While protesters at Columbia University and Yale University celebrate Hamas and its "resistance" (a euphemism for violence and terrorism), Arabs have been ridiculing the "pro-Palestinian" demonstrators on American college campuses. For these Arabs, including some Palestinians, there is nothing "pro-Palestinian" about supporting the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, whose members slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 240 others on October 7, 2023.
It is also ironic that the current wave of protests on US college campuses comes at a time when most Palestinian and Arab universities remain quiet. One would have expected to see such protests at university campuses in the West Bank and several Arab countries. True, there were some relatively small protests at a few universities in Jordan and Egypt, but they did not come close to the wave of antisemitism sweeping college campuses in the US.
Those who are chanting "we are all Hamas" on the streets of New York and U.S. college campuses are not helping the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip even slightly. They are being used as human shields by the terrorist group Hamas in its genocidal war against Israel and Jews.
Behind Hamas, of course, is the puppeteer of the world's "leading state sponsor of terrorism," Iran in its genocidal war against "the Little Satan," Israel -- "Death to Israel" -- and "the Great Satan," the United States --"Death to America" (here, here, here and here).
When the Jew-haters on the college campuses proudly say "we are all Hamas," they are supporting an Islamist terrorist group responsible for the murder, rape, mutilation, and beheading of hundreds of Israelis, including burning infants alive and baking one in an oven. In addition, by chanting slogans in favor of Hamas, these individuals on campus are affiliating themselves with a group officially designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization.
The students and faculty members demonstrating in support of Hamas are actually saying that they approve of the atrocities committed by Hamas over the past three decades, including suicide bombings, stabbings, and the firing of thousands of rockets and mortars into Israeli cities, villages and farms. These anti-Israel protesters have openly demonstrated that they support the Islamists' Jihad against Israel and the West.
"Death to America" and "Death to Israel" were shouted in Michigan, Illinois and New York. Columbia University student Khaymani James went further. He said, "So, yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people [Zionists] to die." He added that people should "be grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists."
Loay Al-Shareef, a social media influencer from the United Arab Emirates wrote:
"Dear White Americans and Gen Zs who support or tolerate Hamas supporters on US campuses, a gentle reminder from a credible Arab Muslim voice from the Middle East:
"You are supporting a terror group with the same Islamist/ Muslim brotherhood pathological creed that brought down the twin towers in Manhattan in 2001.
"You would not survive a day in Gaza under Hamas, which demands that 'infidels' live with dignity only if they are subordinate to Islamists.
"You would not endure a day under the rule of these radicals. You do not understand Arabic, nor do you know Islam well enough to comprehend what awaits you if Hamas prevails (God forbid).
"Furthermore, you would also be the target of hatred because radical Islamists like Hamas believe in eternal enmity towards Jews and Christians. They interpret the Quranic verse (O you who believe, never take Jews and Christians as friends) as timeless, applicable to all Jews and Christians forever. In contrast, mainstream Muslims believe this verse was context-specific.
"Living in a civil society under the rule of Islamists like Hamas is unfeasible. Islamists unite against a common enemy but turn against each other when that enemy withdraws—as evidenced by their actions in Afghanistan in the late 1980s. Do you think you are safe?
"How can you trust an ideology that has failed its adherents so profoundly that they fled to America, Canada, and Europe to seek asylum, only to exploit the freedoms there to engage in activities that will ultimately endanger you as well?
"Take it from someone who knows how much hate this ideology instills in your heart, listen to those who overcome it.
"I am a credible voice who understands the region, the religions, and the language. I implore you to wake up because you are next."
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a prominent Gaza-born Palestinian American humanitarian activist and blogger, accused the "pro-Palestinian" protesters on the college campuses of employing inflammatory rhetoric that actually harms the Palestinian issue. It makes the Palestinians appear as extremists, and because such rhetoric emboldens Hamas and other radical groups that have brought a catastrophe on the Palestinians] Alkhatib revealed that the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which is leading the protests, has blocked him on social media because he dared to criticize their tactics, including support for the "armed struggle" against Israel.
"I'm disappointed and frustrated with the statement by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (who blocked me despite having never interacted with them)," Alkhatib said.
"In it, they reaffirm the right of armed resistance, an explicit endorsement of Hamas and October 7 and the 'all means necessary' narrative, reject the Two State Solution, and attack 'normalizers' or anyone who's willing to talk to Israelis and engage in promoting pragmatic solutions to achieve coexistence and peace.
"This is what losing the plot looks like: at a time of rising empathy & solidarity with the Palestinian cause, these students, heavily involved in the Columbia protests, decided that the best thing to do is take an extremist, maximalist, inflammatory, unreasonable, and totally illogical approach which is harmful to the pro-Palestinian cause. They brag about their extremist rhetoric and think it's bad to expect that they work on improving messaging. There is nothing inspiring about their message or efforts, only rejections, calls for 'escalations,' and attacks against anyone who doesn't toe the party line. And not a word about Hamas and the deadly impact that the Islamist group's program and decisions have had on the Palestinian people in Gaza.
"What have 75 years of armed resistance achieved for the Palestinian people?...
"Without a doubt, there needs to be advocacy for Palestinians' right to self-determination, independence, and sovereignty. But rejecting anything pragmatic that will actually help the Palestinian people or thinking that underinformed college students are going to dismantle Israel and eradicate it from existence is the height of pompous and vain, 'feel-good' activism that's never going to do a thing for the just and urgent Palestinian cause...
"Stop wasting your time, embarrassing the pro-Palestine movement, and alienating desperately needed allies from supporting the cause."
John Aziz, a British-Palestinian writer and musician, also expressed disgust at the anti-Israel messages of the protesters at the college campuses in the US, including calls for a global intifada (uprising).
"This is the kind of message that as a Palestinian, I have heard a lot over the years from a range of voices on my own side of the conflict," Aziz wrote.
"A message of unrestrained militancy, a threat to the world, a warning, an omen of violence. The language of Hamas, the language of al-muqawama (the resistance), the language of war.
"But this is not Gaza, nor Yemen, nor Tehran. These are not the militant words of some radical imam amid the dust clouds of Arabia, or the war-torn Mediterranean landscape of Gaza. These are signs posted and words spoken at Columbia University's Gaza solidarity encampment, in New York, the city with the largest Jewish population in the world - a city populated by 1.6 million Jews as compared to second-place Jerusalem's 546,000 Jews. If these students wished to emulate their heroes of the Al-Aqsa Flood and attack or kidnap Jews, they would have plenty to choose from."
Aziz was referring to chants and slogans on some of the campuses in the US, such as "Jews, Jews, go back to Poland" and "Paradise lies in the shadow of swords."
"How far have Hamas — the ideological heroes of these campus wannabe warriors — been willing to go in losing all of the trappings and the material spoils of their lives? They have gone all the way. Gaza today is shrouded in dust, shrapnel and rubble, and the relative — albeit limited — economic and material progress attained before the war is gone. In the region of 30,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians including women and children are said to have died as a consequence of the war Hamas instigated on October 7. Every university in Gaza has been damaged, a majority of the hospitals are out of commission and have been replaced by field hospitals. Gaza's productive economy has been replaced with food packages dropped from planes and delivered by trucks.
"Hamas' approach, in other words, has been a disaster for Palestinians in Gaza, not to mention the Israelis and people of other nationalities — including Americans and Britons — murdered, raped, and kidnapped on October 7 itself. Those who wish to style themselves as pro-Palestinian should recognise the failure of Hamas as leaders for Palestinians.
"But this ongoing pattern of failure has not stopped American students from falling into the arms of Hamas. While support for theocratic militants may for many be a juvenile silliness that most will simply grow out of and cringe about in future years, there is a risk of people following through on their words and turning to violence and terror, very literally globalising the intifada. At the very least, this is a fertile recruiting ground for radicals...
"The explosion of Hamasnik ideology on campuses in the United States and in Britain, as such, is a major embarrassment for these institutions. If universities cannot instil their students with peaceful, tolerant, and coexistent attitudes, then they have failed as institutions of higher learning."
Like Alkhatib, Aziz was blocked on social media by the group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.
Another Palestinian, Hamza Howidy, was also blocked by the same group for daring to criticize their words and actions. Howidy commented:
"Before I realized I was being blocked by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, along with two well-known Palestinian peace activists... I thought the calls for violence, support for Hamas, and globalizing intifada that were filmed during the Columbia SJP protests were strange and did not represent the Columbia SJP's basic standards. Supporting Palestinians (according to the SJP) appears to imply support for "armed resistance," which is entirely incorrect. Violence has failed us for decades, and the only way to accomplish justice for Palestinians is through peace."
By blocking the three Palestinian social media influences, SJP, which claims to seek justice for the Palestinians, is proving that it does not care about freedom of speech for the Palestinians and is as intolerant as Hamas and other terrorist groups to criticism.
Emirati researcher and journalist Amjad Taha warned that the Muslim Brotherhood (of which Hamas is an offshoot) is spreading on university campuses in the US.
"I'm leaving New York today, and I can confirm that antisemitism is spreading here faster than COVID-19 ever did. The Muslim Brotherhood is a cancer on every university campus. America needs #America before #Gaza and #Israel. Your next generation is held hostage by extremist ideologies."
It is refreshing to see that there are Arabs who understand the dangers of radical Islam infiltrating educational institutions in the US. It is also refreshing to see that there are Arabs who understand that support for Hamas and antisemitism are counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. If the US and other Western countries do not wake up to the fact that Jihad has come to their universities, they will wake up to October 7-style massacres on the streets of New York, London, and Paris.
Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim based in the Middle East.
Edward C. Stengel