photo #9433133

The Federalist Papers This week marked three years since October 7, and this cartoon gets something right.Ask the average young "Free Palestine" activist a few basic questions. Which river? Which sea? Who has ruled Gaza since 2007? What happened after Israel pulled every soldier and settler out in 2005?Most can't answer. They know the slogan, the hashtag, and the keffiyeh. They don't know the history.So let's be clear about what happened.On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and murdered about 1,200 people, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. At the Nova music festival, more than 360 young people were hunted down and killed as they ran for their lives. Families were slaughtered in their homes. Around 250 people were dragged into Gaza as hostages, including babies and grandparents.Hamas filmed much of it and celebrated.That was not "resistance." It was a massacre of defenseless civilians.Hamas started this war. It knew exactly how Israel would respond, and it built its tunnels and command centers under homes, schools, and hospitals anyway.The devastation that followed in Gaza traces back to that choice. Hamas messed around, and Gaza paid the price Hamas chose for it.Here's what the slogan crowd never reckons with. Israel didn't want this war. Hamas did. If Hamas had released the hostages and surrendered, the fighting could have ended any day.Even many Gazans have protested Hamas rule, risking their lives to do it. The activists chanting on American campuses rarely mention that.Repeating a slogan you saw on TikTok isn't activism. Thinking would mean asking who started it, who hid behind civilians, and who has refused to give up its weapons.That's the difference between critical thinking and chanting, and this cartoon nails it.Have you ever asked a "Free Palestine" activist to explain what they're actually for? What did they say?