For her final assignment before receiving her sociology degree at the University of Leeds, Danielle Greyman decided to write about Hamas’s abusive rule in Gaza. Her research taught her something that was indeed worth knowing:

Despite my assignment not being about Israel, the feedback I received from my grader was almost entirely attacking me for not blaming Israel. I was given a failing grade of 35. I know students who have written their essays drunk, at 2 am the night before they were due, and who still received a 50. The grader and university were saying my essay had absolutely no academic merit whatsoever.

I was shocked, and decided to research the grader, Claudia Radiven. I had never spoken to her, never had a class with her, and never interacted with her. Yet, I found I was blocked by her on Twitter. This is enough for me to believe the anonymity of marking was breached. I quickly created a new Twitter [account] to research her. I found tweets showing her support for Hamas, condemning Israel for actions that never happened, and just outright anti-Semitism.

To date, the University of Leeds has still not apologized or even acknowledged the discrimination that took place. Claudia Radiven is now the head of the module that this assignment was for, despite her irregular marking.

I did not get to continue into postgraduate study. I didn’t attend my graduation ceremony. . . . And I have been told by numerous Jewish sociologists that the field is so tainted by anti-Semitism that I should avoid it.

If there is to be peace, Palestinians will have to unlearn the hatred of Israel they have imbibed during nearly two decades of Hamas rule. This will be a difficult task, but Cole Aronson argues, drawing on the experiences of World War II, that Israel has already gotten off to a strong start:

The population’s compliance can . . . be won by a new regime that satisfies its immediate material needs, even if that new regime is sponsored by a government until recently at war with the population’s former regime. Axis civilians were made needy through bombing. Peaceful compliance with the Allies became a good alternative to supporting violent resistance to the Allies.

Israel’s current campaign makes a moderate Gaza more likely, not less. Destroying Hamas not only deprives Islamists of the ability to rule—it proves the futility of armed resistance to Israel, a condition for peace. The destruction of buildings not only deprives Hamas of its hideouts. It also gives ordinary Palestinians strong reasons to shun groups planning to replicate Hamas’s behavior.