I am a Whitman alumnus. I have always admired Whitman for its liberal arts curriculum that purportedly taught students how to think. I am greatly outraged at what I have read about what is occurring on the Whitman campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacres in Israel.
On the morning of Oct. 7, I woke up in Jerusalem and prepared to attend synagogue on our Sabbath and holiday when at around 8:20 am I heard loud sirens warning people to immediately go to a bomb shelter. We shortly discovered that Hamas terrorists launched rockets at Israel, which through October 22 amounted to over 7,400. We now know that 1,200 babies, children, elderly, women, and men were intentionally shot, stabbed, raped, slaughtered, butchered, mutilated, burned alive, disemboweled and beheaded by Hamas terrorists invading communities and the Nova music festival in southern Israel. Additionally, 242 individuals of many ages, sexes and nationalities were kidnapped by the terrorists. Have there been large demonstrations of Whitman students protesting these heinous acts, demanding freedom for the kidnapped victims and a cessation of rocket fire into Israel? No. Quite the contrary.
Instead, Whitman activists occupied Memorial Hall in late October demanding that Whitman President Sarah Bolton recognize the Palestinian genocide occurring in Gaza and opposing Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The irony that these activists occupy land of the indigenous Walla Walla, Cayuse and Umatilla Native American tribes is completely ignored. Moreover, these activists caused further disruption by organizing a strike on Nov. 9 to make demands for Whitman to divest from “weapon suppliers to Israel, companies that are headquartered in Israel and companies that purchase from Israeli companies that need to be divested from urgently.” Even some faculty members supported these activists. Each of these activists should immediately discard their computers and cellphones as these items most likely have components either invented or made in Israel. In the meanwhile, the rise of antisemitism has caused Whitman’s Jewish students and faculty to be alienated and fear for their safety.
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The only Jews in Gaza immediately after Oct. 7 were the hostages being held by Hamas. The Palestinians had the opportunity to build a civil society in Gaza. Instead, it chose to build underground tunnels and pursue war against Israel. Israel must act in its own defense by eliminating Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure. Doing anything less will permit future heinous attacks. The fact that Hamas hides behind civilians in Gaza, conceals itself underground in tunnels under hospitals and launches rockets in or near schools is intentionally tragic but precisely calculated to inflame world opinion against Israel.
As for committing “genocide,” Israel is doing nothing of the sort. Hamas started this war on Oct. 7. This is a war against Hamas, not genocide against Palestinians. Tragically, people die in war. Not all wars are conflagrations of genocide. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Gaza Strip has increased from 1,304,388 in 2005 to 2,226,544 in 2023. This population growth is not indicative of “genocide.” Throwing around terms like “genocide” is extremely irresponsible and demeans those who are actual victims of real genocides, such as the Rohingya, the Yazidis and Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
Chanting “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” denies the very existence of Israel, the only Jewish state on earth. This is the unabashed goal of Hamas – the destruction of Israel. This is not a “two-state” solution with Jews and Arabs peacefully living side by side. If Oct. 7 is any indication, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and its allies advocate for the murder or expulsion of millions of Jewish Israelis. In fact, most of the progressive folk advocating for ISIS-style misogynistic hegemony would be the first to be “eliminated” – LGBTQ, feminists, socialists, Marxists, etc. Arguing that Jews are “occupiers” and not indigenous to Israel is preposterous. Later this month, hundreds of millions of people will be celebrating the birth of a Jew born more than 2000 years ago in his native land – centuries before any Muslim Palestinian ever existed.
There will be no free Palestine until Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Islamic extremists are neutralized, and Arabs in Gaza and elsewhere come to terms that Israel is not going to disappear or sign its own death warrant. Conflating support for the Hamas terrorists with Palestinian rights is a grave mistake. If Palestinians widely celebrate the beheading of Jewish babies by handing out candies on the West Bank or vocally support Hamas and terrorism, then there is no prospect for a negotiated resolution or two state solution.
Finally, President Bolton’s statement of October 11, 2023 on the violence perpetrated by Hamas was sorely lacking. While referencing “horrific violence and heart-breaking loss of life taking place in Israel and Gaza” there was no mention of Hamas terrorists deliberately murdering Israelis, hostage taking or the continuing rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Subjective morality or demanding proportionality of a more balanced body count of dead Jews when Hamas seeks the annihilation of Israel and all Jews, is despicable. Those demanding a permanent ceasefire today without first eliminating Hamas and its capabilities should be reminded that there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6 that was broken in the most horrific pogrom since the Holocaust.
Support for Hamas is support for terrorism, the destruction of Israel and the wanton slaughter of Jews. I, for one, cannot support an institution where its president lacks the moral clarity to distinguish between good and evil, and many of its students either support or excuse the massacre of Jews by a terrorist death cult.
Steven Amir Hemmat, class of 1984