New York Times columnist and Columbia University professor John McWhorter argued that protestors who support Hamas’ terrorism against Israel are executing the ‘ultimate condescension’ toward the Palestinians.
In a piece for The Free Press, McWhorter lays out the issue as he sees it, with the wave of support for Palestinian terrorism that has unfolded the world over in the days since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,400.
He writes that in the United States, ‘leftists’ suggest that the barbaric attack is ‘the understandable consequence of Jewish “colonization.”‘
‘Such a perspective is deeply insulting to Palestinian humanity,’ he continues. ‘It implies that Palestinians are so controlled by circumstance that they lack agency.’
‘It implies that Palestinians cannot be expected to behave according to the same ethical standards of those who refrain from mass murder.’
New York University students gather to express their support for the Palestinian people. One sign reads: ‘Shut down NYU Tel Aviv’
New York Times columnist and Columbia professor John McWhorter wrote that, for American leftists to cheer the actions of Hamas, assumes that the Palestinians are no better than terrorists
Across the US, since the day after the attack that saw Hamas operatives rape, behead, and slaughter innocent Israelis in the streets, large groups have been uniting in the streets to chant for the ‘freedom fighters’ in Gaza.
Several chapters of Black Lives Matter in the US have publicly endorsed the Palestinian resistance to the ‘settler colonialist’ state that is Israel.
Some of them playfully used images of paragliders, like the ones Hamas terrorists used to descend upon the Nova music festival in southern Israel, where dozens of Israelis were murdered.
Students on campuses spanning America – from the University of Washington to Georgetown and GW – have staged protests and hung flyers that read: ‘Glory to Our Martyrs.’
‘The implication’ of these demonstrations, writes McWhorter, ‘is that the act of killing thousands of civilians en masse and unawares is “understandable” if the perpetrators are Arab.’
‘There is a kind of patronizing racism in the idea that slaughtering innocent people equates to noble freedom fighting, as if this were the only way to respond to oppression,’ he continues.
McWhorter, who is himself black – then argues that American leftists excused similarly bad behavior – though on a much smaller scale – during the riots that broke out across the country following the killing of George Floyd.
‘Some argued sincerely that the looting and vandalism – generally in neighborhoods in which people of color reside and own the businesses – was a constructive statement of protest,’ says McWhorter, who identifies politically as an old-fashioned liberal.
Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus celebrate on October 7, 2023, after terrorists from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel
A protest in Toronto, Canada took place in front of the US Consulate General. The group stood in solidarity with the Palestinians as the Israeli counterattack begins to kick into high-gear
In Illinois, a woman holds a sign that reads: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ a slogan that is commonly used to mean the annihilation of the people of Israel
In New York City, a students holds a sign that reads: ‘Please keep the world clean,’ referring to the extermination of Jews
Despite some specific calls for violence against Israel, and more broadly, the Jewish people, the professor of linguistics writes that ‘few of those who celebrate savagery in theory would do so when faced with its reality.’
‘How many of the people cheering on Hamas as noble freedom fighters could seriously imagine pumping their fists while watching the men on their way to murder Jewish teenagers at a music festival?’
‘Decolonization,’ he says, is a word used to ‘distract from actions that are inexcusable in any sane person’s mind.’
He concludes by writing that humans and their actions are not black and white, but he’s not sure that ‘those who cheer for Hamas are living in gray zones or see Palestinians as complex human beings.’
‘The Hamas cheerleaders are effectively saying: Men butchered legions of people in your name. Hooray for them and hooray for you!
‘Classifying Palestinians as “brown” people, purportedly enlightened souls applaud this savagery from their representatives – but from a position of unintended, but ugly, condescension.’