Despite stated efforts to “add context” to the conflict in Israel, in light of the University of Texas System’s travel announcements, The Rider’s coverage is slanted in favor of Hamas and erases the unique significance and pain of the Holocaust and the danger antisemitism poses.
Hamas, to begin with, is more than just a “political party and paramilitary group,” as described by Mr. Halloum, who authored two articles on the topic. Hamas is the affiliate member of the Muslim Brotherhood, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and many other governments, including Egypt, as well as a patron and proxy for the ruling class in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which oppresses its population with brutal thuggery, and also calls for Israel’s end, including threatening to use nuclear weapons against Jews.
Hamas’ founding charter is rife with antisemitic rantings, including the positive recommendation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Jewish, Russian Czarist fabrication which describes a secret world government run by Jews. Hamas, whose Jew hatred is rooted in links with Hitlerism, has never disowned this, and continues openly calling for the destruction of Israel and the driving of all Jews from the Middle East, “from the river to the sea.”
Descriptions by Mr. Halloum and his interview subjects, particularly Professor Nicholas Kiersey, downplay what occurred Oct. 7. They merely describe it as “an attack” and do not attribute civilian status to Israelis as they do Palestinians. Halloum describes Oct. 7 as if it was a standard military operation, instead of the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
While Halloum takes the word of the Gaza Health Ministry for granted, failing to mention it’s controlled by Hamas (who claims vested interest in higher casualties for propaganda purposes), he fails to convey the gruesome nature and cruelty of the Oct. 7 pogrom. Worse, Kiersey says Hamas resembles other guerilla groups fighting for independence, which is a slander to those actually doing that, like the Kurds, who are oppressed by Iran, Syria and Turkey–countries whose governments support Hamas.
Most shockingly, Mr. Halloum suggests that Israeli leadership is to blame for Oct. 7, given the warnings received, failing to acknowledge that Hamas boasted(!) of misleading the Israelis into thinking they had abandoned extremist terrorism. Israel had granted work visas to thousands of Gazans and was negotiating historic peace agreements with the Arab and Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia, in a process begun by the Trump administration called, The Abraham Accords. Tehran and Gaza City set back this developing peace. That’s the missing “context.”
I challenge Dr. [Kiersey] to debate the question: “Does Israel have a fascist government?”
Jonathan L. Salinas
Class of 2015
