The New World Border

The history of the Middle East crisis has been dominated by talk of borders. But today, I want you to ignore borders, and instead, separate the various factions in the region and around the world into those who want peace, co-existence, and a better life for their children vs those who want chaos, destruction, and the sustainment of personal power. When you look at it this way, you realize that Netanyahu and Hamas have something in common, and more importantly, so too do millions of citizens on both sides of the conflict who just want to live their lives. Yes, Israel’s tactics during the war have cost way too many innocent lives and been what Biden called “over the top.” And yes, Hamas is a murderous terror group that has no interest in protecting the lives of ordinary Gazans. Thomas Friedman touches upon these and other important points as they relate to what we’re seeing and hearing on college campuses. NYT (Gift Article): Why the Campus Protests Are So Troubling. “I am intensely both anti-Hamas and anti-Netanyahu. And if you oppose just one and not also the other, you should reflect a little more on what you are shouting at your protest or your anti-protest. Because no one has done more to harm the prospects of a two-state solution than the codependent Hamas and Netanyahu factions. Hamas is not against the post-1967 occupation. It is against the existence of a Jewish state and believes there should be an Islamic state between the river and the sea. When protests on college campuses ignore that, they are part of the problem. Just as much as Israel supporters who ignore the fact that the far-right members in Netanyahu’s own coalition government are for a Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” (It’s a complex situation that is being wildly oversimplified at the very institutions we expect to be able to analyze complex situations.)