While the potential transformation of a once-anti-Semitic European political party into a pro-Israel one is both surprising and welcome, the reactions to the events of Simḥat Torah from American universities are depressingly predictable. This subject will receive more attention in Mosaic in the coming days. Today, I wish to point you to the reporting of Sahar Tartak, a Yale College sophomore, who comments on the declarations made since October 7 by a campus group called Yalies4Palestine (Y4P):

You can imagine my horror to find that Yalies4Palestine decided that the murderers are absolved of their responsibility in an Instagram post that holds “the Israeli Zionist regime responsible for the unfolding violence,” thereby justifying the use of unlawful violence against civilians (again: terror). An original Y4P post called on “the Yale community to celebrate the resistance’s success.”

The most recent post goes on to express “full support of the Palestinian people’s right to resist colonization and return to their land,” dismissing “nonviolent acts of resistance” as ineffective.

“Breaking out of a prison requires force. . . . We stand with all colonized people fighting for their liberation.” The statement is followed by an invitation to an October 9 rally “to uplift the calls of resistance.”

In short, it turns out this is not a group of students concerned about the wellbeing of Palestinian Arabs, but only about the success of Hamas in fulfilling its murderous goals.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.