Editor’s letter

When is it appropriate to celebrate the slaughter of civilians? I would answer “never.” And until a week ago, I had assumed this was an uncontroversial response. But in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, it’s become clear that a not insubstantial group of activists believes it is morally acceptable to murder civilians—so long as these atrocities are committed in the name of “decolonization.” (See Talking Points, p.16.) At a New York City rally last week, far-left protesters waved signs declaring their support for securing Palestinian statehood “by any means necessary,” an apparent thumbs-up for Hamas’ execution and immolation of Israeli children. On college campuses, student groups pledged their “unwavering” backing for Palestinians who “resist colonial oppression,” signaling that no crime—raping young Israelis next to their dead friends, killing and kidnapping Israeli peace activists—is off limits. The humanity that many leftist activists display toward suffering peoples seemingly “doesn’t extend to Jews,” said Jonathan Rosen, a longtime Democratic political consultant.

But the radical left does not have a monopoly on inhumanity. “As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble” in Hamascontrolled Gaza, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), appearing to endorse the indiscriminate bombing of a territory that’s home to 2 million people—nearly half of them children. A member of the Knesset from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said the offensive against Hamas should have “one goal: Nakba.” That word, Arabic for catastrophe, is how Palestinians refer to the 1948 war around the founding of modern Israel, when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes. Civilian deaths are inevitable as Israel tries to root out Hamas.

But in the coming onslaught, we shouldn’t lose sight of the reality that a Palestinian child cowering in a basement is just as innocent as an Israeli child hiding in a safe room. To do so risks a descent into moral oblivion.