Around the world, Hamas supporters hijack the 'public space' to protest in support of the murder of Jews.
By Jonathan Feldstein
It's astounding to think that a war anywhere in the world would become such a public cause by supporters of one side or another that it would dominate and even hijack the public space. That has not happened even with Russia's attack on Ukraine, even with the wide display of blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag in solidarity with their plight, and a corresponding wide boycott of Russia and Russian products.
Other than the 2014 kidnapping of Nigerian girls by Islamist Boko Haram terrorists which generated its own hashtag, no recent wars in Africa or Asia came close to the visibility of that in Ukraine. I'm hard pressed to think of any other war that's come close to galvanizing any public opinion or outcry, even though it's not the only war that's taken place. Most would be hard pressed to list any of the dozens of other wars and armed conflicts taking place right now, even with a gun held to your head.
As much as solidarity with Ukraine was widespread, in no case was there widespread public disruption in protest of Russia's aggression, or in support of Ukraine the victim, or of any other war. Until October 2023!
Supporting Killers. These Hamas-supporting protestors that chant a slogan whose message translates into the extermination of Jews in Israel. Hamas tried on October 7, 2023.
Israel's war against Hamas has triggered widespread public disruptions by terrorist supporters around the world. Calling them terrorist supporters is not rhetoric but fact. Even before the bodies of the 1200 people massacred by Hamas terrorists on October 7 had been identified, massive public protests took place. Shockingly, astoundingly, the protests were not against Hamas' atrocities and war crimes, but against Israel: the victim.
The world and millions of Hamas terrorist supporters turned a blind eye. They deny that Hamas committed such atrocities even when the evidence – visual and testimony - showed:
- that families were bound by metal wires and incinerated alive,
- that women were gang raped and executed in the most violent ways,
- that babies were beheaded,
- that children were murdered before their parents' eyes and parents murdered before their children's eyes
- that tens of thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli communities by the terrorists or when the terrorists' own rockets fell short and killed Palestinian Arabs in Gaza.
Crossing Bridges. Protesters in London crossed more than Vauxhall Bridge over the Thames on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 in their support of Hamas' mass murder of Jews.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
These Hamas apologists denied that these crimes took place, even saying that Israel fabricated the videos that the terrorists made themselves documenting their inhuman slaughter, they blamed Israel for the massacre - then blamed Israel for its response.
Sadly, this kind of behavior and manufacturing of lies is all too be expected from Hamas and its terrorist supporters. Now, however, we've seen them raise the bar on their incivility by shouting down and threatening others, and hijacking the public space over and over. They have effectively opened countless fronts of this terrorist war, not just against Israel but against the West, with particular distain for Jews and Christians.
This has taken place in many forms and venues. Pro-Hamas protesters disrupted the annual lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York, winning this year's award for the biggest Grinch to steal Christmas. During the Christmas holiday travel season, pro-Hamas demonstrators blocked roads leading to major US airports as if somehow doing so is going to "free Palestine". On Christmas day, a friend in Chicago tried to get to her parents, only to be rerouted for hours by pro-Hamas protesters blocking more roads. They blocked all the entrances/exits of the Freedom Tower, the site of another massive terrorist attack that you may have heard about on 9/11. New York Mayor, Eric Adams warned that the annual New Years Eve celebration would become the target of pro-Hamas protesters ushering in a new year of hate and it did.
Erasing Jews. Five days after the massacre in Israel by Gazans, students at Columbia University in New York, Oct. 12 demonstrate in support of Hamas. While holding aloft a sign about never erasing Palestine, they have no problem supporting "erasing" Jews from Israel! (PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/REUTER)
All over the world, thousands of cruel heartless people tore down and defaced pictures of the 250 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, as if somehow showing human compassion for civilians held hostage in Gaza was an evil worse than that of the terrorists' massacre.
Social media has been hijacked by the pro-Hamas ilk as well. Of course, they depict the war with the lies of Israel committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and wantonly killing innocent civilians, believing the inflated and unconfirmed Hamas death toll which conflate the number of terrorists killed with actual civilians. Naturally, they make no mention of Hamas using these civilians as human shields, or the fact that Hamas has tens of thousands of terrorists wearing jeans and t-shirts so as to easily blend in and be confused with civilians.
Sign of the Times. Despite the massacre of Jews in Israel on October 7, these protestors at a rally in NYC's Time Square label Israel "the terrorist". (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Expecting terrorists to lie is not unusual. However, something no less insidious is taking place with simple social media posts that are apolitical being trolled and hacked by the pro-Hamas people. A personal example is the promotion of a petition to release all the hostages that I launched on behalf of the Genesis 123 Foundation. Decent people from dozens of countries have signed the petition.
However, sick evil people who see any post, even with a picture of a ten-month old red-headed baby boy who remains in captivity, as fair game to attack. They launch evil and even threatening diatribes that not only shows no compassion, much less actually taking responsibility for taking hostages to begin with, but they respond with calls to annihilate Israel, or a "parallel" call to free terrorists.
Hamas is the little brother to the bigger and older PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization, established in 1964. The anniversary of the first terror attack for which it took credit is this week, January 1, 1965.
Voices for Violence. Determined to terrorize and create chaos, pro-Hamas supporters in Cape Town, South Africa clash with police during a violent attack to disrupt a pro-Israel prayer rally in the seaside suburb of Sea Point on November 12, 2023. (photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp)
That the PLO was established in 1964 is significant. It proves that their goal was never to live side by side, with two states for two people, but to destroy Israel. This was three years before the so-called 1967 "occupation" about which they blame Israel for all their problems. Their ethnicity was invented in the 1960s, some time before the chant "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" became their war cry, but the genocidal worship of massacring and expelling all the Jews from Israel is the same goal.
The supporters of this genocidal ideology and their actions today who are blocking highways, disrupting public events, and hijacking the public space, and are literally being allowed to get away with murder.
About the writer:
Jonathan Feldstein - President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians - is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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