Anti-Israel Demonstrations are an Assault on the Working Class & Democrats
It cannot be denied
During the height of the Israel-Hamas War in 2023/2024, anti-Israel protesters taking over the streets of U.S. cities became an almost-daily occurrence. When they did it during the election season, one of the common slogans that these geniuses would waive around was some variation of the following:
When I saw it, my natural reaction was, “so, would they prefer Trump?”
Evidently the answer to that was yes, because 1) we have Trump back; and 2) I have seen zero reaction from the same activist class to this:
I am not writing in defense of any politician—except to state that this promo video with a gold statue of Trump in the middle of Gaza City while Elon Musk munches on hummus in front of bearded belly dancers is, simply put, batshit crazy. I bring it up to point out the following: while we see that the reaction to Trump’s glib “Mar-a-Gaza” vision has been highly negative, much of the negativity seems to be coming from his supporters, not from the anti-Israel crowd who presumably never supported him in the first place (but yet whose actions contributed largely to his win).
Instead, we have a mob of students blaming the president of Barnard College for what’s happening in the Gaza of their own imagination. Because we all know that if we need an expert on dropping 2000-lb bombs in war, President Rosenbury is our woman. The evening before the demonstration below, a group of masked student-terrorists took over a campus building for 6 hours, assaulted a campus employee, and vandalized the walls. For that, they were rewarded with a “negotiations” meeting with the president scheduled to take place during this outdoor gathering that required police presence:
From my observations, the groups who have experienced the most grief from the anti-Israel mob are the following:
Police officers (the numerous videos of them dealing with the mobs are self-explanatory, but I expand on that more here).
Security and public safety workers, like the one who ended up in the hospital after getting assaulted during the building takeover:
Maintenance staff who literally clean up the messes that these student-terrorists leave behind, like here:
I have given up trying to find any logic in any of these behaviors coming from all ends of the aisle. It all seems illogical on the face of it—like why Hamas would break into a kibbutz to kill people who wanted peace with them. Or why Muslim voters of Deerborn, Michigan went heavy for Trump after Bernie foolishly tried to pander to them. Or why Joe the Plumber types of the U.S. are suddenly sympathizing with us Jews. Or why our nation’s most “selective” universities have chosen—yes, chosen—to spiral downward into a cesspool of sheer stupidity.
The only thing I can say is that we need major changes among the left and the Democratic Party if we wish to have any chance of fighting these vile forces that have co-opted our entire end of the aisle despite representing a small (but very loud) minority. That will be the topic for my next post.
As a former union organizer who organized real workers for twenty years, maybe I can shed some light on why “Joe Plumber” as you call him (though I find that a little squeam inducing) is supportive of Israel. 🇮🇱 The white working class in large part has traditionally American values, like the importance of hard work and family. They are not at all interested in woke ideology or in cultural or moral relativism. If you haven’t been brainwashed or brain wormed by the far left, it is only logical to be supportive of a western style democracy of people who work very hard and have Jewish values. Normal Americans are horrified by the crimes of the terrorists and remember 9/11. Many Christians are very supportive of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and not in a creepy way like people like to accuse us. I have this chat with the Penn Chabad Rabbi’s wife on a regular basis as they have basically adopted me as their local ally in need of a home. Penn went insane with antisemitism but Jewish life involvement more than doubled. When I say I want to move to more central Pennsylvania to get away from white kids in keffiyehs who chant their support for Hamas, the rabbi and his wife totally get it. American workers who aren’t elite liberals, aren’t Ivy League marxists and aren’t intent on virtue signaling their unconditional support for anything anyone with brown skin does will default to supporting Israel. Many also love their Jewish community members, especially teachers. Hard working, family oriented Jewish people are way more like working class Americans than suicide bombing terrorists. The white working class isn’t stupid. They resisted woke ideology when the suburban whites ate it up. I’m not surprised at all when my middle American friends say “Shalom” to an Israeli member of a zoom meeting I attend. They get that we are on the same side.
You said it, Jill! The riot at Barnard College was absolutely unacceptable. The college’s response to it was just as bad. These students are not peaceful protesters merely exercising their first amendment rights. If they were, this wouldn’t have been such a big news story. But they instead were marching through the halls, chanting genocidal, slogans, intimidating Jewish students and faculty, covering their faces with keffiyehs, assaulted a worker, and left a mess in their wake. You’d think a tornado 🌪️ had hit the school after seeing the mess they left. But they weren’t punished but rewarded with “negotiations” with the President of the school. It’s time for Laura Rosenbury and the entire board of trustees to resign their posts! The students involved must all be expelled and any lawsuits they try to bring against the school dismissed in court. It’s time to get tough on these kids who are old enough to know better. Barnard College is a total joke and a hive of antisemitism. I advise all Jewish students and faculty to transfer out or resign immediately. I also call on all alumni to pull donations. You are right, Jill the Democratic Party and the left have a big problem with woke leftism, antisemitism and hatred for Israel. That has to end! I think it’s time for the Democratic Party to return to being a center-left working man’s party and expel progressives and leftists. They must also adopt a balanced position on the Israel-Palestine Conflict and support peace for both peoples. The Democratic Party must also return to being a big tent party that Jews, Arabs and Muslims can all feel at home in. It’s time for these BDS types to find a real cause to protest for. Not against an imaginary genocide in Gaza that never happened.