By: Ted Xenakis – July, 2024
America is an open society with a First Amendment guaranty for all of its citizens to engage in free speech, free religious worship and to peacefully assemble to air their grievances against the government.
These rights were deemed to be so essential to the newly formed republic that they were the first to be declared, and their declaration was bold and without any apology.
With the recent protests across America against Israel and its conduct of the war against Hamas, the governing authority of Gaza, the First Amendment needs to be examined closely to see if its purpose and protections are being subverted in an attempt to conceal an ugly undercurrent.
The text of the First Amendment reads as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The thrust of this amendment is to restrict the power of the government from infringing upon these sacred rights that belong to the People. These rights are not given by the government to the People. Rather, they are the rights that are inherent in any society where all men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Founders believed that these rights emanated from God, even though they did not limit their concept of God to any particular religious thought or discipline. In their wisdom, they recognized that the People enjoyed these God given rights even if they didn’t believe in God. Talk about a revolutionary concept!
This article, however, is more about “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
My focus here is not so much on what constitutes a peaceful protest as opposed to a violent one, but on who can be the object of that protest. Since the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel, we have witnessed countless protests against Israel across college campuses and in the streets of America.
On the campuses, the protesters sought to force universities to divest any financial ties with Israel. To me, this agenda was a thinly veiled expression of antisemitism parading as outrage against Israel’s war efforts that were equated with genocide. Our president and other democrat leaders (Chuck Schumer for one) castigated Israel for conducting its war efforts to destroy Hamas, and urged it to agree to a cease fire and settle for a two-state solution.
Forgetting for the moment America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan after 9/11, the suggestion that Israel should allow Hamas to continue its rule of the Gaza Strip and agree to a two-state solution with this terrorist organization, was abundantly absurd and hypocritical. Typical of politicians who dictate foreign policy by how the political winds blow.
These protests metastasized from campuses to the streets of America and were aimed at Israel. Now remember, the right of the People to peaceably assemble is to bring grievances against our government. This right does not allow anyone to go onto your lawn and protest against you. Similarly, the protests on private college campuses did not enjoy First Amendment protection, yet college after college allowed them to occur, disrupting classes and threatening Jewish students.
Why?
As to those protests on the streets of America, have they been aimed at our government? I guess to the extent that America has been sending aid to Israel, one could argue that the pro-Palestinian protests have been against America.
However, let’s take a closer look at what happened last week in New York City. Last Monday, Jewish leaders planned a tribute to the 360 Israeli’s who were slaughtered on October 7th while attending a music concert, where women were raped, and their bodies mutilated before they were dead.
The exhibit was set in Lower Manhattan and displayed “…items (camping gear, clothing) and structures (sound systems, bars) collected from the festival alongside video from before and during the festival taken by both attendees and Hamas insurgents,” according to a report in Rolling Stone magazine.
The pro-Palestinian group, “Within Our Lifetime,” organized the protests against the exhibit by targeting New York City museums. Why museums? This group claims that cultural institutions, like museums, are “…drenched in the blood of Palestinian martyrs.”
The message seems to be that places like museums have significant Jewish donors and therefore they are places to be protested against. The Lower Manhattan exhibit last Monday to commemorate the murdered Israeli’s was just another exhibition that needed to be condemned.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, “ ‘Long live Intifada,’ ” the crowd cheered, waving flares outside the exhibit commemorating the hundreds who were massacred at the Nova festival. “ ‘Israel, go to hell.’ ” Young American adults waved Hamas and Hezbollah flags and chanted, “ ‘Resistance is justified, where people are occupied.’ ” Signs declared “‘Abolish the settler state.’ ” They mean abolish Israel. The New York Post reports that one protester was captured on video declaring that he wished “‘Hitler was still here.’ ”.
If this protest reminds you of 1930’s Germany and the targeting of Jewish businesses, synagogues and other Jewish landmarks, then you are ahead of most Americans in awareness of what is happening here.
If you know what Kristallnacht means, then you may shudder at what I have written in this article.
If you are oblivious to both of what I have mentioned, then you are not unlike a typical German of the 1930’s, blissfully turning your head from the ugliness that is consuming America.
This is not what the First Amendment is all about. This is about a government that is allowing, if not outright condoning, a rise in antisemitism as our open borders and other policies invite hatred disguised as diversity. The fundamental transformation is not just about elevating the “Joe the Plumbers” of the country. It’s about tearing down our heritage, plain and simple.
And if you think the rise in antisemitism is not connected with this effort, then you will sadly awaken one day to an America you never thought you would see. ◊