Misplaced Focus On Gaza — Look At Global Islamist Terrorism

The point of this article is to explain why being against Israel in its war with Hamas is not merely anti-Israel, but is anti-Jewish, by placing a hugely disproportionate magnification on Israel while ignoring larger conflicts around the world and their primary cause  —  Islamist terrorism.  This article explores the state of the world, and its major armed conflicts, and the central role of Islamist terrorism in the great majority of those conflicts.  Those who are ignorant of world events should pay real attention to the actual cause of the deaths of millions and the displacement of tens of millions.

In looking at human suffering, the Gaza War takes a back seat.  There have been 43 significant armed conflicts in the last two decades, most of which are ongoing, (these conflicts are identified below).  And, of those 43 conflicts, 36 (84%) are committed by Islamists like Hamas (many dozens of these Islamist organizations are identified below).  While Pro-Palestinian protesters assert their concern for human suffering, they have been entirely silent regarding vastly larger conflicts.

Israel, a tiny country, has repeatedly undertaken huge risks, repeatedly ceded large segments of its land, and repeatedly offered the Palestinians their own state, in the hope of securing peace.  Yet, the awful result is that Israel has been permanently targeted with the murder and kidnap of its citizens at a scale that no other country has endured.  This is because Palestinians have proven no interest in the creation of their own state, but only in the destruction of Israel.

Rather than focus on Islamist terrorism, Western ignorance of it has led to unparalleled scrutiny of Israel and rage against Jews at large.  This has resulted in hate-filled violent protests that include injury, rape, and murder.  Those who want a better world should confront their lack of knowledge of the world’s true large-scale human rights abuses, as well as their prejudice.

BRIEF FACTUAL CONTEXT

In order to best understand this article, it would be very helpful, but not absolutely necessary, to read the full context of related issues found in another Blog post I’ve researched and written, “Freeing Gazans Means Ending Hamas.”  That fully-footnoted article explains the history of Israel and of Gaza; the many risky actions Israel has taken in its quest for peace and the many two-state solutions Israel has presented to the Palestinians; Palestinian terrorism toward Israelis and toward Jews generally (the populational equivalent of the murder of 220,000 Americans civilians); Hamas’ charter calling for all Muslims to murder all Jews everywhere; Hamas’ Gaza election victory and its persistent majority support from Gazans; the constant terrorist violence and constant massive efforts Hamas undertakes to murder Israelis, each breaking the prior agreed-to ceasefire; the fundamental failure of Hamas to abide by any aspect of the Geneva Conventions that govern armed conflict, contrasted with Israel’s efforts to prevent civilian casualties that exceed its Geneva Conventions obligations; and the tens of billions of dollars that the Palestinians have uniquely received to support them for decade after decade, yet which has not led to self-reliance but instead has been siphoned off by Hamas to commit terrorism.

ACTUAL GAZAN DEATH AND SUFFERING

A review of Gazan death and suffering is in order, to understand its actual magnitude.  Three things must be understood regarding the history of reported death and suffering of civilians in Gaza. First, it must be grasped that Hamas is a popularly-elected terrorist organization with the perfectly-clearly expressed singular purpose, incessantly acted upon, to murder Jewish civilians. Second, Hamas very intentionally attacks from Gaza’s civilian areas — hospitals, schools, mosques, and dense residential areas — in order to induce the greatest number of Gazan civilian casualties when self-defense measures are taken (https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-chiefs-brutal-calculation-civilian-bloodshed-will-help-hamas-626720e7).  Third, Hamas controls the informational sources within Gaza concerning alleged casualties and hardships.

That Hamas murder civilians, and that Hamas attacks from civilian areas in order to induce civilian Gazan casualties, are not new facts.  However, the impact of Hamas’ control of casualty figures requires review.  Recently, the Hamas Health Ministry reported approximately 35,000 Gazans dead, and it reported that each death was of a non-combatant (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-how-many-palestinians-has-israels-campaign-killed-2024-05-14/). These numbers have been proven not merely statistically impossible, but simply false. For instance, the great majority of reported deaths are of women, and far fewer men — which does not even match Hamas’ military wing’s admission of the deaths of many thousands of its terrorists.  Further, there are no reports of deaths by natural causes, which are 10,000 annually (https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers; https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sydqaxqlr).  Very recently, the U.N. simply unilaterally announced that it was halving the Hamas Information Ministry’s reported number of women and child casualties, due to a lack of supporting evidence and identification (https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-801433), and a series of reviews have demonstrated the near-total fictional accounts of Gazan deaths (as a prime example, when Israel was accused of firing a missile that struck near the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, the Gazan Health Ministry, doctors, and repeated news accounts put the number of deaths at between 471 and 500 — but when it was revealed that the destruction was not caused by Israel, and almost certainly by a misfired Palestinian terrorist rocket, the number of deaths suddenly dropped to an estimated 25-50 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ahli_Arab_Hospital_explosion).

The Geneva Conventions First Protocol, Article 51, states that “The presence of the civilian population shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations” — meaning, combatants hiding among civilians are still targets, and the responsibility for consequent civilian deaths lies with the hiding combatants (https://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions). Israel has sought to adhere to the Geneva Conventions, but has dramatically improved upon all past wars in reducing civilian deaths.

As an example, in the 1979-1989 Russian war in Afghanistan, an estimated 850,000-2,000,000 civilians were killed (https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War#). In modern urban warfare, the United Nations has estimated that civilians usually account for 80 percent to 90 percent of casualties, or a 1:9 ratio (https://press.un.org/en/2022/sc14904.doc.htm).

Yet, military experts exploring the difficulties faced by Israel in fighting find the number of civilian casualties remarkably low, at a ratio of approximately 1:1.5 (https://www.newsweek.com/israel-has-created-new-standard-urban-warfare-why-will-no-one-admit-it-opinion-1883286). Israel does this at the cost of ceding the element of surprise and exposing its own forces to far greater danger. Israel drops millions of leaflets, sends tens of millions of emails and texts, and directly calls civilians to warn them of impending actions, and provides them with safe passage (https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf).

As these facts demonstrate, while there is unfortunate death and suffering in Gaza, it is not nearly as significant as Hamas announces it to be;  it is caused by and the responsibility of Hamas;  and, it is a vastly lesser amount than has ever been found in any other form of urban warfare, due to Israel’s care and concern for civilians, even at the cost of its own people.

GLOBAL SUFFERING DUE TO ARMED CONFLICT

Hamas’ best weapon is its well-developed media campaign. Hamas’ greatly amplifies the images and messages of Gazan suffering. This amplification of Gazan suffering needs to be placed into global perspective.

To understand human suffering requires an understanding of the events in the world.  Understanding the events in the world requires careful attention to the news. Yet, in the United States, conventional news consumption through newspapers (both print and digital) is down about 70% in the past couple of decades (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/28/audiences-are-declining-for-traditional-news-media-in-the-us-with-some-exceptions/). About 70% of Americans do not know basic facts about the U.S. government (https://www.foxnews.com/media/survey-shows-7-10-americans-lack-basic-knowledge-government-works-tough-wake-up-call). In a public survey regarding common international knowledge, only 6% of Americans could correctly answer at least 80% of questions (https://www.cfr.org/report/us-adults-knowledge-about-world).

Perhaps it is not surprising that so many people know so little about the world. Most know only what they are fed by social media machines such as Tik Tok.  A primary task of this article is to educate the reader as to the actual recent and ongoing significant events on the planet, to provide perspective into the reality of human suffering due to armed conflict.

Here is a list of the 43 significant armed conflicts that have taken place and/or are ongoing in the world since 2000. The majority are ongoing. This list only catalogs conflicts that have thousands of known civilian casualties — which should not diminish the recognition of all the many human suffering events that do not rise to that casualty figure:

Afghanistan War, 2001 – 2021
Cause: Islamic insurgency and belligerence
Civilian Deaths: 176,000
Displaced: 6,600,000
Source: War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)

Chad Civil War, 2005-2010
Cause: Northern Muslims v Southern Christians
Civilian Deaths: 7,000
Displaced: 200,000
Source: Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian_Civil_War_(2005%E2%80%932010)

Chechen War (Second), 2000-2011
Cause: Islamic Insurgency/Independence
Civilian Deaths: 50,000
Displaced: hundreds of thousands
Source: Second Chechen War – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Chechen_War

Congo Conflict, 2004 to present
Cause: Tribal insurgencies against other tribes
Civilian Deaths: 12,000 direct, hundreds of thousands indirect
Displaced: over 1.2 million
Source: Kivu conflict – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivu_conflict#Human_rights_abuses

Hamas Wars, 2007-present
Cause: Islamic Hamas constantly attacking Israel, with 8 identified wars
Civilian Deaths: low tens of thousands of deaths, casualties on both sides
Displaced: none permanently, on both sides
Source: Israel–Hamas war – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war

Hamas – Fatah Conflict, 2007
Cause: Islamic Hamas overthrew Palestinian Fatah for control of Gaza
Deaths: low thousands
Source: Fatah–Hamas conflict – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict

Houthi Insurgency, 2004 to present
Cause: Islamic-led insurgency, evolving into civil war
Civilian Deaths: hundreds of thousands
Displaced: 3,000,000
Source: Houthi insurgency – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_insurgency

Iraq War, 2003 to 2011
Cause: U.S.-led coalition asserts weapons of mass destruction, regime change
Civilian Deaths: 110,000 direct, hundreds of thousands indirect
Displacement: hundreds of thousands
Source: Iraq War – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

Iraq Civil War, 2006-2013
Cause: Shia Muslim v Sunni Muslim sectarian violence and Islamic insurgency
Civilian Deaths: 80,000 (estimated 1,000,000 total)
Displaced: 4,000,000
Source: Iraqi civil war (2006–2008) – Wikipedia; Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_civil_war_(2006%E2%80%932008)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency_(2011%E2%80%932013)

Kyrgyzstan War, 2010
Cause: Tribal/Cultural/Religious conflict
Civilian Deaths: significant but unknown
Displaced: 500,000 permanently displaced
Source: 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_South_Kyrgyzstan_ethnic_clashes

Libyan Civil Wars, 2010-2020
Cause: Conflict between Islamic factions
Civilian Deaths: many tens of thousands
Displaced: likely hundreds of thousands
Source: Libya – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya

Mexican Drug Wars, 2006 to present
Cause: Drug cartels against local and federal government
Civilian Deaths: tens of thousands
Source: Mexican drug war – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_drug_war

Myanmar Civil War, 2021-present
Cause: Civil war between ethnic factions with ethic cleaning
Civilian Deaths: 52,000
Displaced: 2,330,000 internally displaced
Source: Myanmar civil war (2021–present) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar_civil_war_(2021%E2%80%93present)

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to present
Cause: Conflict between Islamic Azerbeijan and its Armenian enclave
Civilian Deaths: tens of thousands
Displaced: hundreds of thousands permanently displaced
Source: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_conflict

Pakistan Insurgency, 2001 to present
Cause: Islamic-led insurgency
Civilian Deaths: 64,000
Displaced: hundreds of thousands
Source: Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Khyber_Pakhtunkhwa#Casualties

Russian-Ukraine War, 2014-present
Cause: Russian invasion of Ukraine
Civilian Deaths: tens of thousands
Displaced: hundreds of thousands
Source: Russo-Ukrainian War – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War

Sinai Unrest, 2011-present
Cause: Islamic insurgency in Egypt
Civilian Deaths: 8,000
Displaced: likely tens of thousands
Source: Sinai insurgency – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinai_insurgency

Somalia War, 2006-present (also involving Ethiopia and Eritrea)
Cause: Islamic insurgency
Civilian Deaths: many tens of thousands killed
Displaced: millions
Source: War in Somalia (2006–2009) – Wikipedia, Somali civil war (2009–present) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Somalia_(2006%E2%80%932009)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_civil_war_(2009%E2%80%93present)

Sri Lanka Civil War, 2006-2009
Cause: Terrorist civil war
Civilian Deaths: 28,000 deaths
Displaced: 315,000 internally displaced
Source: Eelam War IV – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_War_IV

Sudan, 2003 to present
Cause: Islamic-led insurgency to remove non-Muslims
Civilian Deaths: 300,000 deaths
Displaced: millions
Source: War in Darfur – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur

Syrian Civil War, 2010-present
Cause: Brutal repression of democratic uprising by Islamic regime
Civilian Deaths: hundreds of thousands
Displaced: millions
Source: Syrian civil war – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war

Thailand Insurgency, 2001 to present
Cause: Islamic-led insurgency
Civilian Deaths: 6,000
Source: South Thailand insurgency – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency

Trans-Sahara Conflict, 2001-present
Note: this is a catch-all for vast intra-African Islamic insurgencies in 21 African countries: each is its own Islamic insurgent conflicts: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tunisia
Cause: Islamic insurgencies
Civilian Deaths: total low hundreds of thousands
Displaced: many hundreds of thousands
Sources: Operation Juniper Shield – Wikipedia; Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009) – Wikipedia; Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) – Wikipedia; Islamist insurgency in the Sahel – Wikipedia; Mali War – Wikipedia, and many other references
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Juniper_Shield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_rebellion_(2007%E2%80%932009)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_the_Maghreb_(2002%E2%80%93present)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamist_insurgency_in_the_Sahel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_War

Turkey-Kurd Conflict, 2015-present
Cause: Islamic Turkey efforts to kill and remove ethnic Kurds
Civilian Deaths: tens of thousands
Displaced: 500,000
Source: Timeline of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Kurdish%E2%80%93Turkish_conflict_(2015%E2%80%93present)

THE ROLE OF ISLAMIST TERRORISM IN GLOBAL CONFLICTS

It is critical to recognize the singular, overwhelming role of Islamist terrorism in 84% of all significant armed conflicts around the entire planet. Hamas’ founding Charter makes clear that it is exactly part of the global brand of Islamist terrorism. It states that it is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, that Jihad is the duty of every Muslim, quotes Islamic tenets calling for the murder of all Jews everywhere, that death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest ambition, and that no negotiation is possible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Hamas_charter#Summary_of_the_1988_charter).

Terrorism against civilians is the standard practice of Islamist groups globally. Members of each Islamist group engage in destruction, rape, murder, and looting. These Islamist tactics are the main cause of the millions of non-combatant deaths and tens of millions of displaced non-combatants in the world.

Here is a list of Islamist groups that are engaging in civilian terrorism around the world. Some of these groups will be familiar to Westerners, and some will be lesser known (those paying attention to international news will find more of these names to be more familiar):

Abdullah Azzam Brigades
Al Furqan Brigades
Al-Fatah
Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia
Al-Mourabitoun
Al-Nusra Front
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula
Al-Qa’ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb
Al-Shabaab
Ansar al-Sharia
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis
Ansar Dine
Ansaru
Army of God
Army of Islam
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq
Badr Brigades
Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patani
Barisan Revolusi Nasional
Boko Haram
Chechen Mujahideen
ETIM Group
Fatah-Al-Islam
Fidai Mahaz
Hamas
Hasm Movement
Hezbollah
Houthis
Hurras al-Din
Islamic Army in Iraq
Islamic Courts Union Loyalists
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Group
Islamic State
Islamic State – West Africa Province
Islamic State in the Greater Sahara
Islamic State Khorasan Province
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Islamic State of Iraq
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
Jabhatul Islamiya
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslim
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jund al-Islam
Jundallah
Kata’ib Hezbollah
Lashkar-e-Islam
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Liberation and Justice Movement (Darfur)
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
Macina Liberation Front
Mahdi Army
Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa
Muaskar Anole
Mujahideen Shura Council
Mullah Dadullah Front
Patani United Liberation Organization
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Resistance Movement
Promised Day Brigades
Ras Kamboni Brigades
Runda Kumpulan Kecil
Salafi-Jihad
Sierra Leone Muslim Jamaat
Soldiers of Egypt
Sudan Liberation Army-Unity
Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance
Sudan Liberation Movement
Takfir wal-Hijra
Taliban
Tawhid al-Jihad
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Turkistan Islamic Party
Wilayat Sinai

The global breadth of Islamist violent organizations is shocking. While the West is always identified as the enemy of Islam, the West has utterly failed to register the reality of this vast constant source of violence flowing from Islam. This failure to recognize the constancy of Islamist terrorism is the world’s greatest disadvantage in working toward a peaceful planet.

THE EXTREME FOCUS ON THE HAMAS WAR — AND NONCOVERAGE OF OTHER WARS

Israel struggles to fight an asymmetrical war in which, on the one hand, the sole focus of Hamas is to murder Israeli civilians while hiding among Gazan civilians, while on the other hand, Israel’s divided focus is to try to avoid its civilians from being murdered while also trying to stop Hamas yet minimize Gazan civilian deaths.  By contrast, in a symmetrical war, in which each side plays by the same set of rules (this is, understandably, the rationale that defines the vast history of human warfare), Israel would simply try to murder Gazans just as Hamas tries to murder Israelis.

The unspoken undercurrent found in media coverage are the thousands of years of anti-Jewish prejudice (Judaism dates back about 3800 years; Christianity about 2000 years; and Islam about 1400 years).  In sum, Hamas broke yet another ceasefire agreement, murdered families in their homes and slaughtered hundreds of young people at a music festival, and took over 200 hundred civilians hostage, many of whom were then raped and murdered in Gaza.  In response, Israel has taken unprecedented steps to avoid the deaths of Gazans, even though this provides Hamas with a significant tactical advantage and has resulted in the deaths of Israel’s non-professional citizen-soldiers.  Yet, the media presentation of the Hamas War is substantially contrary to that reality: as an example, social media giant Tik-Tok’s posts about the Hamas War have run an astounding ratio of over 50 times higher in anti-Israel than pro-Israel messaging (https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4353828-why-is-gen-z-so-pro-palestine-and-anti-israel/).

But even more importantly, the Hamas War is virtually the only international news that is covered (along with occasional coverage of the Ukraine War).  At the same time, there are armed conflicts taking place throughout half of the non-Muslim countries in Africa, and elsewhere in the world, resulting in the deaths of millions and displacement of many millions more.  As noted, 84% of these conflicts is caused by one or another Islamist terrorist organization.  Few of these conflicts receive even a mention in the news or in social media, and the sole Islamist terrorism cause of these conflicts is virtually never presented.

Literally, millions have been murdered by Islamist terrorism organizations, and yet there is no public outcry in the West.  Also, Russia has killed hundreds of thousands in its neighbor Ukraine in an unprovoked war, and there is outcry, but there are few public protests.  Only regarding Israel, which has unavoidably killed perhaps 10,000 Muslims (out of a population of 2 billion Muslims) when trying to root out the terrorists that hide among them, is held up for this level of scrutiny and critique.

Western protests have asserted outrage at Israel’s “genocide.” Genocide is the intentional destruction of a specific people. In the past several hundred years, the only targets of genocide have been many series of various indigenous populations in the Americas, Asia, and Oceana; the Armenians in Turkey in the 1910s; and, the entire Jewish population throughout Europe and the Middle East during and after the Holocaust — which resulted in the virtual elimination of Jews in Europe and the Middle East, except for their ancestral and permanently-populated homeland of Israel.  To have the term genocide applied to Israel regarding Gazans is a complete mockery.  However, the term may now be applicable to the many Christian and Animist populations of Africa that Islamist terrorists have been murdering and displacing for the past several decades.  That exceedingly little Western attention is paid to this massive human suffering does not diminish its reality.

The undue negative focus on Israel is perfectly demonstrated by how the Netanyahu government was singled-out in a daily flow of articles regarding its right-wing effort at judicial reform.  This right-wing effort was constantly in the news, and yet little was heard of all the true hard-right reforms in governments in Europe, and Asia, and Africa.  Yet, when ultimately Netanyahu’s effort wended its way through Israel’s government and was fully dismissed by Israel’s Supreme Court, there were no banner headlines explaining that the Israeli democratic process was safely defended by Israel’s Supreme Court  —  which is led by a woman, and includes five other women and a Muslim Arab-Israeli.

YOU’RE NOT WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE — YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO

Anti-Israel protesters have proven extremely limited in demonstrating their actual knowledge about Israel, about Hamas, about Palestinians, about warfare, and about global events (Here are a handful of the many videos revealing anti-Israel demonstrators’ lack of knowledge — while I believe these to be legitimate videos, Americans’ general lack of knowledge is better evidence of the breadth of the problem regarding the impact of ignorance (discussed above): https://www.newsweek.com/college-students-protesters-middle-east-gaza-conflict-ignorance-israel-palestine-1860049; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOYetxiD9EM&list=TLPQMjcwNTIwMjQH4j_HGvgVdw&index=2; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-AmRRb84Us; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hr528dPuVQ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx8PQ5ktQPE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1yRXqW6bq0).

The protestors may think that their intentions are good.  But intentions are irrelevant, and all that matters is doing the right thing with the available information and with solid values.  Worst, it is unclear what protestors are trying to accomplish: by all outward signs, the protests are simply manifested by being anti-Jewish.

Striking out at Jews is just that.  It does not and cannot impact the Hamas War.  It is simply Jew hatred — full stop.

Real awareness should come in recognizing that there are dozens and dozens of causes that truly need action.  That there is real terrorism resulting in the murders and displacements of millions.  That there is real and permanent extinction of hundreds of thousands of our fellow animal species. There is true cataclysmic climate destruction that will profoundly negatively impact the majority of the human population.  Why are these things not motivating mass protests?

Unfortunately, the most obvious conclusion is that hatred is the most accessible human emotion.  For the majority of humanity, the constant refrain for millennia has been untethered hatred of the world’s tiny Jewish population. What we see today is exactly that same ugly refrain.

Perhaps those who truly care about improving the world will realize that action requires a commitment to learning and a commitment to applying sound values.  Of course, if this was going to happen, it should already have happened.  But here’s to hoping that our leadership, our modern educational systems, our for-profit media, our social media, and our age-old biases, will all somehow suddenly conspire to make people better at understanding the world and thinking through its problems and solutions.