From the River to the Sea, or Ceasefire? Which Is It?

AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

Hundreds of thousands of protestors have filled the streets of the world’s cities to express their support for the Palestinian “cause” since 10/7.

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While many of them have been explicit about their desire to kill the Jews, many others claim that they are simply protesting what they see as a “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza. It’s not that they support what Hamas did in Israel. But really, it has to be understood in context, and it’s about saving the lives of innocent women and children who have nothing to do with the acts of Hamas.

I am fully on board with the demand that Israel do everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. It is what civilized people do, and the reason Israel is at war with Hamas at this moment is that they are a murderous death cult that exalts in killing civilians.

But I, and others, don’t buy the argument that those people calling for a cease-fire while marching in the streets alongside people screaming about gassing the Jews and expressing their belief that Hitler had the right idea are sincere in their desire for peace.

Why, aside from the fact that they are keeping company with openly murderous people, do I say that?

Simple: they chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.”

You see, a cease-fire is utterly incompatible with that demand because it means one thing only: the elimination of Israel.

Israel’s borders are the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. From the River to the Sea means that Israel no longer exists.

Unless you believe that all Israelis will simply pack up and leave because some protestors at Harvard demand it, then what they are calling for is an extended war on Israeli soil instead of in Gaza.

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Map locates U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel.; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm;

The demand for a cease-fire and a “free” Palestine from the River to the Sea simply means that Israel must surrender. And since nobody believes that Israel will simply surrender, it is actually just a call for the war to continue endlessly, and the cease-fire is simply a breathing space for Hamas to rearm and regroup.

You can’t have it both ways. It is either war or peace. From the River to the Sea is a call for war, nothing less.

At least many of the protestors are open about this–when they aren’t saying “gas the Jews” they say something like “the Jews can go back to where they came from,” as if there aren’t millions of Israelis whose sole home has ever been Israel. A few even laughably suggest that Hamas and Israelis can live side by side in peace, once Israel ceases to exist.

Yeah, right.

There is something clarifying about seeing millions of people’s reaction to a pogrom on a massive scale being support for the people committing it, and demand to protect the murderers. And there is something profoundly disturbing about seeing millions of highly educated Westerners perform sophisticated verbal gymnastics to pretend not to be calling for the elimination of an entire country and people.

Harvard professors, who famously think saying “there are only two sexes” is a genocidal statement, have suddenly discovered that “From the River to the Sea” is a complicated statement with a confusing history and has nothing to do with killing Jews. When, under pressure, the President of Harvard announced that using the term “From the River to the Sea…” was eliminationist (it clearly is), these professors shot back:

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Similarly, the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free” has a long and complicated history. Its interpretation deserves, and is receiving, sustained and ongoing inquiry and debate…

Yeah, how? How is it complicated? Many of these professors go absolutely insane when people express the most anodyne sentiments, such as color-blindness is better than “anti-racism,” yet they start babbling about how complicated it is to discuss the elimination of an entire state and people. Agreeing with Martin Luther King Jr. is racist, but calling for the elimination of Israel is “complicated.”

There is nothing complicated about this. It is remarkably clear. I can look at a map, and see the river, the sea, and Israel in between. If this is supposed to be the new Palestine, there is no Israel. Q.E.D.

A Harvard education is now simply a training ground for sophistry.

Simply put, you either want the killing to stop, or you want Israelis to do all the dying. These protests are not about ending the war, but about ending Israel. Nothing less.

Look at the protests and find a call for the release of the hostages. Are there any? If these people were simply humanitarians they would at the very least make the demand that the hostages be released–there is no interpretation of law or human decency that allows Hamas to seize hostages and hold them.

These “peace lovers” are ripping down posters of hostages, so they explicitly support Hamas’ holding of the hostages. They don’t care about humanity; they simply want the Jews to give up and go…where? I think we all know the answer to that one.

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No doubt there is a large number of people who just wish the war weren’t necessary, and want to pretend that if Israel just is nicer to Hamas the war will be over. These are the same people who look away any time evil is occurring, shutting their eyes and hoping it all goes away. If they do nothing, the problem will solve itself. They don’t want the Jews to die…but if they do, the problem goes away, doesn’t it?

This is no different than the people who supported Neville Chamberlain and his desire for “peace in our time.” If we are just nicer to the Nazis maybe they will be nice back. Or at least it will take a while for them to come for us.

Sometimes peace isn’t possible. I just isn’t.

If you don’t like it, take it up with Hamas.

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