When the mask comes off, pro-Hamas demonstrators in the US are no longer anonymous - opinion

Hatred against Jews has escalated. From protected speech to illegal threats to illegal physical actions including destruction, the blight of Jew-hatred continues to intensify. That hatred is tangible in the United States, once the bastion of freedom for all.

While world leaders, from the top down, have, for the most part, said the right things, in reality, their actions belie their words. They have done almost nothing to stop the illegal behavior of Jew haters who actively and, more and more aggressively, target Jews.

Warren G Harding, the 29th president of the United States, a politician mired in controversy, was a proud bloviator. The biting and always acerbic social and political critic H.L. Mencken teased and skewered President Harding for his vacuous style of speech. While many liked the folksy style, to Mencken, it was nothing but empty words. Harding, simply put, was full of hot air. Harding was a bloviator.

Today, almost every US politician sees the danger and the damage done by Jew haters – so prevalent and so fierce that it can only be willfully and intentionally ignored. And yet, the perpetrators have been almost universally treated with kid gloves, their violations of law and policy allowed to flourish with neither remand nor punishment. 

Many leaders and lawmakers have been hiding behind the veil of freedom of expression for the perpetrators. In so doing, they are ignoring important tenets of democracy. In the US, as in other democracies, there are essential limits to freedom of expression. Advocating violence and making real threats are not protected speech. Destruction of property is not protected. Large group gatherings and protests (the numbers vary by jurisdiction) without permits are illegal.

The right to freedom of assembly and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances are First Amendment rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.  The exact quote is of the 1st Amendment is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The mask must come off

But there are limits. Every protest needs a permit. Within the permit, the time/space/location is very clearly specified. The reason for the permits, limits, and rules should be obvious – so as not to disrupt the rights of others, especially the free flow of traffic.

And that is the part that pro-Hamas Jew-haters either do not understand or simply choose to ignore. Time and time again, in interviews with pro-Hamas leaders, when asked about basic issues of law and their protests, they all repeat exactly the same phrases.

Exchanges go something like this: An interviewer asks, “Do you think you are justified in destroying property, breaking into buildings, scrawling graffiti, breaking into offices, and occupying them?” The interviewee responds: “People think that property is sacrosanct. It is not! We do not believe that property is sacrosanct!”

So, too, with masks as a de rigeur part of the ensembles worn by keffiyeh-wrapped pro-Hamas protesters. During COVID-19, masks were mandated. As a result, many jurisdictions that had prohibited facial masks and all facial covering since the mid-1800s had to modify or change their laws to permit medical masking. 

The purpose of the original anti-mask laws was to be able to identify people who broke the law, such as Ku Klux Klan members and bank robbers. People hid behind their masks. No one knew the identity of KKK members and because of the mask and the anonymity it provided, evil people could do and say things they would neither do nor say if their identity was known. So, too, today.

Jewish leaders across the United States are asking that local and state leaders re-introduce mask laws. There will obviously be important health exceptions, but honestly, 200 18 to 20-year-old protesters on campus can hardly all suffer from emphysema or be immuno-compromised.

Without a mask, protesters are, suddenly, no longer anonymous. Without a mask, they can be easily identified and held accountable for their behavior. Without a mask, police and campus security can trace protesters to determine who is local and who has come from the outside. 

Most importantly, when wearing a mask the protesters will know that they are intentionally violating the law and risking their professional futures. Unmasking becomes a disincentive to violate the law and empowers leaders and law enforcement to shut down this hatred. Unmasking will signal Jew haters that lawmakers are no longer merely bloviating – they are taking action.

And then, hopefully, the minority of haters and destroyers who have hijacked society will be forced back into the darkness knowing that their pro-Hamas Jew-hatred is unacceptable to the vast majority of Americans.  

The writer is a social and political commentator. Watch his TV show Thinking Out Loud on JBS.