Written by Hunter Klosty
The images of murdered babies and bloodied corpses of Holocaust survivors coming out of Israel are devastating. Any person with basic morality can see these vile acts for what they are: evil. And this evil was solely perpetrated by the internationally designated terrorist organization Hamas, the elected governing body of the Gaza Strip. These monsters have orchestrated the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and show no remorse for the brutal murder and kidnapping of children, women, and the elderly. Such repugnancy should be easy for every American to condemn and incite deep sympathy for the Israeli cause of self-defense. Instead, some community members, namely certain elected officials and even a few UNC students, have chosen to legitimize this unprovoked carnage.
At the pro-terror rally organized in front of Wilson Library on October 12, Hamas sympathizers organized under the guise of “resistance” and made clear the rape and murder of Jews in the name of “freeing Palestine” was completely warranted. The flyer used to advertise the event proudly displayed a paraglider, directly referencing the Hamas terrorists who paraglided into an Israeli music festival and murdered and raped hundreds of civilians. A Jewish professor was even pushed down a set of stairs by one protester, by definition a case of simple assault, in violation of North Carolina General Statute §14-33. These disgusting acts have no place on our campus and are morally, and in one case legally, reprehensible. The endorsement by students of a terrorist group that not only uses Gazan civilians as human shields, but in their manifesto calls for Jihadism, the eradication of Israel, and a mass genocide of Jews, is repulsive and more grossly follows a wider pattern at college campuses across the United States.
But what’s worse than the support of terror by those we call classmates, is the support of terror by local policymakers. When a politician contrives a statement after an act of terrorism, it shouldn’t take much brain power. One should condemn the perpetrators of evil and express sympathy for the innocent. Instead of following this seemingly simple framework, last year’s Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board President and outgoing board member, Deon Temne, has repeatedly reposted claims of an “Israeli Occupation of Palestine” on Twitter/X. This is neither a true statement nor a morally virtuous one; it fuels the reckless notion that Hamas was justified in its brutality and is nothing more than an anti-Semitic smear on display by a public official.
Temne, who lost reelection this November, ran on the platform of instituting a “culturally relevant” education. Temne apparently believes Jews are culturally irrelevant because a genuinely “culturally relevant” education would tell him that there is no “occupation of Palestine.” The right to self-determination is internationally guaranteed in the United Nations Charter. Jews, just as every other group of people in the world, are entitled to this right and have an unwavering right to govern their ancestral homeland, Israel.
While the school district has come under scrutiny for anti-Semitism in the past (they’ve held a community Equity and Engagement Meeting on the holy day of Yom Kippur and have publicly been criticized by parents at board meetings about ignoring the display of Swastikas and flagrantly anti-Semitic remarks by students and staff), the level of moral bankruptcy for a school district leader’s reaction to the rape, torture, and murder of innocent Israeli’s to be that Israel is an occupying force boggles the mind.
In Raleigh, our representatives in the General Assembly have similarly fallen short in displaying basic human decency. Representative Renée Price of Orange and Caswell Counties refused to vote for House Resolution 897, which simply condemned the capture and murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists and urged Congress to support Israel. In the upper chamber, State Senator Graig Meyer of Orange, Caswell, and Person Counties was one of three senators, all Democrats, who refused to sign a bi-partisan letter that expressed a similar sentiment. Instead, Meyer went to Twitter/X to exclaim that he “…will not put my energy or my very limited influence into encouraging war”.
Just a question to our representatives in the General Assembly: after thousands of American civilians were murdered by bloodthirsty savages in September of 2001, did we react by asking Osama Bin Laden for a ceasefire and a peaceful negotiation of terms? No. Even the thought would be insulting to the victims and directly contradict the duty of a country to protect her people. Today, Israel faces a similarly grave situation. They did not ask for this brutality. Israeli soldiers are not looking for war; they are defending their homeland from unprecedented violence at the hands of terrorists who wish for the eradication of all Jews and the obliteration of the state of Israel.
In the ultra-accepting, continuously virtue-signaling, liberal utopias of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, one would think supporting not only victims of terrorism, but supporting the only democracy in the Middle East, the only Middle Eastern country where gays and lesbians enjoy full rights, the only country in the world that grants Jews the right to self-determination, and one of America’s strongest allies, would be easy, but apparently not. The utter moral bankruptcy not just from misguided youths but elected officials who decide important policy matters is downright frightening. Anti-Semitism and ignoring terrorism cannot be commonplace in a modern society. It is imperative for individuals in our community to hold others, and especially our elected officials, to a standard that truly embodies peace and justice.