The White House Has an Explanation for the Mystery Drones
BREAKING: DOJ Inspector General Reveals Details About FBI Informants and January 6
Don't Even Think About Moving to Massachusetts With Unapproved Firearms
New Jersey, New York Senators Demand Briefing on Drone Incursions
Here's Who Trump Reportedly Invited to His Inauguration
Trump Announces New Role for Kari Lake
Justin Trudeau Has a Lot to Say About Kamala' s Loss, Too Bad...
Did Jill Biden Just Troll Kamala Harris?
Here's the Biden Administration's Last Effort to Undermine Trump's Border Wall Plan
Based John Fetterman Strikes Again — and Again
UK Announces Major Decision Regarding Puberty Blockers for Minors
Defense Department Is Combating 'Climate Change As a Security Concern for Africans'
Did Washington State Come Up With a Solution for Transgender Athletes?
Revealed: British Pollster Who Nailed the US Election Explains How Her Team Did...
You Won't Believe Who Received the Reagan 'Peace Through Strength' Award
OPINION

Hamas-Israel War: How Do You Defeat a Culture of Hate?

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg

It was 1973 in Jerusalem. I was 21 years old walking through the Arab section of the Old City. I was sporting a massive afro and wearing an army jacket with the name "Elder" above the pocket, a gift from my little brother who was serving.

Advertisement

I heard footsteps, so I stopped, turned around, and saw about 10 smiling kids following me. I kept walking until I heard louder footsteps. I stopped, turned around, and saw maybe 20 kids following me. I kept walking until I heard even more footsteps. Now there were 50 kids. So, I stopped, turned around, and smiled, and they surrounded me. I then conducted a sort of press conference. One kid spoke pretty fluent English.

"Do you know Muhammad Ali?" I was asked.

"Personally?" I said. "No."

About a third of the kids left.

"Do you know Angela Davis?" I was asked next.

"Personally? No."

Another third left.

"Do you know karate?" I was then asked.

"No."

The rest of the kids left. I was not asked about Martin Luther King. I was not asked about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. I was not asked about the U.S. Constitution or the U.S. Civil War.

Why was I asked about Muhammad Ali? It was not just that the heavyweight champion was arguably the most famous person in the world. It was this most famous person in the world who converted to Islam and rejected Christianity. Therefore, to these kids, he was a superhero. As for Angela Davis, she is an American communist who, in a widely publicized trial, was tried and acquitted of murder and kidnapping charges in connection to an assault on a courthouse in California. And on walls all over the city, there were posters of American martial arts movies. This explains the question about karate.

Advertisement

I often think about this, but even more so after Oct. 7, when Hamas murdered over 1,000 Israelis, many raped and their bodies mutilated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "defeat Hamas."

But how do you defeat an ideology? The hatred of Israel and Jews is instilled in the Palestinians from birth. Antisemitism is taught in schools, in mosques, in music, in television shows, in the news, in movies, and, of course, in the speeches of political leaders.

Israel no longer "occupies" Gaza, having left in 2005. Gaza held elections, and Hamas has been in charge. As to who is currently in charge of Gaza, this is from the BBC:

"Ismail Haniyeh is widely considered Hamas's overall leader. A prominent member of the movement in the late 1980s, Israel imprisoned Haniyeh for three years in 1989 as it cracked down on the first Palestinian uprising.

"He was then exiled in 1992 to a no-man's-land between Israel and Lebanon, along with several Hamas leaders. After a year in exile, he returned to Gaza. In 1997 he was appointed head of the office of Hamas's spiritual leader, strengthening his position.

"Haniyeh was appointed Palestinian prime minister in 2006 by President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas won the most seats in national elections, but was dismissed a year later after the group ousted Mr. Abbas' Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly violence. ...

Advertisement

"He was elected head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017. In 2018, the US Department of State designated Haniyeh a terrorist. He has lived in Qatar for the past several years."

How do Palestinians feel about Oct. 7? According to a December 2023 article in Reuters: "Almost three in four Palestinians believe the October 7 attack was correct, and the ensuing Gaza war has lifted support for the Islamist group both there and in the West Bank, a survey from a respected Palestinian polling institute found. ... Seventy-two percent of respondents said they believed the Hamas decision to launch the cross-border rampage in southern Israel was 'correct' given its outcome so far, while 22% said it was 'incorrect.' The remainder were undecided or gave no answer."

Netanyahu claims that half of the Hamas fighters have been killed or wounded out of a pre-Oct. 7 force of 30,000. But how do you kill or wound a deeply embedded culture of hate?

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos