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ALPERN AT LARGE - Seriously—do we WANT our own native-grown “Intifada” on American soil protesting, and with every more dangerous actions, something on the other side of Planet Earth?
Are we going to inevitably learn what Israel learned…which was that these hooligans and terrorists do NOT learn and work with compromise?
Because like or hate Israel, they gave the Palestinians Gaza for self-rule as a prototype for a Greater Palestine…and look what Hamas and their supportive population did with Gaza!
And…so NOW we must look what these “Pro-Palestinian” lovelies are doing with their own “self-run” encampments in our nation! Where is this GOING?
Questions therefore abound, and many reading this probably have their own answers formulated quite some time ago…where the hell is this going, and what the hell do we do about it, and when the hell do we finally show the smarts, decency, and guts to do it?
The latest travesty was when “Pro-Palestine demonstrators” took over and vandalized a university building at Cal State Los Angeles (CSULA) last/Thursday night.
Employees were forced to shelter in place and lock doors, in fear for their own personal safety, as the “protestors” overturned vending machines, broken furniture and windows, and with the first-floor windows sprayed with pro-Palestinian graffiti.
Not all the criminals and vandals were students, but many were (and they ARE criminals and vandals!). Both groups are lousy up to their necks in all this havoc and destruction, but there were no arrests.
One might raise issues of sympathy and concern about CSULA Campus President and Professor Berenecea Johnson Eanes, who was trapped in her office during this rampant display of anarchy, but might Dr. Eanes and her tolerance of these creepy holligans be part of why this all was allowed to happen?
So when DO Dr. Eanes and her counterparts running public and private universities demand an end to encampments and violent behavior?
When DO Dr. Eanes and her counterparts demand that non-students not be allowed to encamp in universities?
When DO Dr. Eanes and her counterparts demand that those masks come off, and that public documentation of who is liable and responsible for peaceful behavior in the encampments be the normal (and not a violent unruly and unsupervised “new normal” landscape for these encampments, which appears to be the case now)?
When DO Dr. Eanes and her counterparts expel and permanently stain the records of these college students who NO employer should ever have to suffer from, with respect to future hiring purposes after anonymous and unpunished criminal behavior?
And with the understanding that the New York City “protestors” call for “Zionists” to raise their hands and leave a subway train car, when DO Dr. Eanes and mayors throughout the states and nation recognize that antisemitism, anti-Jewish, and anti-Western violent acts are virtually inevitable?
These acts are becoming a trend, and without these acts being outliers and deviations from the norm.
Do Dr. Eanes and her university and mayoral counterparts know that these will NOT end after the graduation ceremonies this month, and that there will be new academic and public venues attacked by these insatiable troublemakers?
Shall we wait until there are dead bodies, and/or hospital emergency rooms filled with wounded civilians, before we realize that this problem must be confronted and overcome with police (if not National Guard) actions?
We’re overall still quite stuck with the encampments that keep coming back after they’re disbanded, still with the criminals wearing their creepy and cowardly masks, still with the violation of civil rights of the rest of those attending and working at universities, and without any consequences of these sort of blatantly-illegal actions.
But these break-ins, take-overs, and related acts of intimidation and violence ARE illegal, right?
The vandals ARE criminals, right?
And the Jews and other peaceful students and citizens ARE innocent victims worthy of protection, right?
Right?
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
