Across the United States instances of antisemitism have reached historic levels with many speculating that among those inciting violence against Jews are terrorists who have entered the United States through our porous borders. In the case of members and supporters of Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, the aim is not verbal criticism but violent genocide, the eradication of every Jew, the state of Israel, and the United States. The First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion are not shields to protect those who commit these acts of violence. They are no barrier against government action to prosecute, arrest, detain, and punish those who destroy property, commit assaults, and take the lives of others, and yet this Administration and liberal urban governors and mayors court disaster by refusing to make arrests. It is inexcusable for this Administration and DOJ to turn a blind eye, minimize response, and effectively condone the epidemic of terrorist incited rage now ravaging our country and, in particular, Jewish Americans.
In its most recent “Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the U.S.,” the Anti-Defamation League reports that instances of assault, harassment, and vandalism against Jews have risen dramatically. Since the atrocities of October 7, including the massacre of 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of hundreds, there has been a 316 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. over 2022, “an average of nearly 28 incidents a day,” reports ADL.
Those acts include the murder of Paul Kessler, 69, of Los Angeles (hit in the head with a megaphone by a Pro-Palestinian protester) and are examples of genocidal racism, of terrorism. They remind us that the Muslim Brotherhood inspired and created, and Iran financed, HAMAS (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya) (the Islamic Resistance Movement); Palestine Islamic Jihad; and Hezbollah are united in their quest for racial genocide, ethnic cleansing, of Jews everywhere.
Top Hamas official Fathi Hamad gave this order to his followers in 2019 and has repeated since: “You should attack every Jew possible in all the world and kill them.” Is it any wonder that an Arabic copy of Mein Kampf was found in a room used by Hamas?
For years, the Biden Administration and its allies have been enablers and appeasers of these terrorist organizations, emboldening them while simultaneously attacking our ally Israel for acting in its own self-defense. The Biden Administration and its supporters on the Hill have obscured the distinctions between the Palestinian people and the radical Islamists who use them as human shields in hiding machinery of war and terror. The Administration has presumed without justification that the Islamic Republic of Iran, a theocratic dictatorship, is worthy of trust despite its constant duplicity, its financing of global terror, its unrelenting development of nuclear weapons, its attacks on our military, and its daily call for the destruction of Israel and the United States. Worse, the Administration has wittingly permitted these terrorist organizations to receive funding not only by unfreezing Iranian assets but also by helping finance the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which has given Hamas aid and comfort.
The October 7 atrocities should have caused even the enablers and appeasers to experience a volte face, but it largely did not. The nature and extent of the October 7 atrocities provide proof beyond doubt that HAMAS, the ruler of Gaza, is no part of the civilized world but is comprised of racist genocidal barbarians. We should unhesitatingly condemn HAMAS, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, ensure the expulsion of their members and affiliates from the United States, and endorse Israel in its war to rid Gaza of terrorists. We should ensure that funds to those terrorist organizations are cut off and condemn every instance of international aid and support for them.
Israel is fighting a war against zealots who will relentlessly spread their ruthless theocratic totalitarianism all over the world. We should not be so naive as to think the horrific brutality these terrorists broadcast to the world on October 7 (including the beheading of children, the burning alive of victims, the rapes, and the mayhem) is somehow limited to Israel. Those who committed these atrocities are thoroughly depraved and have abandoned all claim of right to existence. Self-preservation demands the course Israel is taking.
And yet, Israel has not abandoned its humanity despite enormous provocation. Even in the aftermath of these gruesome attacks against its people, IDF has endeavored to minimize loss of innocent life intertwined with the terrorists it seeks to destroy. No nation, including the United States, has any right to constrain Israel from acting against these terrorists. The Biden Administration’s repeated calls for a cease fire do nothing but give the terrorists hope for time to regroup to inflict yet more terror on Israel. The October 7 atrocities invite no room for compromise, no room for appeasement, and no room for cease fire so long as there is a single terrorist threat remaining. The United States should remove every obstacle in the way of Israel’s quest to save itself, because it is very definitely in America’s own self-interest to do so. Israel’s terrorist enemy is our terrorist enemy.