By a whopping margin of 4-1, 80 percent, Americans favor Israel in its war against the terrorist group Hamas, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey. And surprisingly, by nearly as much, 72 percent of voters say they support Israel pushing into Rafah with its military to “finish the war.” About 28 percent, presumably hard-core Democrats, say Israel should “back off now and allow Hamas to continue running Gaza.”
This broad American support for Israel is the polar opposite of what the radicals say on campus — radicals that include students, foreign students, non-students and according to Andy McCarthy, non-students who are not in the country legally. While it has not been proven, it would hardly be a stretch to imagine that some of the ringleaders are people who streamed across Joe Biden’s open border from Iran and other terrorist states for more than three years. The “Death to America” chant is precisely what the Mullahs have been telling their people to chant in Tehran for decades.
There are similar “protests” at most of the Ivies, but also in many other schools. Frankly most schools to some degree. But it is the worst in the blue states. After Jewish students were blocked from the UCLA library and a Jewish girl was knocked unconscious by antisemitic protestors, pro-Israel protesters stormed the campus of UCLA and fought with Hamas supporters. For more than two hours, the UCLA campus was allowed to resemble a war zone as police refused to intervene. At nightfall, riot police finally went in and began arresting people.
School administrators are negotiating with protestors at Yale, Southern Cal and Portland State while Brown negotiated an agreement to hold a public vote on whether the university should divest from Israel. These are all blue jurisdictions.
Of course all campuses are cesspools to some degree of leftist capture. But given the deep unpopularity of the protesters’ cause, Democrats are in a clinch hold between their radical base of America haters and anti-Semites and actual American voters. They are pleading to whatever gods of politics they worship for these protests to end, because their political will to do something is so weak.
But this is not the case in red states. Let’s just look at Texas and Florida.
At the University of Florida, protests were allowed for four days, but with warnings the protesters were breaking rules and laws and that there would be consequences. On the fourth day, police broke them up and arrested dozens.
The statement from the University after the breakup is absolutely perfect: “This is not complicated: the University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences." Boom.
The rest of the statement gave the context: “For many days, we have patiently told protesters — many of whom are outside agitators — that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly. And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university. For days UPD patiently and consistently reiterated the rules. Today, individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply.”
Meanwhile, Texas was considerably less patient than Florida.
Texas State Troopers on horseback crushed a planned protest encampment at the University of Texas in Austin before it even started as Texas State Troopers, many on horseback, were waiting for the publicly announced protests. The Marxist Palestine Solidarity Committee, which refers to protesters as “comrades,” encouraged the students to take over the main plaza lawn against the university warnings that it would be illegal. Nonetheless, hundreds of students gathered to do so at noon and were immediately met by a phalanx of law enforcement, with 9 arrests and a quick dispersement.
“I don’t think students were expecting this kind of a response,” Amelia Kimball, associate managing editor at student-run The Daily Texan told CNN.
This is not a great moment for America, but it is an illuminating one, clearly showing the two diverging worldviews, which makes it a huge winner for Republicans. And another example of how voters actually want strong, reasonable leadership, not the insane asylum that is the current Democratic Party.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children and seven grandchildren and a rapacious hunger to fight for America for them. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
