Sometimes I wonder if we have lost our nation to infantile and spoiled brats who think they are sufficiently knowledgeable of world events when in fact they are narrow-minded—and lately—profoundly anti-Semitic. I speak of the Hamas apologists who have brought violence to our intellectually castrated university campuses across the country. They remind me of the George Soros-funded ANTIFA thugs who, after George Floyd’s death, not only protested, but in the process created a movement that had nothing to do with justice. It was pure violence, resentment, criminality, and otherwise uncivilized behavior.
These “bold” protestors often disguised themselves with facemasks of balaclavas. Why? They claimed that they needed to protect themselves from violence. In truth, these black-clad thugs were the violent cowards who destroyed private property, subjected police to bodily harm, and sought to inhibit the free speech of others by calling critics fascists, to say nothing of physically assaulting members of the press that disagreed with them.
In reality, the ANTIFA brats were the real fascists, a fact often missed by the so-called mainstream media. Also ignored by the liberal media was how frequently ANTIFA rioters in black garb were observed parking their BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes blocks from a riot. They then carried the tools of their misbehavior to use and distribute to the worker bees in their number. Maybe the media and ANTIFA use the same car dealerships. (That’s the sort of guilt-by-association liberal commentators relish.)
What was most troubling—beyond the antics of these unprincipled malefactors and mollycoddled miscreants—was the complete lack of resolve by the elected leaders of the communities ANTIFA tormented. They were passive at best and sympathetic to the rioters at worst. In Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan suggested that allowing a segment of her city’s downtown to devolve into lawlessness could be paving the way for a “summer of love.” Such idiocy was often the posture of city Fathers and Mothers who allowed their communities to descend into violence and criminality. Often inspired by “Black Lives Matter” agitators, they could not care less about lawful behavior, even that designed to protect the black lives they putatively wanted to shield.
Now let’s consider the derivative of all of this. Today we are witnessing a level of bigoted violence that should be very alarming. Hamas-inspired agitators accompanied by more spoiled and privileged university students—I use “students” lightly—are rioting on American campuses and in the streets. Today they are spewing anti-Jewish vulgarities and encouraging death to Jews not witnessed since 1938 Germany when Nazi Sturmabteilung inspired by Hitler then initiated Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) to destroy Jewish homes and businesses 85 years ago.
The anti-Semitism currently exhibited should disgust every decent American. And if you are not so moved, you need to come to your senses. As a Christian, I am most grateful to our Jewish brothers and sisters, and I see my faith in Jesus very much rooted in Jewish tradition and scriptures. Any violence toward Jews only serves to reinforce my support for Israel and innocent Jews in America who genuinely fear for their lives today. Indeed, before the modern state of Israel was formed, America was the most inviting nation on earth for Jews to worship and live in peace and prosperity. Now they live in fear of fellow citizens who have a distorted and factually errant view of the Arab- Israeli conflict. Hamas supporters in the US have turned on their own countrymen, preferring to believe that Hamas did not rape Jewish women, kill parents before the eyes of their children, and burn infants alive. Hamas supporters as vile as holocaust deniers.
Unfortunately, just as local and state elected leaders ignored the criminality of ANTIFA, so too are many national leaders—mostly on the left—afraid to condemn those who shill for Hamas terrorists. They even hesitate to send in law enforcement to deal firmly with the Hamas-supporting thugs who should be arrested, tried, and imprisoned. And for those who are not citizens, they have violated the conditions of their visas. They not only support Hamas but condone their despicable acts of 7 October 2023. Federal law is clear that any alien who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” is inadmissible and must be deported.
In 1938, Hitler’s Jew-hating stormtroopers wore brownshirts to distinguish themselves as they committed wanton violence. So bold were they in their evil that they had no desire to cover their faces. They were emboldened in their villainy. The ideological descendants of those bigots—ANTIFA and Hamas sympathizers alike—now wear masks and keffiyehs to hide their curled lips and sneers. They are the new Brownshirts of our age. And cowardly ones at that.
SCOTT LINGAMFELTER, a retired Army colonel, served in the Virginia General Assembly from 2002 to 2018. He is the author of “Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War” (University Press of Kentucky, 2020) and “Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East” (UPK, July 4, 2023).
