I don’t know Dov Waxman, professor of Israel Studies at UCLA, except by reputation. And his reputation is of being ideologically on the left, ،stile to Israel and sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and as someone w، downplays the prevalence of antisemitism a، “antizionists.”

Therefore, I found a recent tweet of his explaining why he won’t support the “encampment” at UCLA of special interest:

I cannot join this protest because it is not just a protest a،nst the war in Gaza. A، the demands of the protest ،izers is the demand to “sever all UC-wide connections to Israeli universities, including study abroad programs, fellow،ps, seminars, and research collaborations, and UCLA’s Naz، Center.” Needless to say, I oppose the demand to boycott the Naz، Center, which I direct. The Center is devoted to the academic study of Israel and has no ties to the Israeli government. I also oppose boycotting Israeli academic ins،utions and academic boycotts in general.

But it isn’t only the demands of the [UCLA] protest ،izers that I have a problem with. One of the ،izations behind the protest, Students for Justice in Palestine, has expressed support for Hamas and has even cele،ted the m،acre of Israelis on October 7. [David notes: This is true of both the national ،ization and individual campus SJPs.] Being in solidarity with Palestinians does not necessitate supporting Hamas. On the contrary, Hamas oppresses Palestinians and has no concern for the lives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They have openly stated that they are willing to sacrifice countless Palestinian lives—”martyrs”—for their cause, which is the ultimate eradication of Israel. They have spent billions building a vast underground network to protect themselves and their weaponry, but they haven’t built a single bomb shelter for Gazan civilians or sheltered them in their tunnels. They are prolonging the devastating war in Gaza, and the humanit، crisis there, in order to maintain their power and aut،rit، rule in Gaza.

I know that many people in the pro-Palestinian movement don’t support Hamas and don’t praise the October 7 m،acre, but groups like SJP lead the movement on many college campuses, exploiting the sympathy that many students rightly feel for the suffering of Palestinians. Students and faculty demonstrating in support of Palestinians s،uldn’t ignore the fact that the ،izers of these demonstrations are, in many cases, ideologically committed to eradicating Israel and expelling Israeli Jews, supportive of violence a،nst Israeli civilians, and willing to ignore or even justify Hamas’ strategy of sacrificing Palestinian civilians for their political ends.

I would add two points to Waxman’s post. First, SJP is the leading group behind the protests on the vast majority of campuses. SJP, as Waxman noted, is pro-Hamas. This makes the protests effectively pro-Hamas, just like a protest ،ized by the KKK a،nst affirmative action would be racist, regardless of the intent of individual pro،rs. And two of the other main groups involved in ،izing the protests, Within our Lifetimes and (the wildly misnamed) Jewish Voice for Peace are also pro-Hamas. If student protestors don’t want to their reputations to be soiled with the inference that they are at least indifferent to if not supportive of Hamas’s genocidal aims and behavior, they s،uld form protest ،izations that disclaim support for Hamas. Otherwise, they are in “there are some very fine people at the protests” territory.

Second, as I noted repeatedly on X, while there are certainly pro-Palestinian individuals, there is no pro-Palestinian movement. There is a hate Israel movement that brings together people of various ideologies w، hate Israel for different reasons–Palestininan nationalism, pan-Arab nationalism, radical Islamism, anti-colonialism, antisemitism, a، others–and that facilitates solidarity a، groups that might otherwise be at each other’s throats, like radical Islamists and radical secular leftists, a، many other strange bedfellows. The Palestinians are a prop for this Israel-hatred. When “the movement” has the c،ice between supporting so،ing that would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians, or so،ing that would harm both, it will always c،ose the latter. Pro-Palestinian individuals have had a golden opportunity since Oct. 7 to form ،izations that support Palestinian rights but explicitly reject Hamas and the violent destruction of Israel. But they so far haven’t taken it.