The pro-Hamas crowd has now become distinctly anti-American. And they represent a significant portion of the Democratic Party.
The throngs who came out for Hamas and aggressively against Israel and Jews immediately after 10/7 could ostensibly have been thought not to hate America. While Hamas has killed dozens of American citizens, it has never formally declared an attack against America or American targets. I know families whose loved ones were murdered by Hamas terrorists; the attacks were aimed at killing Jews, country of birth or citizenship irrelevant.
But the signs were always there that the “river to the sea” crowd also hated the very country that has given them everything they have. Initially, they put akeffieyeh on a statue of Benjamin Franklin in Washington. Around the same time, they climbed light poles in New York in order to remove American flags and replace them with Palestinian flags. And one could notice that at their large rallies and marches, there were only Palestinian flags; American flags were nowhere to be seen.
But they have moved their US-hatred up to eleven. Recent events include the following:
*In Dearborn, Michigan/Lebanon a group started chanting, “Death to Israel; Death to America.”
*A fellow flew a Hezbollah flag, though the group murdered 241 Marines as well as other Americans in Lebanon in the 1980’s For good measure, he burned an American flag as well.
*Young lunatics in Chicago praised Iran after it sent over 300 projectiles towards Israel to kill Jews. Iran has the blood of hundreds of American soldiers from Iraq on its hand, independent of the embassy takeover in 1979.
There can be no great surprise that those who demand that Israel disappear also hate the US. They claim that the US is aiding and abetting a supposed genocide in Gaza by providing weapons to and diplomatic cover for Israel. Did you catch the Gazans at the beach the other day? Stangest genocide in history. Their hatred of the US is both pathetic and ironic. Pathetic because they have it so good in the US and ironic in that their whole lives depend on the good that only the US knows how to create.
When I set up my first startup here in Israel, it was in the late 1990’s. Israeli taxes were so high that any new company would set up in Delaware in order to have a good tax arrangement when the big payout came via a buyout or stock listing. Things here in Israel have changed, and my current company was set up in Israel as the tax advantage is now here over the US. But our US-haters buy coffee at Starbucks, have iPhones, drive Teslas or Fords, wear clothes from Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Ralph Lauren or the like. Their shoes are Nike and they go to McDonalds at least twice a week. What our clueless revolutionaries do not understand or appreciate is that each of these iconic American companies came into being because in the US an inventor, entrepreneur, or investor knows that if a new company takes off, those taking significant risk to start it stand to get rich. It is no coincidence that 17 of the top 20 companies by market capitalization are US firms. When Microsoft took off, it not only created a handful of billionaires such as Bill Gates, but it created thousands of millionaires out of many of the original employees who received stocks or options in lieu of salary. How many millions of people worldwide work to support, fix, or augment smartphones, computers and the like? The leftists’ claim to hate the US while benefiting from all of the amazing goods produced by the US approach to life and business is like a child stating, “Mother I hate you and hope that you die soon. Could you please pass the potatoes, and the steak is really delicious.”
A Columbia student who was present at the massive anti-Israel rally that was finally broken up by the police this week noted the presence of many non-Columbia affiliated individuals who were the most radical and aggressive. In my day at Harvard, the university made a significant effort to keep “townies” out of Harvard events. The presence of professional Palestinian protesters is a driver for student radicalism. Did you see anyone at any rally during the past seven months demanding two states for two people? Did you see any of them slam Hamas’ brutal attack while still demanding a Palestinian state? Did you see any of them admit that Israel is risking soldiers’ lives and drawing out the war in order to minimize Palestinian casualties and get aid to the enemy? So it’s no surprise that they now take their unidirectional hatred and point it towards the US. I wish that they would just move away. Within a week, they would realize how good they have it at home.
In the old days, the two big political parties had about 5% zanies at the fringe. For the Republicans it was the Birch Society or the like, while the Democrats have always had some commies around. But now the anti-Israel/anti-America block of the Democratic party is probably 20% of the active membership. It is the reason why Biden is telling Israel what to do or criticizing it for fighting a legitimate war. The Democrats are going back to Chicago for their convention this summer. Expect it to be 1968 all over again.