College Protesters Should be Required to Visit a Holocaust Museum

 

The fact that so many colleges and universities have cadres of students setting up encampments and singing to support Hamas shows how the American educational system has failed miserably in teaching youth about actual history as opposed to reimagined history.

I have befriended people through out the diaspora of the Middle East throughout my lifetime. The part of the world that is believed to be the cradle of civilization encompasses Arab, Persian, Jewish, Palestinian and numerous other subcultures. This geographical area has been the subject of wars, disagreements, hate, passion, dislocation of people, religious strife, biological differences and border disputes for millennia. 

What causes me the greatest disbelief is the fact that most of these protesters supporting Hamas have zero knowledge and understanding of the geopolitical issues of the region.

I know people who have been expelled by their home countries because of religious or political strife. I know people who had to escape Iran in 1979. I know people who were in the US Embassy in Lebanon when it was bombed. I know people who lost families in the Holocaust. I know people who were forced from their homes when the Jewish state was created. 

But unless one has been to a concentration camp, experienced horror of true genocide, walked through a museum commemorating the Holocaust, talked to a survivor, read Night, watched ‘Its a Beautiful Life’ or ‘Schindlers List’, studied the history of a time just a few decades ago, toured the memorial to the USS Arizona, talked to Jews today who feared for family members on October 7, 2023…you have no right to protest, to argue that Israel has no right to exist or to defend its people and borders. You are no less culpable for the atrocities committed by Hamas than the terrorists who killed babies, innocent civilians, young people celebrating, the infirm or elderly.