Sensible Americans have little hope of salvaging anything worthwhile from U.S. universities or from the establishment media.
On Thursday, CBS’ KCAL-TV News in Los Angeles ran a not-so-subtle anti-Israel propaganda piece masquerading as a story about a student protest at UCLA.
Hundreds attended a rally at which students waved Palestinian flags and shouted familiar chants such as “Free, free Palestine!” and “Intifada!” — the latter a reference to a broader Palestinian uprising.
From the beginning, the CBS journalists betrayed their prejudice.
“Well, here at home, a student walkout today at UCLA, this one in support of Palestinian liberation,” a KCAL local news anchor said, by way of introduction.
The anchors then went live to KCAL reporter Jasmine Viel, whose recorded field report maintained the pro-Palestinian narrative.
“Chanting and waving Palestine flags, Palestinian-American students and their supporters at UCLA walked out of class Thursday to demand a free Palestine and an end to the Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip,” Viel said.
Video of the rally showed most students wearing masks — the cloth masks of the COVID cult. Some students carried signs with messages such as “Zionism = terrorism” or “Decolonize Palestine. End Israel Apartheid.”
“The narrow piece of land bordered by Israel to the east and north is home to 2.3 million people. Israeli airstrikes have leveled whole neighborhoods,” Viel continued.
Then came the obligatory acknowledgment of the other side, which felt like an afterthought at best.
“A smaller group of Israeli-American students stood by with their own flags,” Viel said in a tone that suggested the intruding Israeli students had invented those flags or something.
Finally, more than 90 seconds into the report, Viel came to what any sane person regards as the central point. To convey that point, however, she had to interview an Israeli-American student.
“We’re just here to preach peace, and preach love, and we are hoping for better days both for Palestinians and the Israelis,” the student said.
“But it’s not gonna go if they’re gonna support Hamas. We gotta condemn Hamas first.”
Having finally arrived at the heart of the matter, surely Viel gave appropriate attention to Hamas’ Gestapo-like rampage through Israel last weekend, right?
She did not.
To all but those who understand the rot in U.S. universities and establishment media, Viel’s next statement defies comprehension.
“Some Palestinian-Americans on campus say they live in fear as well,” the CBS reporter said.
She actually said that.
Hamas committed Holocaust-like atrocities, but some of UCLA’s Palestinian-American students, the reporter declared, do not feel safe.
To illustrate, a student with a cloth mask pulled down from his nose complained about insults and having his flag stolen.
“They say they’ve been harassed and threatened. They showed us these recent emails, one that reads, ‘a good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian,'” Viel said.
If only Hamas had limited itself to sending threatening emails.
Predictably, Viel then found a Palestinian-American professor willing to attest to this collective victimization.
“We feel like we’re unable to speak, we’re unable to talk, we’re unable to teach, we’re unable to be students and faculty on the university campus,” Professor Saree Makdisi said of himself and the students freely marching and chanting outside.
Makdisi complained about a recent incident in which “masked men” — are there any other kind on this campus? — allegedly yelled at Palestinian-American students and threw their laptops in the trash.
Viel’s narrative continued.
“Makdisi says he does not support terrorists or the deadly attack Saturday on Israeli civilians, when hundreds of gunmen crossed the barrier and rampaged towns,” the reporter said.
He does not support terrorists. Good to know. Alas, the inevitable qualifying conjunction followed.
“But he also says families and children are being killed in Gaza, and the U.S. should stop it,” Viel said.
To conclude the recorded portion of her report, Viel again turned to the professor.
“Violence begets violence. Then we have to stop the conditions that give rise to the violence,” Makdisi said.
At that point, KCAL returned to a shot of Viel and the rally.
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There are two disheartening and related elements to this story.
The first has to do with the rally itself and what it says about the state of U.S. universities.
On social media, for instance, a number of people posted different clips from the rally, along with disapproving tweets.
“As a @UCLA alum, part time lecturer and Jew, I find the chanting of ‘intifada, intifada!’ disgusting in the wake of the barbaric terror attacks in #israel and Hamas call for violence against Jews globally. This is happening now at UCLA,” one user tweeted.
?As a @UCLA alum, part time lecturer and Jew, I find the chanting of “intifada, intifada!” disgusting in the wake of the barbaric terror attacks in #israel and Hamas call for violence against Jews globally.
This is happening now at UCLA pic.twitter.com/ua7tLk2dwX— Ariel Jalali
? (@arieljalali) October 12, 2023
“This is from today on the campus of UCLA. Pro-Hamas students, most in masks to hide their identities, chanting ‘intifada’ or armed, violent rebellion against Israel, after 1200+ massacres in cold blood and hundreds taken hostage. How can anyone support mass slaughter of innocent people?” another user tweeted.
This is from today on the campus of UCLA. Pro-Hamas students, most in masks to hide their identities, chanting “intifada” or armed, violent rebellion against Israel, after 1200+ massacres in cold blood and hundreds taken hostage.
How can anyone support mass slaughter of… pic.twitter.com/eOqmsoy9no
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) October 13, 2023
The same user also shared a different clip from the rally:
Same group today at UCLA. pic.twitter.com/62ybEtmzeh
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) October 13, 2023
“Los Angeles, Happening Now: UCLA pro-Hamas student group “Students for Justice in Palestine” holds a walkout and rally,” another user wrote in a tweet accompanying a different clip showing an overhead view of the rally.
Los Angeles, Happening Now: UCLA pro-Hamas student group “Students for Justice in Palestine” holds a walkout and rally. pic.twitter.com/0rRTaL9PYM
— Anny (@anny25717503) October 12, 2023
How such a thing as a “pro-Hamas group” exists anywhere in the world defies comprehension.
Then again, there is no depth to which universities cannot descend.
The Post Millennial, for instance, reported that UCLA students received extra credit to attend an anti-Israel “Emergency Teach-In” on Wednesday evening, “convened” by a pair of UCLA professors, one from English and another from the fake “gender studies” discipline.
Meanwhile, Breitbart reported Thursday that similar anti-Israel rallies and their associated horrors have broken out on campuses across the country.
Nearly all universities embrace a dichotomous “oppressor vs. oppressed” narrative view of the world. This narrative explains much — though not all — of the rot in modern higher education.
The second disheartening element of this story involves the CBS reporting.
Here one hardly knows where to begin.
For starters, note Viel’s wording with respect to Hamas’ weekend atrocities. She said, “hundreds of gunmen crossed the barrier and rampaged towns.”
Gunmen. Barrier. Towns.
She did not say, “hundreds of terrorists invaded Israel.” Nor did she mention what they did when they got there. Instead, they “rampaged towns.” What does that even mean? How does one rampage a town?
Then we have Makdisi’s shopworn claim that “conditions” beget violence.
As a general observation, of course, this claim has merit. All human history testifies to it.
Translated and applied to the current situation, however, it means precisely the following: “Unless you address our grievances — and that includes accepting the meaning we attach to words such as “occupation” and “decolonization” — then you have yourselves to blame when we ambush your civilians, rape and kidnap your women and children, and kill everyone else.”
That sort of thinking permeated every public justification of atrocities Adolf Hitler ever made.
Apparently, the universities and the establishment media have come a long way since 1945.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
