It’s unconscionable. But it’s not just the antisemitism that has me despairing. It’s the hypocrisy. Where were these caring young people when Hamas took over Gaza and slaughtered hundreds of Gazans, or when Hamas held 2 million Gazans captive for more than 17 years? Why didn’t they speak out about the fact that Hamas led Gazans into this conflict, which resulted in more than 30,000 dead and 80,000 injured, according to Gazan municipal authorities? Where were they when Hamas’s failed missiles claimed the lives of hundreds of Gazans on October 17, or when Hamas murdered young people in order to steal aid and resell it to Gazans at massively inflated prices?
But the protesters aren’t interested in peace. Some of the groups have been blocking Palestinian peace activists like me—and I am from Gaza, the very place they claim to care about! Instead of blocking peace activists, they should be inviting us to join these protests and guide them in the right direction—a place without hatred with a focus on calling for the release of the hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 210 days.
Where were these caring young people when Hamas took over Gaza and slaughtered hundreds of Gazans, or when Hamas held 2 million Gazans captive for more than 17 years?
You can answer your own question with the tiniest bit of thought. They were like 4 years old then. The kids are alright.
Reading that line, I chuckled. That has to be satire.
This article makes no sense. The protests have been explicit in their demands for their schools to disclose investments in Israeli war and divest. Whenever someone says, ‘Why don’t the protesters protest against Putin/Hamas/China/etc.??’ they’re clearly just saying, ‘Stop making demands of people you have leverage over! I demand symbolic, ignorable activism only!’
This article is… Bizarre.
Edit: I went looking for some context to try to understand who this guy is. Apparently Hamza Howidy left Gaza after he protested against Hamas and was beaten and tortured, and it seems that a lot of his online engagement is now directed solely at the need to remove Hamas from power. I must say that I feel sympathetic. That must be an awful position to be in. I think it’s sad that he seems to be suffering from the common misconception that one can only pick one side to oppose in a war. I wish him healing, and hope his family back in Gaza survives this war.
It’s not unheard of for victims of abuse to adopt the mentality of their abusers as a coping mechanism. His brain is broken.
Also notice that he says “some of the groups” have been “blocking” activists like him (whatever that means) but doesn’t name those groups.
Hmmm…
So he’s asking for the protectors to not make Israeli students afraid to come on campus. To not repeat phrases from hamas. Yet your take away is that there is more then one way to protest? So are you saying it’s OK to make students afraid? To repeat phrases from hamas?
I’m not sure if you’re trolling me, but I don’t know what part of what I said led you to any of that.
What part of my comment is about there being more than one way to protest?
For what it’s worth, I don’t endorse the use of violence in any context other than defense. That said, I think it’s largely pointless to debate what kind of protest is “OK”. It’s usually not a practical approach to fixing a problem, and is usually just employed to debate who deserves blame for something rather than examining how to fix something.
You said there is more then one way to oppose a war.
I think you misread my comment. I said that Howidy seems to falsely believe that one can only oppose one side in a war.
To repeat this point: We all can – and should! – condemn violence against civilians, sexual assault of captives, and the killing and torture of dissidents by ALL PARTIES. That includes the ruling parties of both Israel and Gaza at the moment.
I DO agree that there is more than one way to oppose a war. I’m not disputing that. But you seem to be having a different conversation than the one I was having. That wasn’t something I mentioned.
Oh yeah?! Well they still should have!
“Honey, would you like a Happy Meal for dinner?”
“Why no, mother. I have been reading in The Guardian about the Israeli apartheid of Palestinians and, as a believer in BDS, I cannot in good conscience support the McDonalds corporation while it supports Israeli aggression.”
“Ok, honey. Whatever you say. How about Wendy’s?”
“YAY! KID’S MEAL!”
I don’t think someone stupid enough to write this trash can do basic arithmetic.
Ironically? The byline says that he’s an accountant.
Obvious Israeli shill is obvious.
I don’t expect much from Newsweek and yet I still expected better than this from them. How much cherry picking did they have to do before they found Hamza Howidy to simp for Israel from inside Gaza?
Assuming this person is genuine, they have a defensible position. Hamas isn’t the hero here, they are a villain. We can both want to end senseless killings and want to stop villians.
I don’t think it’s defensible at all, whether he genuinely believes it or not.
The protesters, overall, have not been protesting in favor of Hamas. They’re protesting against Israel. They want to end the killings. Hamas right now is not the one doing the majority of the killing. Not even close. It’s only “defensible” if everyone in Gaza is a member of Hamas, even the babies.
And this guy is just full of shit if he’s claiming that these campus protesters are stopping Palestinians calling for peace from speaking.
Based on the authors stated history they are coming from a position of strong emotional hate for Hamas, fair enough. I can see why they want to focus here to be on Hamas. I think the author is incorrect in saying that protesting to stop the genocide is helping hamas.
I think you’re narrowing what he’s saying down to a single point while ignoring all the other ridiculous things he says in the article, such as berating college students for not condemning Hamas 17 years ago.
And there are so many half-thoughts too.
I assumed individuals who initiated these slogans were uninformed about what they were advocating for. I saw the LGBTQ flag frequently flown among people chanting lines from Hamas’s charter, and I initially wanted to educate them, to warn them that the group they are honoring would most likely toss them from the top of a building or murder them like they did to Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander accused of homosexuality.
So why didn’t he educate and warn them? Who knows. He didn’t say.
berating college students for not condemning Hamas 17 years ago
Just like Israel holds all Gazans responsible for electing Hamas, despite the majority of Gazans not being born yet.
How else would they be able to justify killing so many of them?
See, in mid-to-late oct, early November, I was of this same mindset. How can we support Hamas? They’re a far-right fundamentalist group that has a terrible track record. But…as time has gone on, they are just not at the top of my list of things to protest. Because there’s…yknow, a genocide happening? If the people of Gaza turned on Hamas right now, it’d be over for them. They need statehood. Then they can get rid of Hamas. But they need protection from the Israeli onslaught right now. It’s priority one.
This doesn’t make Hamas a good organization with the Palestinian people’s best interest at heart. It just makes them the only port in a storm.
If the natzis allow Palestine statehood then they can’t brand resistance as terrorism. Israel and America are headed for an ugly breakup.
Well, take a proper gander at that.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Apparently they do not realize that the Intifadas were disastrous for both Palestinians and Israelis, just as October 7 has been devastating for the people of Gaza.
I saw the LGBTQ flag frequently flown among people chanting lines from Hamas’s charter, and I initially wanted to educate them, to warn them that the group they are honoring would most likely toss them from the top of a building or murder them like they did to Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander accused of homosexuality.
Hate speech on college campuses starting with the one at Columbia has recently reached a frightening pitch.
I’ve seen people yelling antisemitic things at Jewish students, including “Jews go back to Poland” and other horrible phrases.
I do not accept hateful speech or terrorist chants, and all of these foolish dreams about eradicating Israel are disgusting—and will never be achieved.
Instead of blocking peace activists, they should be inviting us to join these protests and guide them in the right direction—a place without hatred with a focus on calling for the release of the hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 210 days.
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