OPINION:
Our colleges need to teach the history of the Middle East (“Rep. Omar cheers Columbia protesters for ‘bravery and courage’ after visiting anti-Israel encampment,” web, April 25). The term Palestine was created around 1923, when the Ottoman Empire was broken up after World War I and Great Britain took over that area of the world. There has never been a country called Palestine.
Israel has existed since at least 4000 B.C. Granted, the area was often controlled until 1947 by many other empires. When Jesus was born it was the Romans. Thus, the Jews and the Israelis have a much stronger claim to the area than a group of people made up by the British.
As the ongoing campus protests by people who are either paid agitators or just plain idiots shows, colleges need to start educating students about Middle East history. They should have large television screens or the like showing scenes such as the visit by Gens. Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton to the Nazi concentration camps and the videos Hamas took of its murderous members proudly massacring unarmed civilians in Israel last October. The screens should have a caption underneath that says: “Are you protesting in favor of this? If yes, you support Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.”
Hamas is still firing rockets into Israel and holds hundreds of hostages. Hamas can stop the killing of people in Gaza by surrendering.
Lastly, if Mexico had gone into San Diego and killed 100,000 people and kidnapped 10,000 more and still held most of them months later, what would be an “appropriate” U.S. response? If they did the above to Dallas, Texas would invade Mexico regardless of what President Biden or the Supreme Court said.
Cmdr. WAYNE L. JOHNSON
Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Navy (retired)
Alexandria, Virginia
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