At a recent pro-Hamas rally in New York City, a mob of genocidal antisemites tried to occupy News Corp’s Manhattan headquarters. Addressing the mob, actress Susan Sarandon told us what we have known all along: These protests are about nothing but hating and killing Jews. For folks like Sarandon, it does not matter whether those Jews live in Israel or on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She and her compatriots believe every day should be Oct. 7.
As she so eloquently put it, with refreshing honesty, “There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country. … It’s important to have facts. … You don’t have to go through the entire history of that region, you just have to show the babies that are dying in incubators.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
To Sarandon, it’s a good thing that Jews are “afraid” of antisemitic violence, to the point that they are afraid to even be Jewish. This monstrous racism is compounded by the fact that, while Sarandon waxes grandiloquent on the Palestinian babies who have died in hospitals used by Hamas as terror bases, she displays no concern for the Jewish babies who were decapitated, cooked alive in ovens or cut out of their mother’s bellies and then murdered in front of them by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. For Sarandon, some dead babies are more equal than others.
To Sarandon and her merry band of genocide advocates, history began on Oct. 8, when Israel responded to Hamas’s terrorist massacre. By conveniently ignoring “the entire history of the region,” the genocidists feel justified in declaring that Israel is the aggressor that must be stopped from committing “atrocities.” To them, Oct. 7 never happened or is just an inconvenient truth to be ignored.
There is a reason for this: If they were to take Oct. 7 into account, not to mention the last 2,500 years of history, they might need to rethink their articles of faith. These include that 1) Israel is a neo-colonial, occupying, apartheid state that oppresses people of color, and 2) the Palestinians are an oppressed people who have the right to use any means necessary to annihilate seven million people by “liberating” Palestine “from the river to the sea.” Sarandon and other racists support that goal. There is no other explanation for their stance on the current war.
These mobs also conveniently ignore how the Sunni Arab countries have responded to Hamas’s atrocities. Beyond some token statements in support of the Palestinians, countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt are staying out of the conflict completely. In fact, in private conversations with American and Israeli officials, they have made it quite clear that they are rooting for Israel to destroy Hamas. They recognize that the Middle East will never have peace so long as Hamas exists. They understand the Palestinian people have no future if they remain hostage to Hamas.
What is most interesting about Sarandon’s statement, however, is that she and her cohorts clearly blame American Jews for Israel’s perceived transgressions and take pleasure in their fear and suffering. Jews are only 2.4% of the American population but the target of over 60% of all religious hate crimes in the U.S. Sarandon and her fellow racists appear to want to make it 100%.
Of course, Sarandon and her fellow racists never explain how persecuting American Jews advances the cause of “liberating” the Palestinians. But no explanation is needed. We all know the reason. These “protests” are not about Israel per se. They are about rank antisemitism. Israel’s existence and fight to defend itself, the right to which is recognized under international law, are just the most recent excuse to come for the Jews.
Unfortunately for Sarandon and the antisemites on college campuses and in cities across the nation, this time, unlike in the 1930s and 1940s, the Jews will not go to the ovens without a fight. This time, American Jews feel confident enough about their place in America that we will speak up. This time there are enough righteous gentiles with the moral conviction and courage to stand with us. God bless all of them.
This time, we have Israel. We will never stop fighting for her and our place in America.