I personally condemn the tactics being used by the United States ally Israel in Gaza that is resulting in such major destruction and deaths among civilians, a disproportionate amount of them children, but I would not replace the American flag with that being used by Palestinian terrorists.
In one or more incidents among anti-war demonstrators on college campuses in the U.S., this has been done.
Shades of the traitorous or misguided Jane Fonda during the Vietnam War when she may have been duped into appearing in a propaganda film or films for the enemy as U.S. soldiers were under fire.
Protesting against war is one thing, free speech and understandable, giving aid and comfort to an enemy is a different thing, and not a good thing.
The Palestinian people in general are not our enemy, but the terrorist group Hamas, which hides behind the Palestinian civilian population and uses its banner, is an enemy of civilized, free and democratic government.
There is some indication that the current college campus unrest is led or egged on by outside agitators who don’t have America’s best interests in mind.
Whether the current college campus protests over the war in Gaza, which in some cases include anti-Jewish rhetoric, are more from outside agitation, or more organic to a youth movement, it seems this could be a nail in the coffin for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
He needs to address the public.
But what would he say? What could he say?
While claiming to condemn some of Israel’s tactics in Gaza and warning against an invasion of another major city there, Rafah, he stubbornly clings to support of Israel, including munitions that end up killing children, along with older civilians and Hamas fighters.
His re-election opponent, former president Donald Trump, can sit back and condemn without taking a clear stance, other than suggesting Israel hurry up and complete their military mission against Hamas and get out of Gaza, because it makes Israel look bad.
Just to be clear: I realize Israel is reacting to the horrendous Oct. 7 terrorist rampage by Hamas in Israel. But it seems the Israeli Defense Force has been lured into a trap in which it is made in to looking like wanton killers of the innocent and destroyers of homes and infrastructure of Gaza, while the irregular forces of Hamas hide among the population and behind the Palestinian banner.
(Hamas is the official governing entity of Gaza, which is not really a recognized nation, but rather part of what I would call the amorphous territory of Palestine, subjugated by Israel, a nation that rightly constantly fears attacks by a Muslim world that more than once has tried to destroy the modern Jewish state created in 1948.)
And of course all this draws in attacks on Israel by regional Arab and Muslim nationalists, as well as the Persian troublemakers and regional power aspirants and U.S. haters in Iran.
One option for the U.S. might be to call on the non-Israeli players in the region to help the Palestinians form an independent Palestine with something more than lip service. Biden might need to give it straight to Israel: accept a free Palestine or lose U.S. aid.
Tony Walther's Weblog 