On August 14, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned after occupying the top seat for just over a year.
Good riddance. Under her watch, protesters <a href="https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/30/dozens-occupy-hamilton-hall-as-pro-palestinian-protests-spread-across-campus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">occupied</a> Hamilton Hall and <a href="https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/30/dozens-occupy-hamilton-hall-as-pro-palestinian-protests-spread-across-campus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burned</a> a student’s Israeli flag before assaulting him with rocks. Now, Columbia is <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/08/11/us-news/columbia-restricts-campus-access-as-it-braces-for-anti-israel-protests-to-return/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restricting</a> campus access for demonstrations and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/columbia-looks-to-give-campus-police-arresting-power-after-protests-11d2b3bc?st=e1abh0rzjzdi9sm&amp;reflink=article_copyURL_share">considering</a> arrest authorization for its campus police.
It’s not just Columbia either. After spending millions of dollars on property damages rather than limit students’ supposed “speech rights” during Israel-Hamas protests last semester, universities are now walking back their protest policies. This month it was revealed that Harvard <a href="https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/08/new-rules-campus-use">banned</a> encampments and chalking, and tax-payer-funded Indiana University is <a href="https://policies.iu.edu/policies/ua-14-first-amendment-indiana-university/index.html">doing</a> the same. 
It’s not just Jewish students who are apprehensive about this fall.
We’re excited to vote in our first presidential election, but we’re fed up with fringe students who physically threaten us to enforce a campus culture of intimidation.
Eli Noam, a Columbia Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, was a student at Harvard during student protests in the 1960s. He says that the protests today are about bullying, not change.
“In the ‘60s, we protested and challenged the university administration. Today’s students are looking for the administration to protect them from all kinds of evil things like harassment, discrimination, bullying, and so on.”
60% of students at least somewhat agree that the climate at their school prohibits them from expressing their opinions because others might find it offensive, according to a recent Knight Foundation-Ipsos <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-07/Knight%20Foundation_Ipsos_Free%20Expression_July%202024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a>. Only 43% of students feel that freedom of speech is “very secure or secure today” — a 30% drop since 2016.
Our campus climate used to require a self-censorship tax we paid to eat lunch with friends, get invited to parties, and share notes. Now, for simply being Jewish, students are paying with their physical safety, like the UCLA student who was <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/jewish-ucla-student-said-protesters-blocked-him-from-walking-to-class" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blocked</a> from attending class by a Jewish Exclusion Zone, or the Yale student who was <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/i-was-stabbed-in-the-eye-at-yale" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stabbed</a> in the eye, or the student at my school who was <a href="https://dailyorange.com/2024/05/pro-palestine-protest-altercation-walnut/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assaulted</a> in front of his Jewish fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau.
All of us — despite our race, religion or creed — are taking notice.
“I always thought that there had been a risk of harassment,” Noelle Delumpa, a junior at Xavier University, said. “I never really worried about physical violence, but I have started to worry with the uprising of the pro-Palestine protests, seeing how they are burning these flags and pushing people out of encampments if they don’t ‘belong.’”
Anthony Rispo, a student at Columbia, agrees. “I don’t really feel that way for myself, per se, but when you start to add things up, it doesn’t look good.”
“Look, Hamilton Hall was vandalized, pure and simple,” he continued. “The students that did it got off free.”
Our worries are warranted. These unruly demonstrators plan to return with the same vigor as before. In response to the new policies at Columbia, protesters <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/columbia-university-coo-cas-holloway-red-paint-apartment-rcna166079" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vandalized</a> Columbia’s Chief Operating Officer’s home and propped up a sign on campus that read “We’re Back Bitches.” Harvard’s Out of Occupied Palestine group <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C-ERg8PJwFp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “Not reading that, Free Palestine” on Instagram.
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a></h4>
As we get closer to November 5, all issues are fair game in our national conversation — except on campus. And as much as administrators claim they protect free speech, we know our schools don’t have our backs.
Just ask Macy Gunnell, a junior at St. Mary’s College, who advocated for the reversal of a policy that would have admitted transgender women to her all-women’s college. When she rallied alumni, family and friends to boycott the school in protest of the policy, she didn’t get the same leniency universities afforded pro-Hamas protesters.
“I was threatened with my life,” Gunnell said. “I locked my door and had my phone by hand, ready to call the police if necessary. People were spreading my room number online, which definitely did not help either.” Instead of defending Macy’s speech rights, Administrators idly watched as students threatened her safety.
The recent federal <a href="https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20240813183534/injunction.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">injunction</a> against the University of California, Los Angeles and Trump’s promise to <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?537763-1/fmr-pres-trump-speaks-antisemitism-event-bedminster-nj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crack</a> down on college anti-Semitism are signs of hope. But sadly I predict this fall will be no different.
“Ultimately, they [the protesters] are prepared to break the rules, whatever the rules are, as part of a process to create attention, noise, and victimhood,” Prof. Noam said. “Now, the university administration believes that if they’re flexible and show that they’re nice guys, somehow everyone will be friends. I’m just not sure if that’s the reality.”
Protesters emboldened by the fecklessness of administrators will dominate the discourse and dox anyone who dares dissent. The Israel-Palestine conflict, immigration, and abortion are all hot-button issues this year. As the election season evolves, we all are nervously suppressing our beliefs because we know we’re next.
* * *
Daniel Idfresne is a junior at Syracuse University. He’s a Campus Reform Correspondent, a Young Voices Contributor and interned for “The Story with Martha Maccallum.” He has written for the New York Post, Newsweek, and The Free Press. He has appeared on “Fox and Friends,” “America Reports,” and “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
This article has been edited for clarity.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik Visits Campus After Protest Encampment Cleared

Columbia’s President Abandons Ship. Students Like Me Brace For Election Protests.

Activists

American Universities

Anti-Semitism

Columbia University

Jewish

Protests

Readers Pass

Students

Violence

CHICAGO—Former Republican presidential contender<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/vivek-ramaswamy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Vivek Ramaswamy</a> said he thought he would be able to have a “dialogue” with activists demonstrating outside the Democratic National Convention, but he was instead called a “racist” and chased out of the pro-Hamas protest, he told The Daily Wire.
Ramaswamy said he made a surprise appearance at the protest in Union Park to see what was happening with his own eyes.
“Whether or not you agree with me, whether or not you like me, you have the right to speak your mind as long as it’s peaceful,” Ramaswamy said. “I don’t exactly know what happened at the end there.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
EXCLUSIVE: <a href="https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VivekGRamaswamy</a> reacts to getting mobbed at the pro-Hamas protest outside the DNC
“I was hoping to have a dialogue…then I got called a racist.” <a href="https://t.co/bT7mfp1MnB">pic.twitter.com/bT7mfp1MnB</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1826778803915641184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
As Ramaswamy was being escorted away by his security detail, protesters chanted, “Racist go home,&#8221; as a fight broke out when radical activists attacked a man with an American flag who stepped in to support Ramaswamy.
Anti-Israel protesters have been gathering at the park and marching to the security barrier outside the DNC to voice their opposition to Israel every night of the DNC. Protesters clashed with police during several of the marches.
Ramaswamy said he was disappointed that many of the protesters were unwilling to have an open dialogue.
“I do care about the well-being and plight of people everywhere in the world, including in Gaza, but we can’t have this conversation ignoring the reality of the event that precipitated it, which was of course an attack on Israel’s sovereignty and its own people,” he said.
“I was hoping that would open up interesting dialogue,” he added. “But then I started to get called racist.”
One of the protesters who confronted Ramaswamy was Hatem Abudayyeh, who<a href="https://canarymission.org/individual/Hatem_Abudayyeh" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> openly supports</a> Hamas and had his home raided by the FBI in 2010 for “material support of terrorism.” Abudayyeh told Ramaswamy to leave, calling him a “racist Zionist pig.”
“The good news is we are in America, and so we all actually get to express ourselves,” Ramaswamy quipped back.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-vivek-ramaswamy-chased-out-by-angry-mob-at-anti-israel-protest-outside-dnc?topStoryPosition=2">WATCH: Vivek Ramaswamy Chased Out By Angry Mob At Anti-Israel Protest Outside DNC</a>
Ramaswamy said he enjoyed buying a newspaper called “The Communist” for five dollars before he was swarmed by protesters demanding he leave.
“My favorite exchange was buying, with U.S. dollars — though they accept Venmo as well — this communist literature from this guy,” Ramaswamy said. “Kind of interesting.”
The Trump campaign surrogate said he plans to read the paper, but likely not from “cover to cover.”
Ramaswamy said he thinks there were more active protests outside the DNC than the Republican National Convention because people who lean left tend to be more “chaotic.”
“I think the left in part is based on chaos, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Conservatives tend to order their universe based on order and liberals and the far left tend to order their view on disorder.”
At the protest, attendees were carrying a mix of Palestinian flags, Black Liberation flags, communist flags, and a Hezbollah flag.
The anti-Israel protesters are expected to march outside the DNC Thursday night, where Vice President Kamala Harris will officially accept the Democratic presidential nomination.

Screenshot 2024-08-22 at 7.47.11 PM

EXCLUSIVE: Vivek Ramaswamy Reacts To Being Chased Out Of Pro-Hamas Protest Near DNC

2024 Election

Donald Trump

Israel

Vivek Ramaswamy

The DNC is beginning.
Do you feel the joy yet? This campaign is a forced march. It is Mao&#8217;s Long March.
But, on Monday, we are going to get “unity.” They&#8217;re going to attempt to obscure the fact they took the president of the United States — the actual nominee — out back and beheaded him politically. They&#8217;re going to try to make you forget they put him in hospice care and shot him up with a little too much morphine just to ease his passing. They&#8217;re going to forget about all that. They&#8217;re going to give him the gold watch, wheel out his corpse, and then pass him out the back door.
We&#8217;ve already had some indicators of what the DNC is going to look like: You can get a free abortion at the DNC.
No, I’m not kidding.
According to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/08/17/us-news/free-abortions-vasectomies-will-be-available-to-dnc-attendees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post:</a>
<blockquote>Attendees at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will have the opportunity to get a free abortion or vasectomy just blocks away from the event — and vasectomy appointments are filling up fast. … Medication abortions are reportedly available on both days, with vasectomies being exclusively offered Monday, according to The New York Times.</blockquote>
Don&#8217;t let me get in the way of you Democratic men sterilizing yourselves. If this is what you choose to do, then let me not be any obstacle to you removing further generations of your family line.
In addition to the mobile clinic, another group called Americans for Contraception is going to erect an 18-foot tall inflatable intrauterine device (IUD) named “Frieda Womb.” Get it? They&#8217;re freeing the womb of babies.
Idolatry takes many forms.
The actual schedule for the DNC lineup starts Monday night, the theme of which is called “for the people.” That’s hugely ironic, as literally no one voted for Kamala Harris.
Feel the joy yet?
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2029-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
So, the actual president of the United States, Joe Biden, Dr. Jill, and the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak. I love they&#8217;re just shuttling Hillary to Monday night, saying, “Ok, everybody whom we hate and want to go away on the stage: Hillary Clinton, come on up!”
There will also be a welcome from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has locked all of the medicine cabinets at the local CVS to make sure nobody steals any of the medications.
Tuesday will be “a bold vision for America&#8217;s future,” featuring former President Obama — because, when you think “forward,” you think of the president who left office in 2016. Michelle Obama is going to speak as well because she is a black woman and that means that she must speak, according to the laws of intersectionality. “Second Gentleman” Doug Emhoff will speak, but not his nanny. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker will give the night’s welcome from the rotund.
Wednesday’s theme, “a fight for our freedoms,” will feature vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, who shut down the entire state of Minnesota for COVID and the funding of rioting.
Sure. That&#8217;s what I think of when I think of freedom.
What they really mean is “freedom to schtoop.” Former President Clinton, who is very much into the freedom to schtoop, will speak, as will Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has presided over more transportation failures over the course of the last three and a half years than any time in modern American history. No one even noticed when he went on paternity leave because he’s so incompetent.
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a></h4>
You have to feel sorry for the other members of the Biden cabinet. Their big sin is not being gay.
Imagine being Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Commerce, who is likely thinking, “Why don&#8217;t I get to speak?”
“Well, Gina, you are straight. So that&#8217;s going to be a ‘no’ on that.”
Thursday’s “for our future” theme will be the night Kamala Harris accepts the convention&#8217;s nomination for president. Other speakers will include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who will be pitching his new book, “Anti-Semitism: How I Did It”; House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries; and former President Carter&#8217;s grandson, Jason Carter.
That’s great. Go ahead; bring up specters of the past like Jimmy Carter.
Axios reported, “The stairs at the delegate entrance will say ‘History Is In Your Hands’ — a quote from Biden&#8217;s Oval Office address on July 24. As delegates arrive on Monday ahead of Biden&#8217;s speech, digital signage in the United Center will say: ‘History is in your hands’ and ‘Spread the faith.’”
By “spread the faith,” they do not mean Christianity or anything Biblically-related. “Spread the faith” means 18-foot statues of IUDs.
And, of course, the DNC will feature pro-Hamas demonstrators from the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, to which Harris wishes to appeal. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dnc-uncommitted-arab-american-palestinian-gaza-93f9edb25a602c95ee226bd2645e4298" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a> reported on Saturday:
<blockquote>During a campaign trip to Michigan last week, Harris met with Abdullah Hammoud, the 34-year-old mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb that has the largest number of Arab Americans of any city in the United States.</blockquote>
On Sunday, <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/08/18/kamala-harris-met-secretly-with-radical-antisemitic-dearborn-michigan-mayor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Breitbart</a> followed up the AP’s reporting, explaining she&#8217;s in the backroom negotiating with the pro-Hamas crowd: 
<blockquote>Vice President Kamala Harris secretly met last week with the radical, antisemitic mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, in an effort to court Muslim- and Arab-American voters. The meeting was reported by the Associated Press, buried within an article published on Saturday about the so-called ‘uncommitted’ group of voters, particularly in Michigan, who are trying to push the Democratic Party into an openly anti-Israel position.</blockquote>
<h4><a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a></h4>
On the evening of October 7, the day Hamas murdered over 1,200 Israelis, Hammoud <a href="https://x.com/AHammoudMI/status/1710826757803196880" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted:</a>
<blockquote>Israel’s decades of illegal military occupation and imprisonment of Gaza make peace impossible and tragic violence inevitable.</blockquote>
Jillian Kay Melchior, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-radicals-who-plan-to-shut-down-the-dnc-for-gaza-story-starts-atlanta-2020-protests-777d7717" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>:
<blockquote>The anti-Israel crowd has united with radical environmentalists and antipolice activists who have spent years honing unlawful tactics, which include setting up encampments, vandalizing property, brawling with the cops and “de-arresting” their comrades—physically intervening to prevent an arrest, including by pulling someone away from the police. They spent the last school year sharing their peculiar expertise with college students, and they’ve been core participants in this summer’s protests in New York City and elsewhere.</blockquote>
If Republicans are confronted by pro-Hamas protesters, they tell them they&#8217;re jerks and a waste of oxygen. But if pro-Hamas protesters go up to Democrats, the Democrats immediately begin kowtowing to them and asking what they can do to make them feel better.
The DNC: as American as apple pie.

Chicago Prepares For The Democratic National Convention

The DNC Begins: Free Abortions And Vasectomies, Plus Hamas!

Abortion

Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Convention

Democratic Party

Democrats

Hamas

Kamala Harris

Opinion

Tim Walz

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned effective immediately after the school was rocked by far-left pro-Hamas riots earlier this year.
The riots got so out of control that the extremists took over an entire building on the university&#8217;s campus in New York. A large number of NYPD officers were needed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nypd-storms-columbias-hamilton-hall-after-pro-hamas-protesters-illegally-took-control-of-building">liberate</a> the building but only after Shafik initially refused to let police take action.
Shafik said that her resignation was effective immediately and that today was her last day, complaining that the situation that she helped foster took &#8220;a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.&#8221;
&#8220;Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.&#8221;
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) celebrated Shafik’s resignation, saying that her “failed presidency was untenable and that is was only a matter of time before her forced resignation.”
“After failing to protect Jewish students and negotiating with pro Hamas terrorists, this forced resignation is long overdue,” Stefanik said. “We will continue to demand moral clarity, condemnation of antisemitism, protection of Jewish students and faculty, and stronger leadership from American higher education institutions.”
Shafik revealed that she has been approached by far-left British Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#8217;s government to &#8220;chair a review of the government&#8217;s approach to international development and how to improve capability.&#8221;
&#8220;I am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me,&#8221; she added. &#8220;It also enables me to return to the House of Lords to reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new UK government.&#8221;
Starmer&#8217;s approval rating has <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/10/starmer-popularity-slumps-after-criticism-of-riots-respon/">plummeted</a> amid his tyrannical response to protests in his country over how mass immigration is ruining the country. Starmer is so extreme that his government is arresting people for complaining about mass migration on social media, posting videos that increase anti-migrant sentiment, and British police have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uk-police-chief-suggests-he-would-arrest-americans-for-highlighting-british-riots-online">threatened</a> to charge American citizens for posting videos of what is happening and warning against mass migration.
This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik Resigns After Far-Left, Pro-Hamas Protests

New York

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ferguson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ferguson</a> police officer suffered a serious brain injury and is still fighting for his life after protests on Friday, marking the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown&#8217;s death, devolved into a violent riot.
Travis Brown, a 36-year-old father of two, was knocked to the ground by a protester later identified as Elijah Gantt, 28. Brown was unconscious at the scene, and Gantt was still on top of him when other officers pulled him off and attempted to aid the fallen officer.
According to a Wednesday <a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/injured-ferguson-police-officer-travis-brown-family-statement-recovery/63-3ff96079-ade7-416a-b141-da6126a89b01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from local NBC News affiliate KSDK, Brown&#8217;s family has released a statement on his current condition, which read in part:
<blockquote>
<div class="article__section article__section_type_text utility__text">
On the early morning of Saturday, August 10, 2024, our beloved, Officer Travis Brown, suffered a serious physical injury while performing his tour of duty. He is currently in critical condition, surrounded by his loved ones, as he bravely fights for his life. We are holding onto hope and trusting in the power of faith to see him through this difficult time. 
</div>
<div class="article__section article__section_type_text utility__text">
Travis is more than a police officer; he is a devoted father, son, brother, uncle, godfather, and friend. A man of strong faith, his heart is as big as his smile, and his positive energy is truly contagious. TJ is also an athlete, an adventurer, a lover of movies, and so much more. We know he is determined to continue living life to the fullest once he has recovered. 
</div>
</blockquote>
They concluded the statement by asking for continued prayers as they wait to see whether Brown is able to recover from the injury.
Former St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch, who hired Brown in 2012 and worked with him for two years, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/08/14/us-news/injured-ferguson-cop-travis-brown-is-a-father-of-two-with-an-infectious-smile/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=nypost" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wished Brown well</a> and spoke very highly of him.
&#8220;I remember well when I was commissioning him and having given his oath of office, he had a family member pin his badge on. I just remember the big smile on his face, and I thought, ‘Boy, this guy’s got one of those contagious kind of smiles,'&#8221; Fitch said. &#8220;There’s a lot of raw emotion about whether or not he’s going to be able to beat this and survive. And if he does, is he going to ever be able to come back to work? He was very ambitious. It didn’t take him long to get into a specialized unit. He was in a couple.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1722714742764000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XzmEsRwzti1RFNuISwYgd">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Fitch shared the family&#8217;s official fundraising page as well, asking family and friends to donate what they could in an effort to aid Brown&#8217;s recovery.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#8217;s my birthday &amp; I&#8217;d love it if we can celebrate by helping TJ! It was my pleasure to hire him in 2012.
Officer Travis (TJ) Brown is in critical condition after a tragic injury. Please help lessen his family&#8217;s financial burden by donating and sharing. <a href="https://t.co/alzWhCN8ck">https://t.co/alzWhCN8ck</a>
— Tim Fitch 🇺🇲 (@ChiefTimFitch) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChiefTimFitch/status/1823310373035917591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
The community has also rallied around Brown, gathering to pray for him and his family after he was hurt.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Huge crowd turns out to pray for injured Ferguson police officer Travis Brown <a href="https://t.co/0PSFInrmZl">https://t.co/0PSFInrmZl</a>
— KSDK News (@ksdknews) <a href="https://twitter.com/ksdknews/status/1823581580104777837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2024</a></blockquote>

Ferguson Faces Unrest And Destruction As Thanksgiving Holiday Approaches

Ferguson Police Officer Fights For Life After Michael Brown Protest Devolves Into Riot

Crime

Ferguson

Michael Brown

Police

Riots

U.S.

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s interview, alongside his wife Tammy, with British activist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/dw-tommy-robinson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tommy Robinson</a>. In this segment, Robinson explains his unlikely beginning as an activist and shares his firsthand, eyewitness account of atrocities committed against innocent civilians that the media refused to cover. For more from Dr. Peterson, see his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive catalog</a> available on DailyWire+.
* * *
Tommy Robinson: In all honesty, I didn&#8217;t want to do this. I didn&#8217;t want to be the person. I wanted to take a stand, but I didn&#8217;t want to. I wanted to be successful in business. I wanted to make money. My passion was making money. I was good at it. We were doing well as a family. But I wanted someone to speak about it.
Jordan B. Peterson: Do you know the parable of the rich man?
Robinson: No. What&#8217;s that?
Peterson: Well, it is a Gospel story. I&#8217;m going to tell it because I see the problem that you are in. There is a scene in the Gospels where Christ is traveling in a cart, and a rich prince jumps in to accompany him, and he tells Christ that he&#8217;s done everything he should do in his life to be a moral person. He has followed the commandments, he honors his parents, and so on. But he is still dissatisfied deep in his soul, and Christ asks him about his situation. He tells Christ he&#8217;s rich, that he has all these concerns going, and Jesus says to him, I&#8217;m afraid you&#8217;re going to have to sell everything you own and follow me. And the disciples are shorted right out by this, and they say, if that is the cost of salvation, who is going to pay that?
I was thinking about that and the story of Jonah at the same time when you were talking because Jonah is called upon by God to speak the truth, and he just heads in the other direction. He thinks exactly like you thought: I don&#8217;t think so. Who would do that? Who wants to do that?
But that still does not quite answer the question; you said that you are caught, right? You are pulled because, on the one hand, you want to have your life and you want to be successful; on the other hand, you want to tell the truth. So the name was a compromise between that.
Robinson: I wore a mask for a year. Almost no one knew who I was for a year.
Peterson: So looking back on that now, do you think that was a mistake that you made to protect your life and your enterprise? I am not saying that was not justifiable because there is a price, obviously, for anonymity. There is a price for not being public. It breeds suspicion, for example. What do you think about that?
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/dw-tommy-robinson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Jordan B. Peterson&#8217;s full interview with Tommy Robinson on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Robinson: So I think the best thing that ever happened was when I got unmasked — the best. It was. Not for me. I was terrified. So there was a Times newspaper reporter called Stephen Bird, and I&#8217;d been hiding for a year. I&#8217;m talking about all these issues secretly on radios, and I&#8217;m giving the name Tommy Robinson, and I&#8217;m turning up to demonstrations with a mask on my face. No one saw my face, so no one knew who I was. So there was lots of confusion. Who is this guy? No one knew. 
And then a Times newspaper journalist turned up at my mum&#8217;s house and said, “Where’s Stephen?” And my mum rang me and said, “There&#8217;s a journalist here looking for you.” And I knew then, ok, this is it. And I went to meet the journalist and he said, “You&#8217;re on the front page of the Times newspaper tomorrow, Stephen. Your life changes tomorrow.” And I was terrified, if I&#8217;m honest. Absolutely terrified. Because then I was nationally known at this point. 
So, we set up United People of Luton, and then after our second protest where we got to the War Memorial, we put the video online. And this Islamic group of jihadists, they held an Islamic roadshow in Birmingham. And they had a big banner that said, “Jesus was a Muslim,” and there&#8217;s hundreds of them. They stop a young 11-year-old white Christian boy called Sean in the shopping center who&#8217;s with his friend, and they get him up on stage and they convert him to Islam. As they convert him to Islam, they&#8217;re all cheering “Allahu Akbar.” And I watched it then from Luton and said, “No, they can&#8217;t do this. That cannot be allowed to happen in a city center for a child.” So I said, “All right lads,” to the lads from Luton, “we&#8217;re going to Birmingham. We&#8217;re going to move this from Luton. This isn&#8217;t a Luton issue. This is a national issue.”
We went to Birmingham, and we formed the English Defence League. And that&#8217;s where the name English Defence League come from. Now, when we went to Birmingham, we went as a group of 50 — 50 men from Luton. We got violently battered. This is where my first awakening to the media come. So, there&#8217;s a picture up. (This boy wasn’t with us.) There’s a young English boy at a bus stop with a green top on and gangs of Muslims just come from everywhere. They battered everyone. And there&#8217;s a picture in the national newspaper, and they&#8217;re jumping on this boy&#8217;s head. And underneath the picture, it says, “A fascist is attacked by anti-fascists.” 
I&#8217;m looking at it, and I remember I had an awakening to everything because I went from working on a building site to six months later leading the biggest protest movement in Europe’s scene. And when we went to Birmingham as a group of 50, we had English Defence League tops on, and it said, “Luton Division,” the name of our town. And these images went everywhere, of English men getting chased and beaten. So this was Birmingham, and our first banner said, “Victims of Jihad in Nigeria. We stand with you,” because obviously, I was down the rabbit hole.
I was seeing on Christmas Day, five [Nigerian] Christian churches were blown to pieces. Didn’t make the BBC news. I was following all these stories around the world of Christians facing persecution at the hands of jihad. No one cared. So we went to Birmingham before, [saying,] “Let’s highlight a lot of issues here. Let&#8217;s make this a point.” And we had banners. We had placards, but we got violently —  The police had to lock us in a building for two hours because they couldn&#8217;t control the streets. Then they got buses and put us on the buses to get us out of there, and all the windows were coming in. There was riots going on. 
So from this, we then went back to Luton, and then we saw a Christian church in Manchester that had been taken over by Muslims, which there’s been another video go viral just weeks ago. Similar situation. It was in the area of Longsight, and they were bulldozing over a Christian graveyard, graves and headstones. So, I was watching it going, they can&#8217;t do this. How come no one&#8217;s talking about this in the town? Where&#8217;s the local political voice? Where&#8217;s the politicians?
Now, we went from a group of 50 men in Birmingham being violently beaten, to going on all the messaging boards of English football clubs, then turned up in Manchester, and when we got there, there was thousands of young Englishmen had come from everywhere. And from the start, because of the violence in Birmingham, the men had come with an attitude of, “No, we&#8217;re not backing down.” So that was sort of the start and the birth of the English Defence League, which every city you went to, there was a justified reason for going there, but no one ever spoke about that. 
<div id="attachment_777281" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-777281" class="size-large wp-image-777281" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-2149290438-864x576.jpg" alt="LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 23: Far right activist Tommy Robinson speaks at a demonstration at Richmond Terrace, Whitehall on April 23, 2024 in London, England. Police have clashed with people who broke through a cordon ahead of a St George's Day event due to take place in Richmond Terrace in Whitehall. Warnings had been given earlier in the day that members of far-right groups would be attending the event near the Cenotaph. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-2149290438-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-2149290438-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-2149290438-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/GettyImages-2149290438.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Peter Nicholls/Getty Images</div>
And then I realized very quickly that everything I&#8217;d seen in Luton, everything I talked about in Luton, was happening in every town and city. So then I started meeting families; their daughters were missing for weeks, and then I started hearing all these stories. And it&#8217;s one thing to read about grooming, and that&#8217;s why I made a five-part series — the one you talked about that you watched — because you don&#8217;t get to feel the pain. I&#8217;m sitting with a mother, a father, and a brother who&#8217;s 13-year-old daughter has been missing for five days, and the police are doing nothing. 
I remember going on big chat shows in 2009. Jeremy Paxman was the most feared BBC presenter, and he had a show called Newsnight. And when I went on, everyone was all our opposition at the time, and I was terrified again. And it was the first time my mum— So my family had been crying since the time I started my activism because my mum was threatened of her job. There was violence, police raids, terrorist plots. So my family were begging me and begging me to stop. And I went on this Jeremy Paxman show. And I said to him, “I don&#8217;t expect you to understand, but I expect you to listen. Our daughters are being taken. They&#8217;re being groomed; they&#8217;re being raped. They&#8217;re being prostituted in every town and city.” And he said, “You expect us to believe…” And it hasn&#8217;t aged well for him at all. Because in the early days, we were condemned as fabricating stories and making this up. So you understand the level where I&#8217;m at.
With the father from Blackpool, the gang took his daughter. The father and the son would ring the phone, and he&#8217;d have to listen while they were raping his daughter. So, we go across the country — and I&#8217;ve done a presentation called “The Rape of Britain,” as well as documentaries — and I go back to us marching through Telford. And now, the arrest rates for these crimes, if you do a graph, there&#8217;s none. The English Defence League forms in 2009. By 2010 and 2011, the arrests are going through the roof. We didn&#8217;t expect any credit for it or any recognition for it, but the government were then faced with something they knew was going on.
* * *
The views expressed in this interview are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-07-Aug-2024-04-15-PM-6406

An Unlikely Activist: Tommy Robinson On The Unrest In The UK

England

Great Britain

Islamic Jihad

Jordan Peterson

Radical Islam

United Kingdom

Southport is a seaside town in the northwest of England that looks quite a bit different than it did twenty years ago. There used to be a lot of young people living there, for one thing. And back in 2001, only around 4% of the population of Southport said they were born outside the UK. It was a pretty homogeneous place.
Twenty years later, a lot&#8217;s changed. And for the most part, it hasn&#8217;t changed for the better. As a longtime Southport politician named John Pugh <a href="https://www.livpost.co.uk/p/stasis-on-sea-has-southports-grand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put it</a> recently: “Southport as an entity is struggling.” Southport&#8217;s now much older, mainly because young Britons no longer see much opportunity there. And they&#8217;ve been replaced, in many cases, by foreigners. One in ten residents now voluntarily <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/customprofiles/build/#E14000958" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that they were born outside the UK. And many of them are bringing their religious beliefs with them, as you&#8217;d expect. Mosques — which were once found exclusively in large British cities like London and Birmingham — began <a href="https://religionnews.com/2024/08/01/in-seaside-southport-a-mosque-bears-the-brunt-of-uks-immigrant-anxiety/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">popping</a> up in Southport, as the UK added more than a million Muslims to its population in under a decade.
All of these changes have been accompanied by various indignities along the way. Last year, for example, British officials <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/03/home-office-shelves-plans-house-asylum-seekers-southport-pontins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">floated</a> the idea of housing illegal migrants in Southport&#8217;s holiday park because it would be cheaper than paying for hotels. Illegal aliens had already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/20/asylum-seekers-abused-and-intimidated-by-staff-in-home-office-hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken over</a> five hotels in the Liverpool area, only to complain that they were being mistreated. And rather than kick these ungrateful foreigners out of the country, Britain&#8217;s government attempted to offer them Southport&#8217;s holiday park as an accommodation, as well.
That episode was a pretty clear indication that Southport&#8217;s decline isn&#8217;t accidental. It&#8217;s deliberate. That&#8217;s why the British government doesn&#8217;t see a flood of illegal immigrants as a problem. They see it as an opportunity to shut down the local park. Every catastrophe is just more evidence that their plan is working. It&#8217;s yet another opportunity to degrade the lives of British citizens even further.
That&#8217;s true even after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-a-dozen-people-mostly-children-stabbed-by-17-year-old-male-in-u-k-multiple-fatalities-reported" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the massacre</a> that took place on July 29. Police say a 17-year-old man entered a dance studio in Southport that was hosting a Taylor Swift-themed workshop for young children. Armed with a knife, he allegedly murdered three girls — ages 6, 7, and 9 — and seriously injured 10 others, including eight children. Organizers apparently tried to shield the children, and at least one was critically injured in the attempt.
When a police officer finally arrived, he waited before entering the studio because he only had a baton. Ultimately, after more than a dozen victims had been stabbed, the police went in and arrested the killer. That killer, who police have identified as Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain to Rwandan parents who migrated to the UK roughly twenty years ago. Police haven&#8217;t provided any more information than that.
Following this deliberate and premeditated attack on children, fed up residents of Southport — and towns all across the UK — began engaging in varying degrees of civil disobedience. In Southport, locals threw objects at police officers and apparently lit a police vehicle on fire last week. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Protests V2" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X29ilJ76z8E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
100 miles away in Rotherham, locals reportedly stormed a taxpayer-funded shelter for so-called &#8220;asylum seekers,&#8221; which of course is a euphemism for illegal aliens looking to abuse the asylum system:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 More protests" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oPnKcfNXPOA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Competent leaders — people who care about the future of their country — would look at scenes of civil disorder like this and ask themselves why exactly it&#8217;s happening.
It&#8217;s not enough to shake your fist and say that committing crimes during mass protests is a bad thing, although that&#8217;s generally true. That doesn&#8217;t address the problem. To do that, it&#8217;s important to figure out why people are so upset that they&#8217;re willing to commit crimes like this in broad daylight.
Is it because they&#8217;ve bought into years of lies about so-called &#8220;police violence&#8221; against black people, culminating in the false narratives about lifelong criminals like George Floyd, Jacob Blake and many others? That was the impetus for BLM, as we all know.
Or is it because, as was the case with January 6, people didn&#8217;t buy into government lies about lockdowns and mail-in voting and Russian collusion, culminating in an election in which Joe Biden somehow won millions more votes than Barack Obama did in 2008?
Or is it because, as is the case in Southport, people are tired of the decades-long government effort to reengineer the demographics of their entire country? Maybe these people are wondering how the alleged killer&#8217;s Rwandan parents arrived in Britain in the first place. Were they granted citizenship? If so, on what basis? If not, why are they still in the country? Those all seem like reasonable questions.
But Britain&#8217;s government isn&#8217;t answering any questions. Instead, Britain&#8217;s new prime minister Keir Starmer has announced a crackdown on the people who are on the internet saying things that he doesn&#8217;t like. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Starmer now" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z5F4mNj9BSE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So Britain is establishing a plan to &#8220;tackle violent disorder&#8221; and to shut down &#8220;thugs.&#8221; And it sounds a lot like he&#8217;s going to use these protests as a pretext to establish a surveillance state. This plan will include &#8220;shared intelligence&#8221; and more &#8220;facial recognition technology.&#8221; It will even include &#8220;preventative action&#8221; to prevent people from committing crimes in the first place, like something out of &#8220;Minority Report.&#8221; And then for good measure, he threatens social media companies with criminal prosecution.
Throughout all of this, Keir Starmer claims that he&#8217;s not motivated in any way by the prospect of shutting down criticism of his country&#8217;s open borders policy. Instead, he says he&#8217;s really upset about civil disorder in general. Any time protests turn to arson or violence, Keir Starmer says he&#8217;s opposed to it. He&#8217;s been explicit about that. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 No Two Tier Policing" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JjA2jBAQfiE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It&#8217;s a &#8220;non-issue&#8221; to say that there&#8217;s a two-tier system of justice, says Britain&#8217;s new PM. It doesn&#8217;t matter what your motivation is. If you commit acts of &#8220;violence&#8221; on the streets, then your behavior won&#8217;t be tolerated.
This is the kind of claim that might be effective if video cameras and the internet had never been invented. As it stands, people can go back four years ago and see exactly what Keir Starmer said about the BLM riots — which caused more than a billion dollars in property damage and resulted in the deaths of at least two dozen people.
If you pull that tape, you&#8217;ll notice that Keir Starmer doesn&#8217;t condemn the violent BLM thugs a single time. He doesn&#8217;t mention the fact that they torched a police station in Minneapolis or a church outside the White House. Instead, he condemns anyone who tries to criticize them, much less arrest them. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Starmer Floyd V2" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/58hGE3qyQQE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Starmer was talking like this several days after BLM protests in London resulted in injuries to more than two dozen police officers. And this was after the BLM violence in the United States. The message is clear: Violence for state-approved purposes is fine. But dissent that humiliates the state, and that exposes its failures, will be crushed. Its proponents will be labeled as sources of &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; and they will be silenced.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1416-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Even allegedly conservative media in this country, to some extent, are buying into this framing. Fox News for example <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/riots-erupt-uk-stabbing-spree-falsely-blamed-asylum-seeker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported:</a> &#8220;Riots erupt in UK after stabbing spree falsely blamed on asylum seeker.&#8221; Various other outlets have run similar stories. The idea is that, because this killer reportedly was born in Britain to Rwandan parents, the protests must be illegitimate.
Pause for a moment to consider the extraordinary degree of irony here. The same people who tell white Britons and white Americans that they&#8217;re colonizers and oppressors — people living on land that their ancestors conquered hundreds if not thousands of years ago — are now telling these same white Britons and Americans that they have no right to be upset about the flood of third world migrants colonizing their country. Only this is a different kind of colonization. It’s not the straightforward act of a stronger and more civilized society coming in and conquering the place, as has happened historically. Instead, it is colonization by subversion. Colonization orchestrated by the elites of the country that is being colonized. A kind of self-imposed colonization done not for the purposes of spreading civilization — which is why the Europeans colonized — but done for the purpose of destroying civilization. European colonizers brought civilization to uncivilized lands. In this case, uncivilized people are bringing chaos, poverty, and lawlessness to previously civilized societies.
Leftist activists would of course disagree with this characterization. In fact they say that if you stop this unchecked tidal wave of immigration, you would be losing civilization.
There’s a lot of commentary like this from an activist named Bushra Shaikh. She <a href="https://x.com/Bushra1Shaikh/status/1820091502883729749">posted</a>:
<blockquote>Take away the curries and kebabs. Take away the Tea. The coffee. Take away the doctors and nurses. The Ubers and buses. Take away the night workers. Take away the clothes.Take away the cleaners.Take it all away.It&#8217;s all foreign.These racists don&#8217;t understand.They will be left with very little.</blockquote>
Now, I’m a huge fan of curry myself. If I had to give it up in order to have law and order and civilization again, I would. Not a tough trade. But she goes further. She says even clothes and technology and transportation would be gone without the foreigners. We will be left with “very little.”
That’s an odd claim, isn’t it? After all, if all of the good things in life are brought to western countries by foreigners, then what are the foreigners coming for in the first place? If they are bringing everything, why bring it? Why not stay where they are? If western countries need these immigrants in order to thrive, then why aren’t their own countries thriving? That’s strange, you must admit. Apparently the West is gifted property by third world immigrants, and yet these immigrants have not given this gift to their own countries.
In any case, the Left is telling Britons that the son of newly-arrived Rwandan immigrants has every right to live in their country. And how dare you say otherwise. The moment you are born on British soil, you are British and no one can ask a single question about anything — including how your parents got there. Those are the rules now. And as usual, they only benefit people who aren&#8217;t white.
<h4><a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a></h4>
The residents of Southport have had enough of it. The riots we&#8217;re seeing across Britain right now are an inevitable reaction to years of unchecked immigration.
That doesn&#8217;t make the riots a smart strategic response. Strategically, it&#8217;s clear they will backfire. But the frustration and anger is understandable.
And no, the same logic does not apply to BLM. Reasonable people are capable of distinguishing between the BLM riots and the civil disorder taking place in the UK. The BLM riots occurred because the rioters didn&#8217;t like the fact that laws were being enforced. That&#8217;s why they wanted to defund the police. That&#8217;s why they created dozens of race hoaxes involving police officers.
What&#8217;s happening in the UK has the exact opposite explanation. People are revolting against a government that *refuses* to enforce the law. They want the government to fulfill maybe its most basic responsibility, which is to secure the border from foreign invasion.
That&#8217;s why no amount of social media censorship or &#8220;pre-crime&#8221; investigations or finger-wagging from Keir Starmer can change the fact that he now has two options as prime minister. He can commit to ending unrestricted illegal migration into Britain, and deporting illegal aliens currently living in the country. Or he can continue to demonize his own citizens and turn the rest of the UK into Southport. At this point, it&#8217;s clear that both options will lead to some level of unrest and even violence in Britain. The only question now is whether there will be a Britain left at the end of it.

‘Enough Is Enough’ Rally In Sunderland

People Have Finally Had Enough Of The Illegal Immigration Takeover

Children

Immigration

Keir Starmer

Stabbing

On October 7 last year, ordinary civilians in Israel were the victims of extraordinary savagery. Hamas terrorists killed young people at a music festival, often in gruesome ways. Families were slaughtered in suburban homes. By any civilized moral standards, there ought to be overwhelming sympathy for a country subjected to such savagery.
Instead, throughout the Western world, we have witnessed endless anti-Israel protests. Why?
Part of the reason is demographics. In Britain, for example, in 2001 there were one and half million Muslims. Today, there are almost four million.
That is not to say that every — or even most — British Muslims are anti-Israel. But it does explain the scale and size of some recent protests.
So, too, on American university campuses. There have been frequent anti-Israel student protests, often at so-called elite universities. It is perhaps not a coincidence that there has also been a rapid rise in the number of students with Middle Eastern backgrounds at such universities.
Again, not every student from the Middle East is necessarily anti-Israel. But the reservoir of potential anti-Israel student protesters is certainly larger than before.
The rise in anti-Israel sentiment in the West clearly can’t only be about demographics. Many, if not most, of those protesting against Israel are not those with a Middle Eastern background, but those on the political Left.
Why then do those on the Left have such animus towards Israel? Why do they seem to suspend ordinary moral standards whenever Israel is involved?
When it comes to Ukraine, for example, those on the political Left – correctly in my view – see Ukraine as a brave country, rightfully taking a stand against a vastly bigger aggressor.
So why don’t they see Israel that way?
Israel wasn’t just attacked on October 7. From the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur War, Israel has been on the receiving end of relentless aggression.
Israel, a country smaller than Vermont, is surrounded by larger foes intent on destroying her and eradicating her people, as Hamas showed us a few months ago.
Progressive opinion in America and Britain is of the view that the government of Ukraine must not try to accommodate Russia or make concessions. So why do they demand that Israel call a ceasefire?
London, Washington and Berlin are full of leaders who want to supply Ukraine with weapons. Why then do many also demand that America and Europe stop giving Israel the tools to defend herself?
The last time there was unequivocal support for Israel in the West was during the Entebbe raid in Uganda in 1976. I remember the morning of the Entebbe raid well. A young child at the time, I happened to be living close by in Kampala.
When Israel pulled off a daring rescue mission, freeing the trapped hostages from the hijacked Air France plane at Entebbe — where Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan lost his life — there was rejoicing across the political spectrum.
Today, when Israel attempts to rescue her hostages in Gaza she is treated by many media outlets with scorn. Look at how posters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been torn down in cities throughout Europe and America.
As my friend Douglas Murray has pointed out, when a cat or dog goes missing in London or Paris or New York, people will often put up a poster about the missing pet. If we saw someone take down a poster about a missing pet, we would be offended. We’d know it was wrong. Where is the outrage against those removing posters of the Bibas kids?
One reason Israel is held to a different standard is anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism is a famously shape shifting virus. At one time, Jews were hated for their religion, then for their race. Today, it seems to me, it is for their nation.
Israel is loathed by many progressives because as a country, Israel embodies the notion of national self-determination. For many centuries, Jewish families toasted each other at Passover with the phrase: “Next year in Jerusalem.”
And then in 1948, almost miraculously, it came true.
National self-determination offends elite opinion formers. They revere supranationalism instead. They venerate the UN, the ICC and the EU.
Progressives prefer laws made by international treaty over those passed by elected national legislatures. Progressives prefer fealty to rules made by the global community over obligations to an actual community.
Israel’s success offends the Left not only because she is a national state, but because she demonstrates the success of Western society.
If all cultures were of equal worth, why then does a small state that could fit inside Vermont produce so much enterprise and innovation?
If there is an equivalence between cultures, why has post 1948 Israel seen such success amid a sea of Middle Eastern failure and autocracy?
Those who loathe Israel don’t just hate the Jewish nation state, they despise all nation states – including another phenomenally successful Republic, started not in 1948 but in 1776.
If they merely hate Israel, why do they burn the American flag?
America and the Western way of life is their intended target.
Whether we like it or not, those of us who love America, who see Western culture as a sublime human achievement, have no choice but to side with and support Israel, against those who seek to destroy us all.
Those who hate Israel hate us too.
* * *
Douglas Carswell is the President &amp; CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

US-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-PROTEST

Why Does The Left Hate Israel?

Benjamin Netanyahu

Jews

Leftists

Middle East

Uganda

Unhinged Leftist Hordes Tear Down And Burn American Flag

ISIS

Matt Walsh

monuments

Washington D.C.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday slammed the woke pro-Hamas protesters that have caused mayhem on college campuses across the U.S., saying that those who carry &#8220;Gays For Gaza&#8221; might as well be holding up signs that say, &#8220;Chickens For KFC.&#8221;
Netanyahu made the remarks during his speech before U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Israel will soon enter its tenth month of fighting against genocidal terrorists inside Gaza.
&#8220;We recently learned from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence that Iran is funding and promoting anti-Israel protests in America,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They want to disrupt America.&#8221;
He said that those participating in the pro-Hamas protests were &#8220;Iran’s useful idiots&#8221; since they were accepting money from a terrorist regime that &#8220;hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair.&#8221;
“Some of these protestors, it’s amazing. Absolutely amazing. Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming, ‘Gays for Gaza,’” he said. &#8220;They might as well hold up signs saying, ‘Chickens for KFC.’ These protesters chant, &#8216;from the river to the sea,&#8217; but many don’t have a clue what river and what sea they’re talking about. They not only get an F in geography, they get an F in history. They call Israel a colonialist state. Don’t they know that the land of Israel is where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prayed? Where Isaiah and Jeremiah preached, and where David and Solomon ruled?&#8221;
&#8220;For nearly 4000 years, the Land of Israel has been the homeland of the Jewish people. It’s always been our home,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It will always be our home!&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Netanyahu</a>: “Some of these protesters — it’s amazing, absolutely amazing — some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying chickens for KFC. These protesters chants from the river to the… <a href="https://t.co/S4C5ZHGczN">pic.twitter.com/S4C5ZHGczN</a>
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1816182005962268740?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Netanyahu Blasts Woke Pro-Hamas Protesters: ‘Gays For Gaza’ Are Like ‘Chickens For KFC’

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UCLA has made headlines in the past few months for all the wrong reasons: from the school’s <a href="https://www.becketlaw.org/media/jewish-students-take-ucla-to-court-over-antisemitic-encampment/#:~:text=UCLA%20allowed%20activists%20to%20set,disavow%20Israel%27s%20right%20to%20exist." target="_blank" rel="noopener">failure</a> to protect Jewish students from a pro-Hamas mob, a university-funded <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/furries-bdsm-and-void-punk-official-queer-magazine-of-ucla-embraces-the-fringe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">magazine endorsing</a> furries as a sexual kink, and a student government leader imploring students to <a href="https://x.com/camhigby/status/1805271596673945706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take up arms</a> against the LAPD when law enforcement arrested those who led an assault on a synagogue.
These instances are not isolated flukes, or simply the misconduct of a few bad apples ignored by the university. Rather, this behavior, and the totalizing mindset that encourages violent, unthinking action, is learned and abetted by UCLA’s academy. Instead of empowering students to critically engage with ideas, learn from great texts, or become citizens invested in the public good, my university now serves as a finishing school for unreflective activism. This fervor isn’t unique to UCLA, but is a reflection of larger trends of <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/education/4279381-activism-over-academics-the-decline-of-us-higher-education/#:~:text=Advocacy%20has%20increasingly%20displaced%20academics,the%20concentration%20of%20many%20students." target="_blank" rel="noopener">activism replacing rigor</a> within American higher education.
In my 3-year tenure at UCLA, less than a fourth of my classes have assigned complete books. Instead, professors tend to focus on assigning op-eds, TED talks, and essays that are meant to squeeze conversations into a particular moral framework. Professors routinely assign essays on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qfkrm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decolonization</a> that call for the destruction of the United States, TED Talks that promote the intersection of historically disadvantaged identities as the lens through which to analyze all social conflicts, and <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/fascism-debate-trump-democrats-gaza-campus-protest#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20bitter%20irony,definitions%20of%20fascism%20far%20more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-eds</a> claiming that anti-Semitism is not a threat facing Jewish people, but rather a weaponized accusation meant to protect Israeli interests. The professors who uncritically structure their classes do a disservice not only to their disciplines and students, but to their own viewpoints that they fail to put to the test of rigorous inquiry.
Instead of learning from the texts that have shaped our civilization, we are assigned short pieces interacting with the ideas of thinkers like Hobbes and Locke, that detest the idea of a straight, white author. Students are graded based on their ability to unquestioningly endorse their professors’ agenda as a reflection of their understanding of class material, instead of being encouraged to develop and articulate their own ideas.
Within this framework, the struggles of all oppressed groups—racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia — are portrayed as interconnected, attributed to a boogeyman of the &#8216;elite&#8217;: those who embrace traditional values or have historically wielded power. This framework justifies violence and malice, if it is done on behalf of those deemed as the “oppressed.” Terrorist groups like Hamas are positioned as heroes, while America is positioned as the purveyor of an insidious status quo.
For example, in one class, I was taught to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6420721/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">applaud people</a> with mental illness as heroic, such as schizophrenics who refused to take their medicine. In the same class, the professor lauded their own conditions as self-diagnosed and that formal medical diagnoses were inherently racist, ableist, and classist. Writing as an individual with diagnosed autoimmune disorders, I lost points on an assignment for using “gendered language” in “academic writing,” when referring to an author who was born and identifies as a male.
This totalizing mindset is the culprit for the pro-Hamas encampments within universities, where students <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/us-news/columbia-student-kicked-and-told-to-kill-himself-for-carrying-us-flag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">burn American flags</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6352037685112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prevent Jewish students </a>from accessing campus. One experience, characteristic of this, occurred when a student used <a href="https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/israel-zionism/2016/03/whore-you-calling-a-zio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an anti-Jewish slur</a> — &#8220;Zio&#8221; — in class. When I pointed out that this word was indeed a slur popularized by David Duke, the student retorted that she was not interested in “playing respectability politics with these people.” Instead of telling the student that slurs were not acceptable, the professor responded by asking me to expand on who David Duke was.
Although this student and professor would cite the righting of historical wrongs as their goal, their reductionism actually hurts disadvantaged groups. In their struggle to address every problem through one lens, these professors run roughshod over the particular causes that they intend to promote. In 2023, one professor announced that it was the worst year in American history to be black. Surely, even the most pessimistic academic would agree that slavery and Jim Crow presented more problems for African Americans.
This indictment does not apply to every professor at UCLA. Many sincerely care about their students, the integrity of their work, and the future of their discipline. I have been extremely lucky to have been shaped, challenged, and inspired by such professors. However, as an institution, UCLA rewards those who cater to intersectionality ideology over academic rigor.
The struggle for women&#8217;s suffrage in America, for example, was not tantamount to South Africa’s liberation from apartheid. 2023 was not the worst year in American history for African Americans. To demand every situation be analyzed through the same binary of oppressed versus oppressor is downright dangerous and serves to justify hatred and violence against anyone with whom one ideologically disagrees. Maximalist rhetoric dilutes the real struggles that minorities face, and allows students to see the world as a black-and-white struggle between absolute good and pure evil.
George Orwell <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/39403-the-word-fascism-has-now-no-meaning-except-in-so">wrote</a>: “The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies &#8216;something not desirable&#8217;&#8230;” Characteristically, his wisdom is ever-relevant in our modern moment. In a class, a professor painted the advocacy of any restrictions on abortion or membership in the Republican Party as fascistic. As lectures, seminars, and syllabi deem American values as evil, students are compelled to proudly associate with some of the world’s most backward groups in the name of justice. It is no surprise that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-student-protesters-iran-israel-hamas-c7be2e07" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al-Qaeda</a>, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-806611" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Duke</a>, and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-slams-us-crackdown-pro-palestinian-college-protests-1893962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hamas</a> have found “useful idiots” among the likes of the student activists at UCLA.
Most egregious is how students assert that world conflicts must be understood through their personal experience of either privilege or oppression. As students try to understand situations like the present Israel-Hamas war in the framework of American race relations or gender politics, they project their narrow subjectivity onto a complex reality. Though my peers decry colonialism in their activism, the <a href="https://nommomagazine.com/?p=7748" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hubris</a> of demanding that every struggle must be understood through your own experience is a crude colonialism of the classroom.
If a student disagrees with one part of this radical agenda by supporting a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict or by questioning whether children should undergo medical gender transition at the age of 12, they face academic and social repercussions. This zero-sum mentality asphyxiates the exchange of ideas traditionally associated with the liberal arts and liberalism, and demonizes all who dare to even question its fervor.
With the substitution of cheap slogans for real scholarship, my peers have traded nuance for self-righteousness — an abdication of our responsibility as students.
While the violent incidents at UCLA are eye-catching, they are not anomalies; they reflect a deep-seated ideological shift that prioritizes radical activism over genuine academic inquiry. Until UCLA prioritizes the hiring of faculty who will guide students towards constructive conversations, empty statements or performative commissions will only distract from the symptoms of the crisis UCLA has created.
* * *
Bella Brannon is a student at UCLA studying Public Affairs and Digital Humanities. She is the Editor-In-Chief of Ha’Am, researched bias in artificial intelligence with the School of Technology Law and Policy, and spent the summer interning with the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA

Campus In Crisis: Activism Is Replacing Rigor At UCLA

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Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines revealed on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been involved in stirring up protests on U.S. soil over Israel&#8217;s war against Hamas terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre.
Haines previously warned during congressional testimony earlier this year that Iran was becoming &#8220;increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, as we have seen them do in the past, including in prior election cycles.&#8221;
The world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism uses cyber and influence campaigns to carry out their malign activities, she said.
&#8220;In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years,&#8221; she said this week. &#8220;We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.&#8221;
She said that Americans who participate in the protests &#8220;are, in good faith, expressing their views on the conflict in Gaza&#8221; — even though some law enforcement agencies have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/eric-adams-says-columbia-anti-israel-protest-was-co-opted-authorities-saw-evidence-of-training">said</a> that professional agitators stirred up campus protests earlier this year.
&#8220;Moreover, the freedom to express diverse views, when done peacefully, is essential to our democracy, but it is also important to warn of foreign actors who seek to exploit our debate for their own purposes,&#8221; she added. &#8220;Furthermore, Americans who are being targeted by this Iranian campaign may not be aware that they are interacting with or receiving support from a foreign government. We urge all Americans to remain vigilant as they engage online with accounts and actors they do not personally know.”

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