Upstate, if they’ve finally decided to practice what they preach then I’m all for it. Good luck to them as Keyboard Kommandos ‘over there’.
Back in the early 1980s I was living in Ithaca and picked up a copy of the Cornell Review (the conservative student magazine). The headline was: Where is the Diversity at Cornell? The article surveyed social science and humanities departments and found they included about 170 Democrats and one Republican. When a proposal was up before the student assembly in 2017 to encourage greater intellectual diversity, the assembly voted it down. The article notes that in 2015 over 96% of Cornell faculty political donations went to Democrat campaigns or liberal/progressive causes.
The resolution reads in part: “universities ought to be places where debate and dissent exists in order to ensure knowledge is expanded” and “students can create better arguments and challenge subtle assumptions when dealing with differing viewpoints.”
The students on the assembly were having none of it.
https://www.thecornellreview.org/cornell-student-assembly-says-no-faculty-diversity/
You attended Cornell and Harvard? Damn, bro. I feel like Im in the presence of royalty. Im jealous
Kudos!
Estovier –
Thanks. TBH I’ve found that students at other universities, especially in grad school, are often just as smart.
-OMFK, a/k/a Uncle Henry
Question, how many pro Israel and/or pro Hamas students would support and suit up for the USA or support the rights of free expression of conservatives? Could some be the same who create issue at speaking events on campus? How many in the recent poll said they’d leave the country before fighting for the USA?
I wonder what Rickman thinks of the Capitol riot.
He is a Malcolm X evangelist, there was bloodshed at the Jan 6 riot, the blood came from an unarmed white woman, US military veteran, and she was shot and killed by a black man, so connect the dots
The only way to fix this is through funding. Pull whatever funding that can be done by those who truly see the destruction being done to education – at all levels – and let them learn that radicalism without a counterbalance is not an appropriate approach to a well rounded education (as opposed to an indoctrination center). Actively work to remove those elements on boards and administration that either encourage or stay passive on the imbalance. It is like a cockroach invasion. Just stepping on the roaches you see is not going to end the infestation, you must find the nest and fumigate to remove the source of the infestation.
Not pull whatever funding – Pull ALL funding.
It is not governments business to determine the ideological makeup of or schools colleges and universities.
Government serves a small but necescary purpose and is both bad, inefficient and dangerous outside that narrow domain.
America doesn’t even vet our politicians, why is this any different? America is done… we allowed invaders to destroy us.