How Israel was duped by Hamas......

[swordfish]

A perfect example what comes of trusting Islamic terrorists enough to incentivise peace and human rights concessions by Israel and the West.  Iran and Islamic radicals do not want peace, money or land.  They were given that and now have squandered the opportunity by utilizing it all to indiscriminately kill Jews.  This is another skirmish in a war that has been waging since BC against the Jews.

Amidror, chairman of the National Security Council from April 2011-November 2013 and now senior fellow with the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said some of Israel's allies had been saying that Hamas had acquired "more responsibility."

"We stupidly began to believe that it was true," he said. "So, we made a mistake. We are not going to make this mistake again and we will destroy Hamas, slowly but surely."

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767474

How Israel was duped as Hamas planned devastating assault

"This is our 9/11," said a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. "They got us."

By REUTERS OCTOBER 10, 2023 01:10 Updated: OCTOBER 10, 2023 02:20

A careful campaign of deception ensured Israel was caught off guard when Hamas launched its devastating attack, enabling a force using bulldozers, hang gliders and motorbikes to take on the Middle East's most powerful army.

 

Saturday's assault, the worst breach in Israel's defenses since Arab armies waged war in 1973, followed two years of subterfuge by Hamas that involved keeping its military plans under wraps and convincing Israel it did not want a fight.

 

While Israel was led to believe it was containing a war-weary Hamas by providing economic incentives to Gazan workers, the group's fighters were being trained and drilled, often in plain sight, a source close to Hamas said.

 

 

 

This source provided many of the details for the account of the attack and its buildup that has been pieced together by Reuters. Three sources within Israel's security establishment, who like others asked not to be identified, also contributed to this account.

 

"Hamas gave Israel the impression that it was not ready for a fight," said the source close to Hamas, describing plans for the most startling assault since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago when Egypt and Syria surprised Israel and made it fight for its survival.

 

"Hamas used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead Israel over the last months, by giving a public impression that it was not willing to go into a fight or confrontation with Israel while preparing for this massive operation," the source said.

 

Israel concedes it was caught off guard by an attack timed to coincide with the Jewish Sabbath and a religious holiday. Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns, killing at least 900 Israelis and abducting dozens. Israel has killed more than 400 Palestinians in its retaliation on Gaza since then.

"This is our 9/11," said Major Nir Dinar, spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. "They got us."

 

"They surprised us and they came fast from many spots - both from the air and the ground and the sea."

 

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Reuters the attack showed Palestinians had the will to achieve their goals "regardless of Israel's military power and capabilities."

 

'They ran riot'

In one of the most striking elements of their preparations, Hamas constructed a mock Israeli settlement in Gaza where they practiced a military landing and trained to storm it, the source close to Hamas said, adding they even made videos of the maneuvers.

 

"Israel surely saw them but they were convinced that Hamas wasn't keen on getting into a confrontation," the source said.

 

Meanwhile, Hamas sought to convince Israel it cared more about ensuring that workers in Gaza, a narrow strip of land with more than two million residents, had access to jobs across the border and had no interest in starting a new war.

 

"Hamas was able to build a whole image that it was not ready for a military adventure against Israel," the source said.

 

Since a 2021 war with Hamas, Israel has sought to provide a basic level of economic stability in Gaza by offering incentives including thousands of permits so Gazans can work in Israel or the West Bank, where salaries in construction, agriculture or service jobs can be 10 times the level of pay in Gaza.

"We believed that the fact that they were coming in to work and bringing money into Gaza would create a certain level of calm. We were wrong," another Israeli army spokesperson said.

 

An Israeli security source acknowledged Israel's security services were duped by Hamas. "They caused us to think they wanted money," the source said. "And all the time they were involved in exercises/drills until they ran riot."

 

As part of its subterfuge in the past two years, Hamas refrained from military operations against Israel, even as another Gaza-based Islamist armed group known as Islamic Jihad launched a series of its own assaults or rocket attacks.

 

No inkling

The restraint shown by Hamas drew public criticism from some supporters, again aimed at building an impression that Hamas had economic concerns not a new war on its mind, the source said.

 

In the West Bank, controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah group, there were those who mocked Hamas for going quiet. In one Fatah statement published in June 2022, the group accused Hamas leaders of fleeing to Arab capitals to live in "luxurious hotels and villas" leaving their people to poverty in Gaza.

 

A second Israeli security source said there was a period when Israel believed the movement's leader in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar, was preoccupied with managing Gaza "rather than killing Jews." At the same time, Israel turned its focus away from Hamas as it pushed for a deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, he added.

 

Israel has long prided itself on its ability to infiltrate and monitor Islamist groups. As a consequence, the source close to Hamas said, a crucial part of the plan was to avoid leaks.

 

Many Hamas leaders were unaware of the plans and, while training, the 1,000 fighters deployed in the assault had no inkling of the exact purpose of the exercises, the source added.

 

When the day came, the operation was divided into four parts, the Hamas source said, describing the various elements.

 

The first move was a barrage of 3,000 rockets fired from Gaza that coincided with incursions by fighters who flew hang gliders, or motorized paragliders, over the border, the source said. Israel has previously said 2,500 rockets were fired at first.

 

Once the fighters on hang-gliders were on the ground, they secured the terrain so an elite commando unit could storm the fortified electronic and cement wall built by Israel to prevent infiltration.

 

The fighters used explosives to breach the barriers and then sped across on motorbikes. Bulldozers widened the gaps and more fighters entered in four-wheel drives, scenes that witnesses described.

 

'Huge failure'

A commando unit attacked the Israeli army's southern Gaza headquarters and jammed its communications, preventing personnel from calling commanders or each other, the source said.

 

The final part involved moving hostages to Gaza, mostly achieved early in the attack, the source close to Hamas said.

 

In one well-publicized hostage taking, fighters abducted party-goers fleeing a rave near the kibbutz of Re'im near Gaza. Social media footage showed dozens of people running through fields and on a road as gunshots were heard.

 

"How could this party happen this close (to Gaza)?" the Israeli security source said.

 

The Israeli security source said Israeli troops were below full strength in the south near Gaza because some had been redeployed to the West Bank to protect Israeli settlers following a surge of violence between them and Palestinian militants.

 

"They (Hamas) exploited that," the source said.

 

Dennis Ross, a former Middle East negotiator who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Israel had been distracted by violence in the West Bank, leading to a "thin, under-prepared presence in the south."

 

"Hamas probably succeeded beyond their expectation. Now they will have to deal with an Israel determined to decimate them," he said.

 

Retired General Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters on Sunday the assault represented "a huge failure of the intelligence system and the military apparatus in the south."

 

Amidror, chairman of the National Security Council from April 2011-November 2013 and now senior fellow with the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said some of Israel's allies had been saying that Hamas had acquired "more responsibility."

 

"We stupidly began to believe that it was true," he said. "So, we made a mistake. We are not going to make this mistake again and we will destroy Hamas, slowly but surely."

 

 

[Muda69]

Get the US Out of the Middle East: https://mises.org/wire/get-us-out-middle-east

Quote

The ongoing conflict between the state of Israel and Hamas escalated considerably on Saturday. A group of armed fighters—presumably of Hamas—broke through the Gaza-Israel border barrier and launched what is sure to be a short-lived invasion of southwestern Israel. 

At least 700 Israeli citizens—most of them apparently civilians—were killed, and more than one hundred were taken hostage. The Israeli state quickly retaliated with widespread bombing of neighborhoods in Gaza producing hundreds killed, and possibly hundreds of thousands displaced. 

Within hours of the initial invasion, images of Hamas kidnappings and killings quickly flooded social media provoking calls for further retaliation by the Israeli state. On the other side, images of Israeli bombings of civilian neighborhoods has brought calls for additional action against Israel. Saturday's escalation has also revived hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel along Lebanon's southern border.

This has all happened in spite of decades of US intervention and spending in favor of Tel Aviv. Yet, this ongoing conflict has nothing at all to do with the safety and security of the United States itself, and Saturday's bloodshed should be an indication that the United States government is already far too involved in the region and ought to get out. 

It is already clear, however, that the invasion will be used to push the US regime toward more military spending, more war, and more global interventionism. The war party will use the same playbook that we saw for Ukraine: "look at the horrible atrocities committed by these barbarians. Surely, we must go to war to defeat this evil—regardless of whether it has anything to do with defending our own country." It's a grift Washington has been using for more than a century even though "humanitarian" wars are a myth. 

Conservatives for Middle Eastern Wars

Surprisingly, however, many Trump supporters didn't fall for it in the case of Ukraine. But now we're hearing calls from MAGA country to expand US military action in the Middle East as a result of the Hamas invasion. Victor Davis Hanson—a Trump supporter and one of the most fanatical pushers of the failed US war in Iraq—demanded on Saturday that the US regime "undertake a 1973-like massive arms lift of key munitions to Israel" and should "warn Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and others in the Middle East not to intervene or else." To include that "or else," of course, is to commit the US to yet another series of wars. Some other Trump supporters also see an opportunity here to revive aggressive measures toward Iran. Former Trump advisor Stephen Miller wants more sanctions against Iran, and condemns the Biden Administration for being slow to pull the trigger on aggressive new measures. Anti-Trump conservatives, unsurprisingly, are using the Hamas invasion to push their own variety of international aggression as well. Mike Pence now says the Hamas attack occurred because Trump was not belligerent enough in his foreign policy. Nikki Haley clearly thinks there is never too much foreign intervention by Washington and she suggested that the Hamas attack shows Iran may attempt to attack the United States from Mexico.

The pro-Israel center-left wants in on the action as well. "United Against Nuclear Iran," a group led by former US Senator Joseph Lieberman, calls for full-blown war against Iran, stating “We call on our government in Washington, together with Israel, and our allies around the world to launch strikes against military and intelligence targets in Iran, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites, and missile and drone bases." 

Saturday's escalation is in many ways a godsend to advocates of the American warfare state. Hamas's invasion provides new opportunities to convince Americans that the US needs to expand its many foreign policy commitments in the name of "democracy" or human rights. The war in Ukraine may not have captured the support of many American conservatives and Republicans, but experience suggests that such people can be far more easily whipped into a frenzy against the regime's official Islamic enemies. 

Never mind, of course, the fact that neither Hamas nor Hezbollah present any significant threat to the United States at all. In fact, Israel doesn't face any existential threat from Hamas or Hezbollah, either. Israel has an air force with the most advanced technology. Hamas has no air force at all. Israel has one of the best-trained, best-armed militaries in the world—much of it paid for by US tax dollars. Israel, of course, has a nuclear arsenal, and probably even a nuclear triad. Moreover, even if Iran were able to acquire nuclear arms, the realities of mutually assured destruction would still apply. Israel's nuclear delivery systems are far superior to anything Iran can hope to field. 

Hamas' Saturday invasion is likely to leave Gaza and Hamas devastated and in a far worse position than they were in on Saturday morning. By the time Israel is done with Gaza, casualties—civilian and otherwise—are likely to number in the tens of thousands. Gaza's housing and infrastructure will be all but destroyed. The success of Hamas' Saturday invasion doesn't illustrate any sizable strength on the part of Hamas. The success of the invasion only suggests incompetence on the part of Israeli intelligence—in a manner reminiscent of the CIA's abject failure on 9/11. 

And yet, we're being told that the United States must inject itself even more into this conflict and court open warfare with Iran, a country that also poses no threat to the United States. 

Decades of US Meddling 

Unfortunately, the US has no plans to leave the region, and it is absurd to claim—as Pence does—that the United States has somehow "withdrawn." The US recently renewed a commitment to provide Israel with military aid—totaling more than forty billion over the next five years. The US has been in some state of conflict with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The US has informally provided defense guarantees to Saudi Arabia in an effort to safeguard the petrodollar and counterbalance Saudi Arabia's traditional regional enemy Iran. US military bases dot the Middle Eastern landscape across Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, and others. 

None of these bases serve to protect America's borders from attack. If anything, the heavy-handed American presence in the region serves to motivate militants and terrorists to attack Americans who come to be viewed as occupiers and collaborators with various hated regimes in the region. The bases may be a boon for the military industrial complex, but they provide no benefit for the average taxpayer who must foot the bill—and who becomes a potential target as a result of US meddling in the region. 

If the safety, security, and property of Americans were actually a priority of American policymakers, Washington would be working to make Mike Pence's worst nightmare come true: getting the US out of the Middle East.

Agreed.  The U.S. needs to get out, really out, of the Middle East.

 

[swordfish]

Truthfully, the US and the rest of the world just needs to GTFO of the way of Israel.  Let them handle their terrorist enemies in their own way.   If this were the US and these sick bastards did this - beheaded babies - I would expect the US to nuke em till they glow and shoot em in the dark.  This wasn't war.

 

[swordfish]

This is prime example of the sheer stupidity of these Palestinian supporters.......Although with her nose-ring on prominent display, she must be pretty bright......

https://nypost.com/2024/04/25/us-news/clueless-columbia-student-at-nyu-rally-why-are-we-protesting/

Anti-Israel protesters at NYU admit they have no idea what they’re protesting: ‘I wish I was more educated’

Does this drag queen really understand Palestine.....and what really goes on there?

https://nypost.com/2024/04/25/us-news/outrage-as-drag-queen-leads-kids-in-free-palestine-chant/

Video of a drag queen in Massachusetts leading a group of young kids to chant “Free Palestine” has sparked fierce backlash — with some calling it “indoctrination” that is “wrong on every level.”

The encounter, which unfolded at a “Queer Storytime for Palestine” event organized by the Valley Families for Palestine group in Amherst last week, had gone viral by Thursday as outrage mounted.

“Today what we’re going to do is shout ‘Free Palestine.’ Can I hear that?” the drag queen, known as “Lil Miss Hot Mess,” was filmed telling the children in the 30-second clip.

The encounter unfolded at a story time event organized by the Valley Families for Palestine group in Amherst, Mass.Instagram/valleyfamiliesforpalestine

 

[swordfish]

Compelling as well - Where were all these left-wing protesting nuts when Russia invaded Ukraine?  

[swordfish]

17 hours ago, swordfish said:

Compelling as well - Where were all these left-wing protesting nuts when Russia invaded Ukraine?  

OIC - Guess the protesters weren't getting paid enough!  Very interesting since Mr. Soros is supposed to be Jewish.....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13353941/George-soros-paying-left-wing-activists-college-protest-camp.html

Multiple leaders of the anti-Israel protests at college campuses across the nation have been revealed to be paid fellows of George Soros-connected groups.

Three of the major figures in the pro-Palestine encampments in universities are fellows at the Soros-funded US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the New York Post reports.

USCPR 'community-based' fellows are paid up to $7,800 for their labor, while 'campus-based' fellows are given between $2,880 and $3,660 for spending eight hours a week organizing 'campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.'

The organization instructs its fellows to 'rise up' and spark 'revolution,' while specifically telling them to reject 'reform.' 

It has received at least $300,000 from Soros' Open Society Foundations since 2017.

One of them, former president of the University of Texas Students for Justice in Palestine Nidaa Lafi was seen giving a speech on the campus encampment on Wednesday.

Lafi is currently studying law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas after graduating from UT last year.

The former intern for late Democratic congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson was detained in January for blocking the route of president Joe Biden's motorcade in Dallas for the funeral of her former boss, rep. Johnson.

Meanwhile at Yale, USCPR fellow Craig Birckhead-Morton was arrested after occupying the school Beinecke Plaza on Monday.

He was an intern Democratic Maryland rep. John Sarbanes.

At Berkeley, co-president of the Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine Malak Afaneh is a known face at pro-Palestine protests and has been speaking at the campus' protest this week.

Afaneh previously made headlines this month when she was one of the students who hijacked a dinner with the law school's dean and made it into an anti-Israel demonstration.

She accused the dean's wife of assaulting her after she was asked to leave the dean's home. 

The controversial protests in US campuses are organized by branches of the far-leftist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which is funded by non-profits connected to Soros.

Soros, who is Jewish, was born György Schwartz in Hungary, and survived the country's Nazi occupation.

Tensions continue to escalate at the Columbia, where hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters are demanding that the institution divest from companies with ties to Israel.

So far, more than 100 demonstrators have been arrested at the 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment', which is comprised of a coalition of 116 groups under the umbrella organization Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Several of the groups in the coalition have received backing from left wing donors, including one group currently under investigation for allegedly fundraising for terrorist organizations.

One of the key players in the coalition is Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which the Gazette reports came out in support of the October 7 attack which killed 1,200 Israelis.

SJP receives funding from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), according to the Anti Defamation League, which describes AMP as holding 'extreme anti-Israel views'.

Last year, Virginia's Attorney General Jason Miyares announced his office was investigating AMP over allegations they may have been fundraising for terrorist organizations.

SJP is also an offshoot of the Westchester People's Action Coalition which supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, the Green New Deal, and other left-wing initiatives.

WESPAC is named as a 'fiscal sponsor' of SJP, according to NGO Monitor and has assets over $1,000,000.

Several of the groups members are among those who have been barred for participating in the sit in.

Another central player in the encampment is Jewish Voice for Peace, which has received millions from various donors including George Soros's Open Society Network.

Since  2016 the group has netted at least $650,000 from Soros-backed organizations.

Other donors have included the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, whose director, Nicholas Burns, resigned in 2017 over its support for JVP.

Both JVP and SJP have been involved in solidarity protests across other universities including NYU, Yale, MIT and Harvard. 

Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at New York University and Yale, and the gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. universities sought to defuse campus tensions over Israel's war with Hamas.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest states on its website that it represents thousands of students across nine schools.

Other groups which make up the coalition include Young Democratic Socialists of America, Columbia Queer and Asian, the African Students Association, Columbia University Students for Human Rights and the Teachers College Abolition Collective.

The coalition began the sit in following Columbia president Minouche Shafik's testimony before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus. 

The stunt entered its seventh day today and has already seen billionaire donors including Robert Kraft pull their funding and earned condemnation from the White House.

The coalition's three demands center around divestment all of Columbia's finances, including that profit from 'Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine', severing all ties with Israeli universities and an opposition to 'to land grabs, whether in Harlem, Lenapehoking, or Palestine'.

The group is seeking a ceasefire on Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory strikes by Israel. 

 

 

[Muda69]

This is Indiana?  A sniper on the rooftop of the IU Student Union, watching some kind of protest going on.

 

[swordfish]

Wondering why there is such a resistance to the "organic Palestinian support" protests?  FYI - These protests are NOT organic.  These protests are bought, paid for and very coordinated.  Law enforcement is anticipating the group(s) that supports HAMAS (a terrorist organization) in Palestine may be positioning for something big to happen. 

IDK - Considering the number of new illegal aliens that have entered the country in the past 3 years, maybe the increased security is warranted.....

[swordfish]

"Like OMG, can we please have some food and water after we violently and destruct-fully took over and occupied this building"......Said a very well-educated "professor/student" who is also a "Political Strategist" ......SMH.....

https://nypost.com/2024/04/30/us-news/clueless-columbia-protester-demands-school-help-get-food-water-to-illegal-occupiers-basic-humanitarian-aid/

A clueless Columbia University protester who once worked for a lefty consulting firm hired by Bill de Blasio demanded Tuesday that the school help get “basic humanitarian aid” such as food and water to the anti-Israel rioters illegally occupying a campus building.

“Like, could people please have a glass of water?’’ the young woman told reporters outside Hamilton Hall, which a defiant mob of pro-terror protesters violently stormed early Tuesday and took over.

“Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill even if they disagree with you? If the answer is no, then you should allow basic, I mean, it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but this is like basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for,’’ the protester said, according to footage posted to X.

An incredulous reporter replied, “It seems like you’re sort of saying, ‘We want to be revolutionaries, we want to take over this building, now would you please bring us some food and water.’’’

The protester — who studies Marxist principles at Columbia — replied, “Nobody’s asking them to bring anything. “We’re asking them to not violently stop us from bringing in basic humanitarian aid.’’

Asked if the university had tried to stop supplies from being brought to the illegal occupiers, the protester admitted she actually didn’t know.

“We are looking for a commitment from them that they will not stop it,’’ the woman said.

“I do not know to what extent it has been attempted. But we’re looking for a commitment.’’

Before the exchange with the reporter, she had said the students occupying Hamilton Hall were “asking for a commitment from Columbia for food and water to be brought in” to “ensure the safety of their own students.”

A video of people passing food to women inside a gate around Columbia was posted to X on Tuesday.

The Columbia protester refused to provide her name since she said other demonstrators who spoke to the press have received threats.

But The Post was able to identify her as a doctoral student and instructor at the Ivy League school whose studies focus on applying a “Marxian lens” to romantic literature.

Prior to joining Columbia, she worked as a political strategist for several “leftist and progressive causes,” including for the consulting firm BerlinRosen — which was tapped by de Blasio for his 2013 mayoral campaign.

The Democrat often used the firm’s co-founder, Jonathan Rosen, as a private adviser while he was NYC mayor and used other employees of the public relations firm to ghostwrite press release quotes and letters to the editor.

Government watchdog groups had slammed the private-public partnership, noting that Rosen got key access as well as potential favors and profit through his close relationship with the mayor.

An organizer of the university’s weekslong anti-Israel encampment also whined Tuesday about the campus lockdown — claiming it was “making life incredibly difficult’’ for students.

Sueda Polat, a grad student at the prestigious Manhattan school, seemed oblivious to the fact that rioters from the tent city illegally erected on Columbia’s campus caused the major education disruption by hijacking Hamilton Hall.

She boasted that the building occupiers were not leaving “anytime soon’’ — and that they were being protected by members of the faculty helping to encircle the site.

Polat scoffed that the most severe school repercussion to date — threats of possible expulsion for participating students — would only cause protesters to dig their heels in more.

“Today they locked down the university in an unprecedented way, making life incredibly difficult for the thousands of students who need access to this campus on a daily basis,’’ Polat said of the school.

“There are students here doing their thesis defenses, there’s members of staff who have research work,” she added.

“By closing the university, they have stopped the function of the university, whereas the student protests have never done that,’’ Polat claimed — even as many students have described severe hardship in continuing their studies and even getting food on campus because of the chaos.

The protest leader blamed the mob’s takeover of the historic building on “an autonomous group of students” angry that “obstinance’’ and “arrogance’’ by Columbia stopped negotiations between the school and demonstrators.

One of the protesters’ main demands is for Columbia to divest from companies involved with Israel, which declared war on Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian terror group’s massacre in Israel on Oct. 7.

“The university shouldn’t be surprised there is an escalation in protest behavior on this campus,’’ Polat said. “[School administrators] kept us occupied for 11 to 12 days when we were negotiating with them, sometimes for 10 hours a day, and consequently got no results from those negotiations.

“The more the university acts like an authoritarian police state by setting up checkpoints, even at the library, the more students will be willing to resist,’’ she said.

Polat would not say how many people have barricaded themselves inside the hall but crowed, “There are hundreds of students protecting the encampment, protecting their right to protest, and they’re not willing to leave anytime soon.

“There are members of the faculty around the encampment,’’ she added.

“It would be incredibly shortsighted of the university to expel a huge number of its students, especially considering how much consensus this matter has on campus,’’ the protest leader insisted.

“I strongly believe it would galvanize the rest of the campus community.”

 

[temptation]

5 hours ago, swordfish said:

"Like OMG, can we please have some food and water after we violently and destruct-fully took over and occupied this building"......Said a very well-educated "professor/student" who is also a "Political Strategist" ......SMH.....

https://nypost.com/2024/04/30/us-news/clueless-columbia-protester-demands-school-help-get-food-water-to-illegal-occupiers-basic-humanitarian-aid/

A clueless Columbia University protester who once worked for a lefty consulting firm hired by Bill de Blasio demanded Tuesday that the school help get “basic humanitarian aid” such as food and water to the anti-Israel rioters illegally occupying a campus building.

“Like, could people please have a glass of water?’’ the young woman told reporters outside Hamilton Hall, which a defiant mob of pro-terror protesters violently stormed early Tuesday and took over.

“Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill even if they disagree with you? If the answer is no, then you should allow basic, I mean, it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but this is like basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for,’’ the protester said, according to footage posted to X.

An incredulous reporter replied, “It seems like you’re sort of saying, ‘We want to be revolutionaries, we want to take over this building, now would you please bring us some food and water.’’’

The protester — who studies Marxist principles at Columbia — replied, “Nobody’s asking them to bring anything. “We’re asking them to not violently stop us from bringing in basic humanitarian aid.’’

Asked if the university had tried to stop supplies from being brought to the illegal occupiers, the protester admitted she actually didn’t know.

“We are looking for a commitment from them that they will not stop it,’’ the woman said.

“I do not know to what extent it has been attempted. But we’re looking for a commitment.’’

Before the exchange with the reporter, she had said the students occupying Hamilton Hall were “asking for a commitment from Columbia for food and water to be brought in” to “ensure the safety of their own students.”

A video of people passing food to women inside a gate around Columbia was posted to X on Tuesday.

The Columbia protester refused to provide her name since she said other demonstrators who spoke to the press have received threats.

But The Post was able to identify her as a doctoral student and instructor at the Ivy League school whose studies focus on applying a “Marxian lens” to romantic literature.

Prior to joining Columbia, she worked as a political strategist for several “leftist and progressive causes,” including for the consulting firm BerlinRosen — which was tapped by de Blasio for his 2013 mayoral campaign.

The Democrat often used the firm’s co-founder, Jonathan Rosen, as a private adviser while he was NYC mayor and used other employees of the public relations firm to ghostwrite press release quotes and letters to the editor.

Government watchdog groups had slammed the private-public partnership, noting that Rosen got key access as well as potential favors and profit through his close relationship with the mayor.

An organizer of the university’s weekslong anti-Israel encampment also whined Tuesday about the campus lockdown — claiming it was “making life incredibly difficult’’ for students.

Sueda Polat, a grad student at the prestigious Manhattan school, seemed oblivious to the fact that rioters from the tent city illegally erected on Columbia’s campus caused the major education disruption by hijacking Hamilton Hall.

She boasted that the building occupiers were not leaving “anytime soon’’ — and that they were being protected by members of the faculty helping to encircle the site.

Polat scoffed that the most severe school repercussion to date — threats of possible expulsion for participating students — would only cause protesters to dig their heels in more.

“Today they locked down the university in an unprecedented way, making life incredibly difficult for the thousands of students who need access to this campus on a daily basis,’’ Polat said of the school.

“There are students here doing their thesis defenses, there’s members of staff who have research work,” she added.

“By closing the university, they have stopped the function of the university, whereas the student protests have never done that,’’ Polat claimed — even as many students have described severe hardship in continuing their studies and even getting food on campus because of the chaos.

The protest leader blamed the mob’s takeover of the historic building on “an autonomous group of students” angry that “obstinance’’ and “arrogance’’ by Columbia stopped negotiations between the school and demonstrators.

One of the protesters’ main demands is for Columbia to divest from companies involved with Israel, which declared war on Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian terror group’s massacre in Israel on Oct. 7.

“The university shouldn’t be surprised there is an escalation in protest behavior on this campus,’’ Polat said. “[School administrators] kept us occupied for 11 to 12 days when we were negotiating with them, sometimes for 10 hours a day, and consequently got no results from those negotiations.

“The more the university acts like an authoritarian police state by setting up checkpoints, even at the library, the more students will be willing to resist,’’ she said.

Polat would not say how many people have barricaded themselves inside the hall but crowed, “There are hundreds of students protecting the encampment, protecting their right to protest, and they’re not willing to leave anytime soon.

“There are members of the faculty around the encampment,’’ she added.

“It would be incredibly shortsighted of the university to expel a huge number of its students, especially considering how much consensus this matter has on campus,’’ the protest leader insisted.

“I strongly believe it would galvanize the rest of the campus community.”

 

I’m not naive enough to believe these are all student led protests as there is obviously some financial backing taking place from somewhere but students at these “institutions of higher learning” really are showing their asses.

To think these are the brightest and best and future leaders, CEO’s, etc of our country is laughable.

If they understood what it was like to really be oppressed and not have basic human rights in most middle eastern countries, they’d change their tune.

How about that for a pre graduate internship?  A month abroad in a country with zero human rights.

More learning would take place in that month than in any available 4-5 year undergraduate program.

Edited Wednesday at 08:20 PM by temptation

[swordfish]