People take part in a protest on March 27, 2025, in Newark, N.J., against the arrest and threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident. Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Israel from Gaza, killing over a thousand Israelis and taking over 200 hostages. It was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Following the October 7th attack, far-left social justice groups held rallies in support of the “Palestinian cause,” and demonstrators chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a call for Israel to be eradicated and replaced by a sovereign Palestinian state.
Black Lives Matter expressed support for “Palestine” on social media, while far-left academics justified Hamas’s actions by comparing them to Nat Turner’s slave insurrection in 1831. One Cornell professor described Hamas’s attack as “exhilarating” and praised Hamas for “shattering Israel’s image of invincibility.”
For these far-left groups, the “Palestinian cause” was Palestinians fighting to liberate themselves from Israeli occupation. Because many on the far-left regard Israel as an apartheid state, Hamas is akin to the African National Congress, led by a Nelson Mandela-like figure. However, these far-left groups simply ignored the fact that Israel withdrew all security forces and settlements from Gaza in 2005. After Hamas won the election in 2006, they swiftly eliminated their political rivals and established a repressive rule over Gaza.
The far-left groups paid no attention on October 8, when the militant group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel from Lebanon. Hezbollah planned its rocket launch to coincide with Hamas’s invasion. A few weeks later, the Houthis, a Yemeni terrorist group, attacked Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis claimed that their naval attacks were an act of support for Hamas.
Far-left groups ignored the fact that Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are financed by Iran, and geopolitical experts stated that the October attacks marked the start of Iran’s proxy war against Israel. The military goal of Iran’s proxies was to deal such a crushing blow to Israel that it would start the process of Israeli disintegration. The proxies felt that after October 7 and the promise of further “October sevenths,” Jews in Israel who aren’t sincerely devoted to Zionism would evacuate for their safety, and the state of Israel would be weakened by a mass exodus, leaving it vulnerable for total destruction.
In other words, the October attacks had nothing to do with “liberating Palestinians,” as far-left groups claimed. As a matter of fact, after Israel declared war, Hamas used Palestinian people as human shields.
Israel’s war goals were to remove Hamas from power in Gaza and free its hostages. As civilian casualties piled up during the war, the far-left accused Israel of genocide against Gaza’s residents and decried Israel’s disproportionate response.
Students across the United States took part in pro-Palestine rallies, anti-war demonstrations, and boycott, divestment, and sanction campaigns against Israel. The students called for a ceasefire to prevent more innocent Palestinians from becoming casualties of war, but they never demanded that Hamas release the hostages.
More crucially, the students overlooked the report by the Wall Street Journal on interactions between Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. Sinwar stated that he had no interest in pursuing a cease-fire with Israel because the rising civilian death toll in Gaza brought international condemnation to Israel, which was more beneficial to Hamas than a pause in the fighting.
The war in Gaza began during the Biden administration and has continued into the second Trump administration. President Trump signed an executive order to deport “pro-jihadist” demonstrators and cancel visas for foreign students who are “Hamas sympathizers.”
Last month, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers seized Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in the 2024 pro-Palestinian/anti-war demonstrations at Columbia University. Khalil is a lawful permanent resident. The state department alleged he violated the terms of his residency by supporting Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization, and seeks to deport him for national security concerns.
Khalil’s lawyers say his case has nothing to do with national security. The Trump administration targeted Khalil to prevent anti-Israel student protests, and the State Department is infringing on Khalil’s First Amendment right to free speech.
The far left has elevated Khalil’s case into the free speech issue of the decade. They believe he is being persecuted for supporting what they claim is the Palestinian cause, but this time the far left has neglected the true Palestinian cause in Gaza.
In March, NPR reported that “something rare and daring is happening in Gaza. Large crowds protested against Hamas.” Gazan demonstrators chanted “Hamas, get out!” and “Hamas are terrorists.” Too many pro-Israel commentators told the world that Gaza’s civilian population overwhelmingly supported Hamas and were unconcerned about the civilian casualties during the war. Interestingly, the Associated Press reported, “The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which has conducted scientific polling in Gaza and the West Bank for decades, found before this war began that about equal numbers of Palestinians supported Hamas and the secular Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who recognizes Israel and cooperates with it on security.”
The “overwhelming support” for Hamas is not truly present. Protests against Hamas were rare due to fear of retaliation, but now that Israel had destroyed most of Hamas, Gazans opposed to Hamas thought it was time to speak out.
Unfortunately, the remnants of Hamas continue to suppress protesters.
Multiple news agencies have reported that Hamas has murdered at least six Gazans and publicly beaten others for taking part in anti-Hamas demonstrations. More reprisals by Hamas are imminent.
The far-left social justice groups should support these rare demonstrations against Hamas, but their lack of support and silence about Hamas’s brutal reprisals show that they were never pro-Palestinian; they were just anti-Israel.
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