Letter: Protesters Aren’t What They Used to Be

Dear editor:

It was good to hear that the NYPD had made it clear that there would be consequences for anyone attempting to disrupt the Israel day parade. And even better to hear that the so-called pro-Palestinian (really just anti-Israel) protestors took the advice and didn’t show up.

As Bruce Ticker points out, (“Column: Anti-Israel Cowards of the Campuses” boulderjewishnews.org June 6, 2024) today’s Woke protesters are a far cry from the people who practiced civil disobedience under the guidance of Dr. Martin Luther King. They acknowledged that they were breaking laws that they considered unjust and were willing to accept penalties for their actions. But today’s protesters, like the Palestinians they claim to represent, take the position that the Palestinians are the world’s most oppressed people and, therefore, they should be free to resist by any and all means of their choice. This is often accompanied by an attitude that views Zionism as so evil that all decent people should refuse to have anything to do with Zionists. I recently heard of an organization that offers free art lessons to school children but rejected the application of an Orthodox school to have instruction provided to its students, stating that the art group could not, in good conscience, work with children enrolled in a Zionist school that “supports genocide in Gaza.” I sent a letter to the group, pointing out that Major John Spencer, of West Point’s Modern Warfare Institute, praised the IDF for its exemplary efforts to avoid civilian casualties and stated that Hamas had deliberately designed its extensive network of terror tunnels to use the Palestinians as human shields. I didn’t receive a response from the artists – Woke folk simply can’t be bothered with facts.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/opinions/israel-hamas-gaza-not-war-crimes-spencer/index.html

Toby F. Block
Atlanta, GA