Louise T. Guinther

They say there’s a fine line between love and hate. This maxim generally refers to a passion for a single object that is so strong and irrational it can veer from one extreme to the other. But lately the news is filled with stories of a different blurring of love and hate, in which affection or sympathy for one group spills over into loathing and dehumanization of another.

Why does a pro-Palestinian rally—one presumably intended to express solidarity and support for innocent Gazans—necessarily have to accommodate and inspire anti-Semitism? Is hating my enemies really the best way of showing love for me?

Why does condemnation of the hideous actions of Hamas, a tiny faction of psychos amid a vast population of blameless humans beings, have to mean disregard for the entire innocent populace? Why does disapproval of the ferocious retaliation of the Israeli government have to mean antagonism toward the Jewish people, many of whom are not on board with Benjamin Netanyahu’s assault on civilians? Why does a government answer vile acts of terror with equally vile war crimes? And why do protesters who rail against the evil nature of one genocide not acknowledge the evil nature of another? Why do people who have been reviled and oppressed not recognize when other people are being treated the same way?

Can’t we show love and support for all the injured innocents, instead of choosing one side to love and one to hate? Are not the desires and interests of ordinary Palestinians and Jews supremely compatible in the end? Would not peace, mutual respect and universal prosperity be preferable for both sides to stronger and stronger border defenses and more and more powerful weapons to overcome them?

It’s not so hard to understand how people under immediate violent attack, such as the victims of Hamas’s murderous rampage or the thousands of Gazans killed or driven out of their homes, can lose sight of the larger kinship of the suffering people on both sides. But here in the U.S., particularly on our college campuses, where peaceful debate and discussion are (or should be) a vital component of the education the students presumably seek, there is no excuse for the kind of hostile, one-sided rhetoric and unthinking violence we’re reading about.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see Palestinian and Jewish student groups protesting together, arm in arm, against the violence and inhumanity on both sides? United, our human race might stand together. Divided, we are falling apart.