These Are Truly Sad Days

The last time in my memory that student uprisings on college campuses became so inflamed was during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when our nation underwent a wholesale rejection of the war in Vietnam.Fifty-eight thousand plus American troops would lose their lives in that ill-fated experiment in Southeast Asia. 

You couple that terrible time in American history with the boiling over of American cities due to racial strife, and you would find our great country enduring a painful self-examination of our nation’s foreign and national policies. It would be a conversation we needed to have with ourselves and an adjustment to the realities of where we were. 

I shook my head in sadness this last week as I listened to a combination of young men and women shout out “Death to America, death to Israel,” and other outrageous slogans that made my stomach turn. Palestinians, as well as other adolescents, even some sadly born here in our own country, humiliated themselves when they turned their backs on our nation, which opened its doors to them.  

They would turn a blind eye tothe prolonged conflict ongoing in Gaza and Israel,which began in October 2023 when radical Arab elements slaughtered, murdered and raped Israeli citizens and kidnaping manyin the worst such carnage since World War II inflicted upon Jewish men and woman because of their religion.Even today, many of those hostages are still being held captive and are being tortured as we speak,many of them American citizens. 

These cowardly elements of Hamas, as well as other fringe elements of the Arab community, would choose to hide behind innocent men, women, children and the elderly, utilizing them as human shields. The Israeli forces would eventually uncover stockpiles of weapons, missiles, and other explosive deviceshidden in hospitals, houses of worship and a labyrinth of elaborate tunnels throughout Gaza and the City of Rafah. 

No one wants to see a continued loss of life of innocent civilians, for that is the last thing anyone wants, except for the terrorists. However, it is time for the world to open its eyes to where the true blame lies. It lies directly at the feet of the Palestine National Authority and the government of Mahmoud Abbas, who has been President for almost 20 years. Men who have padded their own pockets and have profited from tensions in this area while assisting terrorists help kill innocent civilians to further their desires to widen the gap between reasonable men and women. 

An International Court of Inquiry should be opened to investigate corruption and the connection with Hamas and what has happened with the billions of dollars that have been provided to his administration. Those monies should have been going to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people over all these years, as well as building suitable housing for those men, womenand children, as well asmuch needed infrastructure improvements. 

Since the outbreak of the first Arab/Israeli War of 1948 we have seen so much bloodshed across these lands which are today known as Israel. Tens of thousands of men and women on all sides have been lost. The world has been brought to the brink of all-out war on a number of occasions and still the onslaught continues. 

Colleges are poised to once again shutdown commencement ceremonies across the nation if the violence is not abated on their campuses out of fear for the safety of students, faculty and families. Unfortunately, many of these radicals on these campuses are not even students but paid agitators who care little about the institutions that provide them with a platform for free speech, which would be denied in other overseas locations.