OPINION:
Anti-Israel demonstrators (and in some cases, rioters) chant “Free, free Palestine” (“Anti-Israel protesters swarm Washington during Netanyahu’s address to Congress,” web, July 24).
They are opposed to the Israeli military’s efforts to prevent another Oct. 7, a day on which more than 1,200 men, women, children and babies — both Israeli and American — were murdered near the Gaza border.
These protesters have another chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Most have no idea what river or sea they’re talking about, nor do they know how many times in the past Israel has offered peace — including a two-state solution. All deals were rejected because they included Israel, an independent Jewish-majority nation, on some of the land. (Of course, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” does not include any space for Israel whatsoever.)
In America, the Democrats claim to be saving democracy. By contrast, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is now in the 19th year of his four-year term. No future elections are planned. Furthermore, Israel relinquished control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority in 2005 — but the Palestinian Authority lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2006 in bloody battles. The fighting revived a term from the French Revolution: “defenestration,” which referred to throwing captured prisoners out of the windows of tall buildings. This is clearly not a democratic or freedom-loving characteristic.
CHARLES WINFIELD
Princeton, New Jersey
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