Chattanooga Times Free Press

THE ARAB SPRING BREAK IS TELLING

- Contact Ron Hart, a syndicated op-ed satirist, author and a TV/radio commentato­r, at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on X (formerly Twitter).

The liberal islands of college campuses continue to disappoint us. The handling of the “Arab Spring Break” protests around the country tells you all you need to know.

This did not happen at my alma mater (or most state colleges), as kids have to get jobs after school. But the supposed elite colleges have been on a downward spiral since the loony left got full control of them years ago. The protests are ridiculous, but what would you expect from the first college class that ate Tide Pods as teenagers?

These dopey protesters are really “speaking truth to power” when what they are trying to say totally agrees with corporate legacy media, Hollywood and their university-tenured professors. It’s quite the resistance movement!

The violent occupation­s on Columbia University’s campus spread to other Ivy League schools. Prompted by tenured, leftist professors, students took to the quad to protest. When asked, some didn’t even know what they were protesting, but by God, they were out there being cool! At least we got some good folk music out of the protests of the ’60s. I fear these current protests might spark another song by Lizzo.

So what’s the answer? I suggest a two-campus solution. One campus could be for “students” who like to demonstrat­e against everything, and the other for those who want to learn, get a job and one day become productive parts of society. Another solution: Perhaps when our $90 billion checks clear, Ukraine or Israel might send peacekeepi­ng forces to our campuses.

The only way I thought to end the protests and disperse the crowds was to tell the kids antisemiti­sm has gluten in it.

The “demonstrat­ors” were given pamphlets on how to protest. If you know anything about 18- to 25-yearolds today, they couldn’t organize a one-car funeral. They are lemmings, woke and entitled.

Lefties fell for Hamas. I thought the 9/11 attacks taught us all we needed to know about radical Islam.

Hamas members committed rape Oct. 7 when they invaded Israel. Yet the “MeToo” progressiv­e women’s movements remain eerily quiet. Hamas is fortunate that it is not a Christmas song, Founding Father statue, syrup bottle or a male candidate for the Supreme Court.

Slow to the game, Biden has mumbled nuanced word salads in response to all of this. Jews vote 80% Democratic, so he has made a political calculatio­n in his tepid responses. Biden did fly to Israel and asked Netanyahu two perpetuall­y (for him) perplexing questions: “Who am I, and why am I here?”

When initially asked about Hamas, Biden said he always favored guacamole. Then he was briefed on it, likely using puppets. He decided he did not want to lose Michigan, which has a large Muslim population, so he squinted into his teleprompt­er and forcefully gave a speech that neither side could understand.

Biden and Democrats could not respond to Israel having its Southern border overrun like they did ours, so they looked to do what they always do with a problem: blame it on Republican­s and write a check from the U.S. Treasury.

One important point here: If you think Israel has been heavy-handed in Gaza, it does not make you an antisemite. Chanting “Death to Jews” does. Debate is important on this.

This is once more a religious war. I have warned that we should stay out of religious wars since 2000 and Bush’s Middle East follies. It is complex. As we should have learned in Afghanista­n and Iraq, we do not help. We just inflame tensions.

It is funny to watch people opine on the Middle East when conflicts bubble up. Everyone becomes an expert on the region. Yet if you ask them where Jordan is, they will say: retired, smoking cigars and playing a lot of golf.

 ?? ?? Ron Hart
Ron Hart

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