If you are an older adult, you may have been an antiwar protester in the
sixties. As the saying goes, war is hell. When we see the carnage, loss of life,
babies crying and agony among the citizens of Gaza, Ukraine, Israel and other
parts of the world, it can’t help but lead us to speak out and yes, for some,
demonstrate.

However, the protests today on college campuses are very different from the
protests of yesterday. Then, we did not support the Viet Cong. We did not
support the brutality of North Vietnam. We protested the decisions of our
President and Congress for what we thought was an unjust war.

Today’s protesters are not just protesting how the State of Israel is conducting
their war against Hamas terrorists, but they also are saying that they support
Hamas. They have not protested the carnage in Israel on Oct. 7th and the loss
of so many innocent lives. Some are chanting that Zionists should be killed.
That is another way of saying kill the Jews. Those who support the existence of
the Jewish State are Zionists. (That is the meaning of Zionism) Most protesters
are using slogans that say “from the river to the sea” which means the
obliteration of Israel from the map. Protesters are attacking Jews. They have
physically kept Jewish students from entering their classrooms. They are
attacking the police Few, if any, of the Jews who are attacked are representatives or even citizens of Israel. Why? It’s just because they are Jewish.

Those of us who belong to the Jewish community are mostly moderate to
liberal Americans who also want to end wars. The quickest way to end the
war would be for the hostages to be released. We recognize that most of the
protesters don’t even know the history of the region, the efforts by Iran and
others to destroy Israel.

Some of the leaders of the protests are antisemitic provocateurs who support
terrorism and acts of violence against the US and Israel. Hamas, Hezbollah
and Iran are also calling for war against the United States.
An Israeli peace activist said it best: “If you from abroad want to demand
something, demand a resolution to the conflict, not the annihilation of one
side.”

Even though some of the protesters are naïve and are going along with the
crowd, Jews are being threatened and are concerned to see so many people
openly supporting antisemitism. We also recognize that the vast majority of
Americans support the existence of the Jewish State and abhor hatred.
However, the impact, words and deeds of these young college protesters are
creating an atmosphere of hate that must be called out and addressed by our
public officials and each and every one of us.

Norman Olshansky, President
Suncoast Jewish Alliance