One of the tenets of leftism is the idea that the world divides neatly into oppressed and oppressor. You are one or the other, and there’s no escaping it. What’s more, the oppressed are defined as good no matter what their behavior; there are no objective standards for judging them except their defined status as oppressed. That is why we see it said that black people cannot be racists, even when they obviously are expressing hatred towards other races. That is why the George Floyd riots were perfectly okay and the J6 defendants were evil. That is why Nick Sandmann had a face so many wanted to punch, and his harassers were protected by the press and the left.

And of course that is why murderous savagery by Hamas is justified by virtue-signaling college students. Hamas is oppressed and Israelis are oppressors – or “colonialists” or “settlers” or whatever the term of art. That means Hamas can literally do no wrong.

Hamas leaders are well aware of this and exploit it.

[As Neo says, Ghazi Hamad made that argument in literal fashion in his interview last week on Lebanon’s LBC TV. I wrote about that earlier today, but be sure to read where Neo goes here. Adam Baldwin and I discuss it in similar terms on the Amiable Skeptics show episode that will go up tomorrow morning. — Ed]