Ben Sasse: What Hamas Did Is Evil. There Is No Defense For Terrorism

by on October 13, 2023 | 5 Comments

I will not tiptoe around this simple fact: What Hamas did is evil and there is no defense for terrorism. This shouldn’t be hard. Sadly, too many people in elite academia have been so weakened by their moral confusion that, when they see videos of raped women, hear of a beheaded baby, or learn of a grandmother murdered in her home, the first reaction of some is to “provide context” and try to blame the raped women, beheaded baby, or the murdered grandmother. In other grotesque cases, they express simple support for the terrorists.

This thinking isn’t just wrong, it’s sickening. It’s dehumanizing. It is beneath people called to educate our next generation of Americans. I am thankful to say I haven’t seen examples of that here at UF, either from our faculty or our student body.

As for us, our educational mission here begins with the recognition and explicit acknowledgment of human dignity – the same human dignity that Hamas’ terrorists openly scorn. Every single human life matters. We are committed to that truth. We will tell that truth.

In the coming days, it is possible that anti-Israel protests will come to UF’s campus. I have told our police chief and administration that this university always has two foundational commitments: We will protect our students and we will protect speech. This is always true: Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves.

But I also want to be clear about this: We will protect our Jewish students from violence. If anti-Israel protests come, we will absolutely be ready to act if anyone dares to escalate beyond peaceful protest. Speech is protected – violence and vandalism are not. Read more»

Ben Sasse | “UF President Ben Sasse’s statement on Hamas attacks on Israel” | October 11, 2023

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5 comments

  2. I’m struggling to understand all of this anti-semitic backlash erupting over the Israeli retaliation against the terrorist Hamas on these campuses. Evidently enough time has past since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S. by Islamic extremist groups so that the subsequent generations may not even be aware of them. Come to think of it, every year when the “anniversary” of those attacks is covered by the media (which seem to be coming of lesser and lesser significance in the news) nothing is ever mentioned about the evil of the terrorists, it’s all about the bravery and sacrifice of the first responders who gave their lives to rescue victims. While this is important to remember, it is NOT correct to overlook the cause of the disaster in the first place. What in the world are we descending to in the West??

    • Islamist ideology is patient. They wait for opportunity. They discovered opportunity within the unrest in Israel. In my estimation, the May 2021 conflict was a testing of the waters.
      Antisemitism has always been there, Will always be there. What is terribly distressing is when it has voiced within the church of God.

  3. We are reminded of the violence and war crimes that have carried out by both sides since 1946 when Israel settlers pushed the Palestinians into the Gaza at gun point. Hamas was created by Israel to breakup the PLO. The bald or gray heads among us will recall PLO leader, Yassar Arafat. Now Hamas is again biting the hand that feeds them. May God bring peace to Jerusalem.

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