A Question for You, the Reader of this Column

... about those here in America who show more empathy for Hamas than for its victims.

Reasonable people can argue over a two-state solution in Israel. They can argue that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are a roadblock to a two-state solution — or that Israeli settlements are a necessary buffer against potential terrorist attacks on Jewish civilians.

People may argue that Israel has created what its critics call an “open air prison” in Gaza — or they can argue that Israel’s lockdown of Gaza prevents the influx of weapons used by Hamas to to kill Israelis.

Reasonable people can differ and debate on a lot of issues involving Israelis and Palestinians. But there is no justification, none, for what Hamas did to Jewish civilians on October 7.

And yet …

And yet, even before Israelis had time to bury their dead, pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets and to the lawns of college campuses to show their support not only for Palestinian rights, but to tell the world what they think of Jews.

In Australia, around 1,000 protestors carrying Palestinian flags outside the Sydney Opera House chanted, “F**k the Jews” — and on the outside chance that somebody was too stupid to get their point, they also chanted “Gas the Jews.”

At a rally in London organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, demonstrators in front of the Israeli embassy chanted, “From the River to the Sea” — which in plain English means kill Jews and wipe Israel off the map.

In New York an iconic Jewish deli was vandalized with a swastika.

And it’s not much different for Jews on some of America’s college campuses. As the Washington Post reports, “Someone scrawled ‘Free Palestine’ on the exterior of a Jewish fraternity house at Georgia Tech. … A Stanford University instructor reportedly asked Jewish and Israeli students to stand in the corner of a classroom. A Cornell University professor declared at a rally that, while he abhors violence, he felt ‘exhilarated’ after Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel.”

At NYU three students were caught on video tearing down pictures of hostages taken by Hamas. And at Cooper Union in New York, Jewish students barricaded themselves in the school library while pro-Palestinian demonstrators banged on the door apparently trying to get in, to do who-knows-what. Imagine if it were Palestinian students who barricaded themselves inside the library and a mob of Jewish students, angry over what happened in Israel on October 7, banged on the door and tried to get in. Imagine how the American left, both in and out of the mainstream media, would react to that story.

So, even progressive members of the “squad” in Congress, and progressives on the campuses of so-called elite universities surely must understand — even if they won’t say it out loud — that a lot of pro-Palestinian rallies and demonstrations are only a thinly-veiled cover to hide their hatred — not only of Israel, but also of Jews in general.

And this disturbing number from a recent Harris poll: 48 percent of 18-24 year olds side more with Hamas than with Israel. Let that sink in.

All of this leads me to what I readily acknowledge is a hypothetical question, one that you, the reader, might reasonably consider preposterous. But here it is anyway: