The Gentle Disposition of Advocates for Peace

"If war -- or, at least, the involvement of one's own country in war -- is the greatest of evils, then there is no need to think about the intentions of the parties to a conflict, or the consequences of one of them electing not to fight."

"But in dissuading us from confronting reality, our hatred and fear of war can lead us into the clutches of all kinds of sinister actors."

"Phony peace movements led by totalitarians and their excusers have used their liberal enemies' inclination toward pacifism against them for decades."

"...The realization that war is a great evil is surely among the preconditions for building and maintaining a prosperous society..."

"But a society that does not feel directly threatened will often tend toward the view that war is also an unnecessary evil."

Oscar Clarke, Quillette

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including a large crowd at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, held protests in cities across the globe on Saturday. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada)

Such well-intentioned people these are, without a shadow of a doubt. Their good-natured chanting in unison "ceasefire now" must send a warm glow of solidarity with the forces of peace and goodwill coursing through their veins. They're doing good. Arguing for peace over war. Those who walk on by shaking their heads in annoyance at their raucous presence interfering with daily life, stopping traffic, discommoding people and generally making a nuisance of themselves simply have no conscience.

 

They're on 'the right side of history', the others are oblivious and lacking social responsibility. On the other hand, these good-natured protesters against Israel's war in Gaza with its intention to destroy Hamas don't listen to, cannot hear, are disinterested in the activists from Hizb utTahrir shouting "From the river to the sea", along with "There is only one solution" (to the Jewish 'problem') -- "intefadeh revolution!"

 

Peace-committed social activists joining forces as gracious enablers with the sanctimonious supporters of Hamas who see nothing wrong in 'fighting back against oppressors' by indiscriminate savagery by the forces they champion in their sadistic torture, rape, mutilation, murder of children, women, the elderly and entire families wiped out in a frenetic orgy of mass slaughter. It is impolite to speak of such things.
And they are, after all, false allegations, a conspiracy by Jews to slander Palestinians.

 

Sarah Shamy, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, speaks to a Montreal crowd. The cross-Canada protests come after the PYM called for a national day of demonstrations. (Erika Morris/CBC)

So they march, supporting Palestinians, proudly carrying Palestinian flags and signage of "ceasefire now!" Banners giving credence to "resistance" against the oppressors carry the story of what they support. No one even considers that the regime of jihad in Gaza initiated a conflict through a genocidal pogrom; it's just that Israel's Defense Forces are "martyring" Palestinians yet again. The "ceasefire" demands allude to only one of the antagonists. 

 

Would it help if they were introduced to reality. Which definitely is not that Hamas was forced by despair over the blockade of Gaza (irrelevant that the blockade exists to deter Hamas from slaughtering Jews, and acquiring munitions, and building tunnels) to commit the October 7 bloodbath against Israeli Jews. Apologists of western citizenry would of course, not be interested in reading an English translation of the Hamas 1988 foundational covenant outlining its drive to destroy Israel. 

Nor would a few instructional peeks at the Middle East Media Research Institute website to hear speeches by Hamas politicians, fighters and clerics enlighten them by watching a Hamas leader announce one of the goals of the October 7 pogrom was to quash the Abraham Accords (that's peace for  you). Or the explanation by another Hamas leader that the tunnels are meant to protect jihadists and definitely not for the shelter of Palestinian civilians from Israeli return bombardment. Rapt attention to another Hamas official that October 7 was a mere start that would be repeated and repeated and repeated to finalize the Hamas goal.

Nor might they receive enlightenment by perusing any of the textbooks children in Gaza study at UNRWA schools where they learn all about the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", so they are enabled in their hatred of Jews, and learn that the Holocaust was a myth, and that aspiring to martyrdom elevates the soul and celebrates the true purpose of life; achieving death for a cause.

Given the known fact that even the footage that the Hamas operatives recorded as they went on about their vicious assault, raping girls, murdering Jews and foreign farm workers, mutilating women, taking hundreds of innocents hostage, is all a Jewish conspiracy to begin with. Becoming more involved in educating themselves about what exactly it is they are lending their support to, in joining the protests to energetically declare their affiliation with and sympathy for the Palestinian 'cause' -- all else is distraction.

Palestinian flag is carried as thousands of demonstrators march last month through downtown Los Angeles to protest the death toll inflicted on Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)