My Day with Cornell Protestors: Antisemitism, Denial, and Ignorance

 Susan D. Harris - American Thinker

There are many who still associate the black and white keffiyeh with former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) head Yasser Arafat.  It’s a statement of solidarity that’s hard to stomach when transposed onto American campuses; especially for those of us old enough to remember its long history of turmoil and terrorism. 

AfterMath - Home (terrellaftermath.com)

. . ."Nearly fifty years on, everyone’s favorite contemporary activist, Greta Thunberg, has similarly been filmed chanting “crush Zionism,” and was recently detained for protesting Israel’s participation in a European song competition while wrapped in a keffiyeh that’s almost larger than she is.

"Back at Cornell, I’m watching similarly deluded ivy league college students dancing and laughing as they adjust their keffiyehs and fervently pound nails into a large “Hands off Rafah” sign they’ve been building.

"I ask one of the leaders of the group if she knows where Rafah is; I can tell by the confused look on her face that she doesn’t have a clue.  The only thing she can tell me is that “they’ve evacuated innocent Palestinians there and Israel is going to attack it and kill them.”

"Obviously these students are ignorant or don’t care that Rafah is considered the final outpost of Hamas; it’s where the terror masterminds are suspected to be holed up with their fighting brigades, and where the remaining hostages (including Americans) – both alive and dead – are believed to be held.  (Hope Forum, a group which represents some of the hostage families, has criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu for his delay in “conquering Rafah and rescuing [their] loved ones…”)

"It’s clear that Israel cannot win the war without going into Rafah.  And sadly, that’s a fact that President Biden knows too, so why would his administration decide to stop sending weapons to the Jewish state?  Esteemed Israeli journalist Caroline Glick wondered the same thing as she concluded that Biden’s recent actions were symbolically saying: “I have totally betrayed Israel and I am totally betraying the Jews.”  She added, “It also tells all of the antisemitic rioters on campus that violence pays … not only will you not be punished for it you will be rewarded.  I am going to answer your demands that the United States betray Israel and stand with the people who massacred [on October 7].” . . .