Demonstrations in Springtime

I’m glad that college students across America are protesting on their campuses. It shows that for some of them, their consciences have not gone completely to sleep.

They see Palestinians in Gaza being obliterated, more than thirty-four thousand of them dead, thousands of children killed, many more with lost arms and legs, their houses turned into rubble, their schools crushed, hospitals bombed, childhoods devastated, their hope for a sane and peaceful future wrecked, their parents either dead or emotionally shattered. No hope for a decent life. They stare at their devastation with sad eyes.

When you repeatedly kill defenseless adults by the tens of thousands, that’s a war crime. When you bomb children to death, that’s a crime so deep and so terrible that it defies categorization. There is no forgiveness for such crimes.

Britain and the U.S. committed a war crime during World War Two when they obliterated Dresden. The U.S. committed a second war crime when it unnecessarily nuclear-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel continues to commit war crimes every day, when it continues to obliterate Gaza.

But winners never pay a price. They control the levers of power and define the scales of justice. They always declare themselves innocent. Only losers are found guilty.

The incarceration and torture and murder of six million Jews was a crime against everything: against humanity, justice, history, culture, and nature. It was as if morality itself had been assassinated.

But that does not entitle Israel, decades later, to pulverize another people into dust.

We watch the slaughter in Gaza and our souls grow sick.

And then spring comes. American college students emerge from their dormitories and gather in the quad and proclaim outrage.

Police round up the usual suspects and TV reveals pushing and shoving and signs and banners. Letters to the editors abound. Politicians duck and cover. And nothing changes.

The Vietnam war did not end because of demonstrations. It ended because North Vietnam won. The Iraq war did not end because of demonstrations. It ended because the U.S. grew weary. The Gaza war will not end because of demonstrations. It will end when Israel obliterates the last café.

But still, it is good that people mingle and shout and declare outrage, if only to overcome the silence of indifference. The helplessness of such demonstrations helps to focus the mind, if only for a week or two.

Right now, Palestinians need food to eat and water to drink and shelter to protect themselves from the sun and the rain. They need toilets for defecating and beds to sleep in and shovels for burying their dead. And, oh, yes, they need the bombs and missiles to stop falling on their fragile lives.

That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

On the other hand, the U.S. has just agreed to give Israel another $14 billion to strengthen the Israeli military. Uncle Joe Biden to the rescue.

That’s what passes for a peace initiative in America.

The Palestinians will just have to wait their turn or until Hell freezes over, whichever comes first.

In fact, who will help them rebuild anything — their homes, schools, streets? Will Israel even allow them to re-settle in Gaza and the West Bank?

I haven’t heard any such discussions on my side of town.

Meanwhile, college graduations will begin next month. After that, it will be summer and the college demonstrators will scatter. Some will take classes. Others will start careers. The rest will go swimming.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, will continue to die. Their children will continue to be sad. And the rest of the world will continue to do nothing.

Except for Israel.

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