Last week, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) held several separate graduation ceremonies for its various schools and divisions. Bella Brannon recounts what the guest speaker, an artist and writer of fiction, had to say at the Humanities Division commencement:

Carribean Fragoza took to the podium donning a keffiyeh, declaring “From the river to the sea!” . . . and delivering a lesson in solipsism and sophistry. This hateful message emboldened the audience to boo when graduates in Jewish studies and Hebrew were called to the stage.

If there could be a better encapsulation of how vicious hatred of Israel legitimates anti-Semitism, it would be hard to find. And the situation was perhaps even worse at other graduations:

When student leaders read the School of Public Health’s oath, students in the crowd chanted “except in Palestine” in call-and-response, without reprimand. . . . At UCLA’s Labor Studies ceremony, a speaker declared the illegal encampments that roiled campus last year to be a highlight of his academic career and accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. At the World Arts and Cultures graduation, the student speaker wore a keffiyeh, similarly accused Israel of genocide, and claimed to have failed out of her original major, earning applause, not concern.

In each of these instances, the speeches were either approved by UCLA administrators or abetted by those who refused to step in when speakers went off script. The descent of UCLA’s commencements into ideological theater is not just an embarrassment. It is a wake-up call.

Considering the current state of Israel-Arab relations, Ghaith al-Omari writes

First and foremost, no ceasefire will be possible without the release of Israeli hostages and commitments to disarm Hamas and remove it from power. The final say on these matters rests with Hamas commanders on the ground in Gaza, who have been largely impervious to foreign pressure so far. At minimum, however, the United States should insist that Qatari and Egyptian mediators push Hamas’s external leadership to accept these conditions publicly, which could increase pressure on the group’s Gaza leadership.

Washington should also demand a clear, public position from key Arab states regarding disarmament. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed this position in a June letter to Saudi Arabia and France, giving Arab states Palestinian cover for endorsing it themselves.

Some Arab states have already indicated a willingness to play a significant role, but they will have little incentive to commit resources and personnel to Gaza unless Israel (1) provides guarantees that it will not occupy the Strip indefinitely, and (2) removes its veto on a PA role in Gaza’s future, even if only symbolic at first. Arab officials are also seeking assurances that any role they play in Gaza will be in the context of a wider effort to reach a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Washington must remain mindful that current conditions between Israel and the Palestinians are not remotely conducive to . . . implementing a two-state solution.