I am a child of the 1960\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0My favorite rock group remains Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, the super-group that called us to \u201cPlease come to Chicago\u201d to protest the trial of seven protestors at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and mourned the dead of Kent State crying out – \u201cFour Dead in Ohio\u201d (OHIO \u2013 Neil Young)<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0I first learned politics sitting on a couch with my newly broken arm propped on a \u201cbeer box\u201d, watching that same Democratic convention. I was heartbroken at the loss of Bobby Kennedy, but fascinated as Chicago\u2019s Mayor Daley sent in the police to not only break up demonstrations, but beat-up demonstrators.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n My first \u201cdemonstration\u201d was when I was thirteen. We marched the streets of Dayton, Ohio, and chanted against the Vietnam War. And I scooted out of there at the first signs of trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That was an early \u201cmoral dilemma\u201d for me.\u00a0\u00a0I was an Eagle Scout, dedicated to \u201cDo my best, to do my Duty to God and My Country\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0How could I stand, saluting the flag, swearing that oath; and then walk the street yelling \u201cStop the War\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0Was that American?\u00a0\u00a0 Or was it covered under some higher obligation than the discipline to \u201cfollow the Scout Law\u201d and in broader terms, the law of the land?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The War was over by the time I got to college in 1974. I decided to make \u201cmy mark\u201d on society, first through political action within the system, then individually as a public school teacher. But I still had that first impression, of the college students rallying in the streets, trying to, \u201cChange the world; re-arrange the world\u2026\u201d (Chicago \u2013 Graham Nash<\/em>). It was not only their right under the First Amendment, but their \u201cduty\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n College students across the nation are demonstrating on their campuses. I get it. They, as Ted Kennedy said about his brother Bobby: \u201c\u2026(S)aw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.” They aren\u2019t wrong. The horror of the 30,000 plus killed in Gaza by the Israeli armed forces cannot be \u201caccepted\u201d. And neither can the Hamas surprise attack on the Israel, where almost 1300 were brutally massacred in one day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a matter of making \u201cdistinctions\u201d. Hamas is a terrorist organization, acting as terrorists do. They are militarily weak, so they take their battle to unarmed civilians. Where victory is impossible, terror will have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Israel is a powerful nation. Nations are supposed to act differently than terrorist organizations. Nations can win battles against armed opponents, and can (must) do their best to protect civilians from \u201ccollateral damage\u201d. The problem Israel faces is the same one that the United States faced in Afghanistan and Vietnam. The \u201cenemy\u201d is embedded in the civilian population. They don\u2019t wear a uniform, and it\u2019s difficult to see through the \u201ccamouflage\u201d of the civilians surrounding them. It doesn\u2019t matter. Israel cannot act as a terrorist organization, using the excuse of \u201cfighting fire with fire\u201d. And when they do, many in the world stand against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biden Administration is already making that distinction.\u00a0\u00a0When Iran launched hundreds of weapons against Israel, the United States took a strong role in stopping the onslaught.\u00a0\u00a0But when Israeli forces attacked a non-governmental-entity (NGO) delivering food to Palestinians, Biden condemned it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker-Emeritus Pelosi have both called for the end of the Netanyahu administration.\u00a0\u00a0Biden called on Netanyahu to hold off on the \u201cfinal\u201d operation to takeover Rafah, where over a million Palestinian refugees are staying (and starving).\u00a0\u00a0Aid legislation passed Congress last week, gives money to both arm Israel and to feed the starving in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those protesting need to make distinctions too.\u00a0\u00a0There is a distinction between the starving (and dying) Palestinians, and the Hamas terrorists among them.\u00a0\u00a0You can support feeding one, without supporting the horrific actions of the other.\u00a0\u00a0And there is a difference between the actions of the Netanyahu Administration, the people of Israel, and Jewish people in general.\u00a0\u00a0To take a stand against all \u201cJews\u201d (or even that all Jews are Zionists), is no different than saying everyone in Gaza is a Hamas terrorist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students in the United States have a right, and even a duty, to speak their minds.\u00a0\u00a0It mattered in the 1960\u2019s, and during Black Live Matters protests in 2021, and it matters today.\u00a0\u00a0But just as the protests against Vietnam didn\u2019t justify burning university buildings, and the Black Lives Matter protests didn\u2019t justify burning cities; protesting for Palestinians does not justify attacking Jewish students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two invalid \u201clogic\u201d equations:<\/p>\n\n\n\nDuty <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Distinctions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
College Education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n