An Email I received about the Gaza/Israel war. What is the plan for Hamas?

I just received an Email that reminded me of a question I wanted to ask the pro-Palestinian protestors — those people who exhibit their love of men, women, and children by chanting, “Kill the Jews.”

The question is: What is your plan for Hamas?

Somehow, I never hear a plan that doesn’t involve destroying Israel. Call it the “Hitler redux plan.”

The truth is the Gazan’s wretched existence is not caused by Israel. It’s caused by Gaza’s leaders and their Arab neighbors (who want nothing to do with Gaza.)

There is no reason why Gaza must be poor and dilapidated. Billions of dollars have flowed into Gaza, but Gaza’s leaders, being focused on Israel’s destruction and their own power, steal all the money for two things:

1. Military construction: Weapons and attack tunnels
2. Personal enrichment.

The money that was supposed to be used for food, fuel, housing, and schools has been coopted by Hamas and its predecessors to be used in a never-ending effort to destroy Israel.

No secret about it. That is their stated goal.

Then, when Israel fights back, the world whines that too many Gazans are being killed.

Never mind that the Palestinian leaders build attack tunnels under hospitals, schools, homes, and buildings. 

Israel is expected to ignore those hiding places until they become staging areas for attacks on Israeli citizens. Israel also is expected to filter out the Gazan military and the Gazan non-military (who intentionally are dressed identically) and to kill only the army (hiding behind the non-military).

There is no reason why Gaza could not be wealthy. It receives billions in support, not only from the US but many other nations. 

Gaza has a 24-mile oceanfront on the Mediterranean Sea. That could have been a valuable tourist resource.

It has 139 square miles, which is more than Vatican City: 0.171 square miles, Monaco: 0.781, Nauru: 8.1, Tuvalu: 11.6, San Marino: 24, Liechtenstein: 62, Marshall Islands: 70, Saint Kitts and Nevis: 104, Maldives: 115, Malta: 122, and
Grenada: 133, none of which are as impoverished as the people of Gaza.

If the excuse for their poverty is population density, the population density of the Gaza Strip is approximately 6,100 people per km².

That is dense, but not as thick as, Macau SAR, China: 21,000 people per km², Monaco: 18,000 people per km². Singapore: 8,250 people per km². Hong Kong SAR, China: 6,725 people per km², all of which have figured out how not to let population density force poverty.

Again, Gaza’s problems are not due to Israel or Israel’s West Bank settlements. In fact, many Gazans have jobs in Israel and use Israel’s hospitals and other facilities. 

Who would have thought that after almost 20 years have passed since Israel left Gaza, the people would be worse off than they were then and trending down? 

Gaza’s problems are due to its leaders’ focus on Israel’s destruction and their own power rather than on improving the lives of its people. This war has absolutely nothing to do with making better lives for the people of Gaza. It strictly is to increase the power of Hamas.

Gaza has received many millions of dollars to rebuild its homes, schools, hospitals, and buildings, and all those dollars were used for tunnels and weapons. None for homes.

You can be sure that after the current war, Gaza will receive many millions more. Expect those dollars to be used for re-armament and not to help the people.

Note: I am Jewish, and I admit to a natural bias based on 2,000+ years of being blamed for the world’s ills. Yet I sympathize with the plight of the Palestinian people who are being told the same old lies:

1. That Jews are the cause of their misery.
2. And the only solution is what Hitler called “the final solution,” the elimination of the Jewish people.

I feel confident that if Gazans were not brainwashed with hatred and instead wanted to form a mutually beneficial alliance with Israel, their lives would improve immensely. Long haul, that really is the only “final solution.”

Here is the Email I received:

I am an assistant professor at Columbia Business School.  I am a father, a husband, an uncle, and a son.  I am a forty-year-old man, and last week I found myself crying in front of a group of complete strangers.

In a video that has since gone viral, I stood on Columbia University’s main campus and pleaded with my employer to protect me and help me protect the thousands of Jewish students whose lives and safety have been entrusted to us by worried parents all across the United States.

I pleaded with my employer to help me protect the lives of thousands of Jewish students from pro-terror student organizations who openly laud Hamas—an internationally recognized terrorist organization.

I pleaded with the presidents of colleges and universities all around the country to take a clear moral stance against rape and torture and the kidnapping of helpless civilians.

I pleaded with colleges and universities to live up to their stated mission of humanism and enlightenment.  I pleaded—and still plead—because the silence of college presidents all across the country is deafening.

I am not tenured.  I could be fired for this. But if my research into behavioral psychology has taught me anything, it’s that looking back on my life, I am more likely to regret not taking a stance.

I can’t afford not to take a stance. Not when students’ lives are on the line. Not when my children’s lives are on the line. My children may be American citizens, but, through their mother and me, they are Israelis, too. And because they are Israelis, because they are Jews, I fear for them.

I fear for my two-year-old daughter, who’s funny and brave and thinks everyone in the world is her friend. I fear for my seven-year-old son, who still asks me to sit next to his bed for a few minutes every night when I tuck him into bed. I fear, because there are student organizations on my own campus who see my beautiful children as legitimate targets.

I fear, because the president of my university—my very own employer—refuses to speak up against such senseless violence and hatred. Let’s call this what it is.

This is cowardice.

I see my son’s and daughter’s faces in the faces of the hundreds of innocent children and teenagers who were murdered, tortured, raped, brutalized, and kidnapped on October 7th. For Hamas and its supporters, those children are acceptable targets. 

And right now, in colleges and universities all across the country, there are hundreds of pro-terror student organizations that are celebrating these vile crimes against humanity.

This is what the President of Columbia is refusing to condemn.  This is what the President of Harvard is refusing to condemn.  This is what the Presidents of Yale and NYU and UC Berkeley and many other “enlightened” institutions throughout the country are refusing to condemn.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the senseless loss of life in the horrific attacks of 9/11. They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the horrific murder of George Floyd. They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the mass shooting of more than 100 LGBTQ+ people in an Orlando nightclub on June 12, 2016.

And yet, when it comes to Jewish lives—when it comes to my own children’s lives—they could care less.

Let me be as clear as I can: This is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine.  This is about making a clear distinction between legitimate resistance and unspeakable crimes against humanity. This is about human decency.

You can support the rights of millions of innocent Palestinians and still take a moral stance against heinous violence and brutality. I know, because I do.

You can spend your adult life advocating for the establishment of a prosperous Palestinian state next to a prosperous Israeli state and still be willing to draw the line at rape. I know, because I do.

You can be a lefty and a softy who can’t fathom why we can’t just end this senseless cycle of violence yet still shout at the top of your lungs that shooting babies in their cribs and burning their corpses is just plain evil. I know, because I am and I do.

You can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestine and anti-terror. I know, because I am.

Parents from all across the country have reached out to me in the past week asking if their kids are safe. Thousands of worried parents who have been losing sleep as they see their children’s campuses rampaged by extremist organizations that openly celebrate and encourage terrorism.

Thousands of moms and dads who only want to make sure that their children are protected from harm. To all those parents, I reply: No.  Your children are not safe.

Because, as a professor, I can tell you that universities across the country would rather appease pro-terror campus coalitions than care for their Jewish students. Because, as a professor, I can tell you that the presidents of universities all across the U.S. are more concerned with getting bad press than with getting your children home safely.

What sort of education is your child getting at a place that refuses to condemn terror-sympathizing organizations and allows them to roam freely on campus? What sort of education is your child getting at a place that gives a platform and a mix to organizations that celebrate the execution of infants in their cribs? 

The raping of teenagers? The kidnapping of toddlers? The moral and intellectual bankruptcy of universities throughout the country is now undeniable. 

But I know that if we all work together we can make a real difference. This is not about me.  I’m not some leader.  I’m just a dad who is scared and who is willing to put EVERYTHING on the line to protect his children.

Many of you have reached out in the past days, and your messages have brought me immense light into a very dark time. I am so extremely inspired by the stories people have been sending me.

People are telling me about the committees they’ve formed and the PTAs they’ve joined and the politicians they’ve called and TV and radio shows to which they have called-in, demanding that their voice be heard.

People have written to me about stopping their annual donations to their alma mater until it takes a clear stance against pure evil.  Until it takes a clear stance against those who celebrate pure evil.

If you want to get in touch and let me know about all that you have, are, and will be doing at your job, school, alma mater, neighborhood, and so forth, please email me at: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

One more thing — If you have read thus far, I imagine that it must be because you are someone who cares deeply about this. 

So I have a small request: If every person who read thus far personally sent this to at least 10 of their friends RIGHT NOW and asked those friends to send this to 10 of their friends, I know that we will be able to make a big difference in the world.  I truly do. (and if I’m wrong well, hey at least we will all know that in this time of crisis we did everything that we could).

I know it’s weird, but can I please ask you to email this to all your friends and post it on all your social media profiles? I really just want the message to get through.

Thank you!