Try a little honesty about Israel | COMMENTARY | Victor Davis Hanson
“Two-state solution”: When student protesters scream “from the river to the sea,” that is not advocacy for a two-state solution. It is a call to eliminate the state of Israel — lying in between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea — and its 10 million Jewish and Arab citizens. The Hamas charter is a one-state/no-Israel agenda, which we saw attempted on Oct. 7.
"Scan news accounts of anti-Israel campus and street protesters. Read their demands and manifestos. Collate the confusion after Oct. 7 from the Biden administration.
"Here are 10 of their most common untruths about Oct. 7 and the war that followed.
“Progressive Hamas”: Gay and transgendered student protesters in America would be in mortal danger in Gaza under a fascistic Hamas that has banned homosexual acts and lifestyles. Anyone protesting publicly against Hamas or its allies would be arrested and severely punished.
"Women are segregated in most Hamas-run educational institutions. Under the Hamas charter, women are valued mostly as child-bearers. By design, there are almost no women in high positions in business or in government under Hamas.
" 'Colonists and settlers”: Students scream that Israelis are “settlers” and “colonists” and sometimes yell at Jewish students to “go back to Poland.”
"But the Jewish presence in present-day Israel is deeply rooted in ancient tradition. Dating back at least three millennia, the concept of “Israel” as a distinct Jewish state, situated roughly in its current location, is ingrained in history.
"By contrast, the much later Arab invasions of the Byzantine-controlled Levant and their arrival in Palestine occurred about 1,800 years after the establishment of a Jewish Israel.
“ 'Two-state solution”: When student protesters scream “from the river to the sea,” that is not advocacy for a two-state solution. It is a call to eliminate the state of Israel — lying in between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea — and its 10 million Jewish and Arab citizens. The Hamas charter is a one-state/no-Israel agenda, which we saw attempted on Oct. 7.
“ 'Occupied Gaza”: Gaza was autonomous. The Israeli border is closed, but so is the Egyptian border. There have not been any Jews in Gaza for nearly two decades.
"So on Oct. 7, Gaza was not occupied by Israel. It was under the control of Hamas, designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. After being elected to power in 2006, Hamas canceled all subsequent elections and ruled as a dictatorship. Gaza forbids Jews from entering Gaza and has driven out most Christians. Israel hosts 2 million Arabs, both as Israeli citizens and residents.
" 'Netanyahu is the problem”: The United States and Europe claim that the conservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu is alone behind the Israeli tough response in Gaza. Thus, both the European Union and the United States are doing their best to undermine or even overthrow the elected Netanyahu administration.
"Yet, most Israelis support Netanyahu’s coalition government’s agenda of destroying Hamas in Gaza. There is no evidence that any other alternative Israeli government would do anything differently from the present policies toward Hamas." . . .