If you saw the video of Hamas’s screaming rabble of armed, masked fighters surrounding Israeli hostage Arbel Yahoud as she was released to the Red Cross, you were probably horrified, as Arbel herself clearly was. Yet, not a word of condemnation was uttered by progressive activists or politicians toward the terrorist monsters—neither for the war crime of Arbel’s kidnapping, nor for her barbaric form of release.

The entire posture of leftists who support Palestinian terrorists stands as a stark, hypocritical contradiction to the liberal values—pluralism, feminism, equality, inclusion—that progressives constantly espouse. The problem is, these enlightened values, in the minds of progressives, clearly don’t apply to Jews.

Not only did progressives fail to condemn Hamas for making an abhorrent spectacle out of the release of hostages, but some progressive media actually implied a moral equivalence between Israeli hostages and jailed Palestinian terrorists. Would legacy media have dared to sympathetically compare ravaged Black or LGBTQ+ hostages with Ku Klux Klan murderers?

What, also, are we to make of the virtual silence on the part of progressives and even the International Red Cross in fighting for the release of the hostages? When Nigerian Islamists kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria in 2014, massive humanitarian campaigns to free them spanned the globe. Today, we’re more likely to see leftists ripping down posters of Hamas’s mostly Jewish hostages. Likewise, it’s almost only Jews and staunch supporters of Israel who advocate for the hostages’ freedom. Progressives can’t be bothered.

Finally, even in the face of shockingly graphic brutality filmed by terrorists themselves, progressives persist in promoting Hamas’s October 7^th massacre as a form of Palestinian “resistance.” This narrative almost always ends with the demand for a ceasefire, which means “let Hamas survive to massacre again.”

Progressives who preach humanitarian values and social justice, but who exclude Jews from equal protection deserve no livelihood in elected office, higher education, journalism or any profession involving public interaction. Rather, their reward for such hypocrisy should be social disgrace.

Media shamefully make a moral equivalence between Israeli hostages and jailed Palestinian terrorists. In one instance, BBC news anchor Nicky Schiller referred to both groups as “prisoners.” While the BBC quickly apologized for this outrage, it was not an isolated incident, as NBC, CNN, Sky News and PBS coverage all implied a moral equivalency between Hamas-held hostages and jailed Palestinian terrorists.

For its part, CNN tried to equate the appalling conditions of the hostages upon their liberation to released Palestinian terrorist prisoners. They reported the hostages appeared “thin and pale,” while describing the terrorists as “emaciated and in poor health,” with “signs of physical abuse and starvation.” In fact, Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for terrorism live a judicially regulated, well-fed lifestyle. To suggest a moral equivalence between Palestinians imprisoned for terrorism and innocents brutally kidnapped and tortured by Hamas is repugnant.

Universities advocate for free speech, but deny it to Jewish or pro-Israel speakers. Shai Davidai, a professor at Columbia University, for example, vocally expressed outrage at anti-Israel, antisemitic activity at his institution, where he heard chants like “Jews, go back to Poland,” and calls for more acts of slaughter. Instead of addressing his concerns and punishing the perpetrators, university administration banned Davidai from campus.

Just last month, masked, pro-Hamas thugs disrupted a Columbia University class in Israeli history taught by Israeli historian Dr. Avi Shilon, while distributing anti-Israel flyers with violent imagery. Indeed, while universities piously claim to value free speech, in reality only a tiny number of speakers on antisemitism or Israel’s right to exist are allowed on any campus.

Deafening silence on the plight of Israeli hostages. The United Nations expressed outrage when Houthi terrorists in Yemen kidnapped and imprisoned its workers, including one who died in detention. But it has been utterly silent on the kidnapping and despicable treatment of Israel’s hostages.

Moreover, there’s no global effort by progressive organizations to liberate the hostages, as there was in 2014 when the Boko Haram terrorists abducted hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls. The same humanitarians who organized the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign say nothing about the girls and women brutally raped, murdered, and kidnapped during the October 7^th massacre.

Progressives justify and support October 7^th atrocities as “resistance.” Organizations ranging from 34 student groups at Harvard University to the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter, expressed support for the October 7^th massacre. The Democratic Socialists of America promoted a rally in New York, where attendees reportedly chanted, “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” At Sarah Lawrence College in New York City, DEI official Briana Martin called on students to attend an “Hour of Solidarity with Palestine” following the October 7^th massacre. Let us try to imagine any DEI executive expressing solidarity with murderers of Black, Muslim or LGBTQ+ people.

Progressives chastise Israel’s defense, but not Hamas’s savagery. Who can forget former Vice President Kamala Harris saying that Israel had the right to defend itself, but “how it does so matters.” Indeed, she and virtually the entire Biden Administration repeatedly expressed “ironclad” support for Israel in its war against Hamas, yet at every turn took measures and  threatened to cripple its military campaign.

Today, media and progressive groups worldwide express outrage at President Trump’s plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, arguing that its Palestinian residents should be forced to remain in the largely uninhabitable enclave. But they have no problem ethnically cleansing half a million Jews—uprooting them from their homes in Judea and Samaria—to enable the bankrupt two-state solution.

Progressives regard liberal values as universal—unless you’re Jewish. Humanitarians globally would no doubt indignantly flood the public square if women, people of color, transexuals or Native Americans were systemically murdered, raped, burned, decapitated, tortured and kidnapped. Surely, we would hear no criticism of how the victimized group chose to defend itself against such atrocities.

Yet, after the October 7^th massacre, it was Israel, not Hamas, that was subject to relentless international condemnation. Progressives demanded that Israel show restraint and agree to a ceasefire that would leave Hamas in charge of Gaza—primed to repeat the October 7^th massacre again and again, as they promised they would.

Please make the point when speaking with family, friends, colleagues—or in letters to the editor—that those who say they believe in liberal values, but don’t believe these values apply equally to Jews, have zero credibility . . . nor do they deserve responsibility in any capacity serving the public.

If you agree we need to spread this truth, please use your email browser to forward this Hotline issue to fellow lovers of Israel—and encourage them to join us by subscribing to the Hotline at no charge.

Best regards,
James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.      Too often, American citizens take comfort in their insulation from Islamist violence roiling the Middle East, as well as cities in Europe. But the jihadists are clear that fighting Jews and Israel is just the beginning. At rallies in Iran—and increasingly in the U.S.—the crowds scream, “Death to Israel, Death to America.” They understand that Israel is just the tip of the spear of Western Civilization—because Israel was the birthplace of so many Western values. Today the Jewish state stands as one of the strongest democracies in the world—a defender of liberty and enemy of oppressive Middle East dictatorships and terrorism. I hope you’ll agree that we supporters of the Israel-U.S. relationship need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Israel’s War Is America’s War”—describes how Israel massively defends United States interests in the Middle East and how Israel represents a roadblock to Islamic expansion worldwide. Finally, it explains why the recent U.S. foreign policy of soft diplomacy and appeasement of Iran has failed consistently. Please review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME intends to publish to millions—in leading social media, as well as in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Denver Post and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, the President and Vice President. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation.

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