By Fernando J. Milanés, M.D.

 

Almost immediately after news of the attack broke, celebrations broke out among a group of Western leftists, hailing Hamas’s incursion as an act of “decolonization.” This was not merely a handful of isolated individuals, but included journalists with large followings, professors, and student organizations at elite universities. At a rally supported by the Democratic Socialists in America in New York, the crowd cheered Hamas’s success.

Zack Beauchamp

In our country where free expression is law, and it protects all including the minority, we are experiencing the many statements, mainly of academics and so-called intellectuals, defending the brutal, inhumane action of Hamas members against innocent Israelis including women and children!    

I do not intend to use these writings to take sides in a war that has been going on for centuries.    In my 87 years of life I have had the occasion and privilege to count many people of diverse races, genders, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, etc. as friends.   

 I had the luck of having Ruston Academy as my high school and sharing my time there with many Jewish classmates.    Ruston was an example of excellent teaching among Catholic schools.    

My best years and “fame” came in my 20 years of professional work at the Department of Veterans Affairs and as a member of faculty at the University of Miami.   

 My immediate boss at UM was Jewish; the late Dr. Carl Eisdorfer, who called me his “deputy” and we maintained our friendship through retirement until his death.    

I could say the same about all of my classmates. I do not make my personal experience as the only judgment in this latest confrontation.   

 Palestinians, like Israelis, are also victims of Hamas, a terrorist group fostered by Iran, in their effort to not only fight Israel, but the United States.    

My strong criticism is against the many faculty and students at prominent universities that take sides, ignoring history and reality, not realizing that what they are advocating in their fanatic and “ignorant” worlds is their own demise.   

 We can agree that the Palestinian and Jewish populations generally  desire to live their lives under their own will and not subjected to extremes from either side.   

 Ages ago, Jews and Palestinians farmed, socialized and mingled as friends.    

 Now there is only a valid thought, stop Hamas and all of Iran’s cronies, not because of their beliefs, but to save humanity!