Surge in Antisemitic, Anti-Israel Attacks Requires Taking Seriously the Boulder-Washington-Harrisburg Challenge to Western Society

When Egyptian national Mohamed Soliman reportedly threw two Molotov cocktails on a group of pro-Israeli demonstrators at Boulder, Colorado, it was the latest warning that things are spinning out of control.Mr. Soliman reportedly injured 15 people ranging in age from 25 to 88 years old. The oldest was a Holocaust survivor. The attacker yelled “free Palestine” during the assault. Now, Mr. Soliman is charged with 118 crimes. Given how slowly the American legal system moves, this could take a long time to adjudicate. There is also an effort by some people to question his mental condition and possibly use it as a defense.The Boulder attack followed the killing of a young couple outside a Jewish museum at downtown Washington, D.C. In that case, the killer also reportedly shouted “free Palestine.”That tragedy followed an arson attack on Governor Shapiro’s official residence at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Shapiro’s attacker said the governor needed to know his attacker “will not take part in [Mr. Shapiro’s] plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”It is clear there is a huge surge in antisemitic and anti-Israeli behavior in the United States. When you have three different attacks in three different states in a matter of weeks, something is deeply wrong.Years of left-wing propaganda siding with terrorists and rejecting Israel’s right to live have now bred a dangerous attitude among an active minority of Americans as well as among legal and illegal immigrants. For this group, coercion and violence against Jews and anyone who is pro-Israel seems a totally legitimate and admirable activity.It is going to take a deep commitment to drive this spirit of antisemitism and hatred out of America. Unfortunately, it currently dominates many of our college campuses and has spread a virus of hatred across America.Our goal must be to so thoroughly and publicly discredit antisemitism that it reaches the same level of unacceptability that two generations of effort have done to the Ku Klux Klan’s bigotry.No one could imagine a Klan rally against African Americans at Harvard or Columbia. So, why should we tolerate a pro-genocide, hate Israel rally at our major institutions?The increasing frequency of crimes against people and property in the name of antisemitic causes should convince all of us that this intellectual virus leads to violence and cannot be tolerated.Professors who insist on teaching that the genocidal destruction of the Israeli people is acceptable should be fired. Foreign students who insist on demonstrating in favor of genocide should be deported. American students who repeat antisemitic views should be expelled from school and stripped of scholarships and funding.Organizations which advocate the destruction of Israel, and the genocide of the Jewish population should be rendered toxic to mainstream society.We can either take real steps to eliminate antisemitic hatred from our culture and country — or we can expect a growing number of crimes that are motivated by a desire to destroy Israel and annihilate the Jewish people.For those who say this is too strong, let’s revisit what the other side is doing.The explicit policy of Hamas is that not a single Jew will remain in Israel. This policy has been constant since its founding and is included in its charter.The official policy of the Iranian theocratic dictatorship is “death to Israel, death to America.” The Ayatollah has said on Iranian television that these are official policies, not slogans.Since the original World Trade Center bombing in 1993, we have been given wake-up call after wake-up call. The bombing of two American embassies in Africa in 1998. The attack on the United States Ship Cole in Yemen in 2000. The killing of 2,996 people on September 11, 2001. Year after year, we have been attacked. And we have refused to think through how great the threat is and how hard it is going to be to defeat it.Now is the time to face reality. There are many people who hate western society, want to kill us, and want to destroy our civilization.Now is the time to start taking effective steps to save ourselves, our country, and our civilization.

Surge in Antisemitic, Anti-Israel Attacks Requires Taking Seriously the Boulder-Washington-Harrisburg Challenge to Western Society

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