As with the October 7 Massacre that began the Israel-Hamas War, the Iranian drone and missile attacks on Saturday night served as a 'mask off' moment for anti-Israel activists, emphasizing that the protests and advocacy for a ceasefire are not about stopping violence but aiding Hamas.
On October 7, Anti-Israel activists pulled off the thin-veneer of peace advocacy to reveal their antisemitism and violent designs, gleefully celebrating the massacre, rape, torture, execution, and kidnapping in Israeli towns.
Somali-American writer Najma Sharif infamously wrote on X "What did y'all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers."
One X user called Missfalasteenia said that her mother was making knafa to celebrate the pogrom.
With Israel's response and operation to eliminate Hamas, activists soon swiveled from celebration of what journalist Richard Medhust cheered as a "military operation" to claims it was not a war but a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinians.
The call for a "permanent ceasefire" became ubiquitous among activists, Pro-Palestinian politicians, radical celebrities, and anti-Israel organizations. "Permanent ceasefire" resolutions were advanced everywhere from dozens of US city councils to the parliaments of Canada and the United Kingdom.
Calls for ceasefire simultaneously promotes violence
Yet even as pro-Palestinian activists pleaded for an immediate ceasefire, they simultaneously promoted violence.
Rutgers University anti-Israel groups like chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine consistently called for ceasefire yet at the Rutgers University Student Assembly town hall on April 5 chanted out for "Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada! Globalize the intifada!"
Palestinian Youth Movement Houston has repeatedly marched in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, yet on April 5 took part in a Al-Quds Day event in which participants praised the October 7 pogrom and PYM Houston organizer Mohammad Nabulsi praised terrorists.
Within Our Lifetime (WOL) has also repeatedly engaged in massive disruptions in New York City which often included calls for ceasefire, but on March 30 WOL organizer Abdullah Akl leader activists in a chant calling for Hamas spokesman "Abu Ubaida, our beloved, strike, Strike Tel Aviv."
This is not a contradiction for pro-Palestinian activists for the same reason they are advocating for "ceasefire" rather than "peace." Peace requires compromise, recognition of Israel, and solution in which Israelis and Palestinians are able to live side-by-side -- whereas a ceasefire is temporary, and allows for hostilities to be resumed when it is in Hamas's favor, on another October 6.
Pro-Palestinian activists are trying to keep Hamas alive so they can commit another October 7, another act of Sharif's "decolonization."
This is why Rutgers activists and many others can call for ceasefire but also that "Intifada" is the 'only solution," because ceasefire is what is needed because they "don’t want two states, we want ’48!" When WOL calls to "Lift the siege on Gaza, end the occupation in Palestine, right of return for all Palestinians, liberation for Palestine now," this is not a list of unrelated demands, but a sequence of events that they wish to unfold.
The Iranian drone strikes on Saturday served to emphasize the connection between the temporary convenience of the proposals for armistice and the continuation of October 7 when Hamas survives.
Canadian Palestinian groups like Ottawa 4 Palestine, which have called for ceasefire, cheered when they heard Iran had launched drones during a Saturday Toronto protest.
"It was never about a ceasefire," Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman said in response.
The Saturday Toronto protest was supposed to be against genocide and the bombardment of Gaza by the IDF, but the Canadian activists made it clear that as this so-called genocide unfolds, they believe that they are advancing to their objectives.
Since the October 7 Massacre occurred, Pro-Palestinian activists have been increasingly modifying their slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," to "from the river to the sea, Palestine is almost free." as the Canadian activists marched on Saturday, they repeated this slogan.
All it takes is the feeling, as on October 7, that they have advanced further on their goal for them to drop the pretense that they want an end to violence for both sides.
At a Saturday Chicago conference for the March on the Democratic National Convention 2024, activists again cheered to news that Iran attacked and that Iraqi and Yemeni forces had joined in the barrage.
“From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab," and "glory to the martyrs," were the chants that filled the room after news of the Iranian attack.
As soon as these so-called anti-war activists momentarily felt their objective of "decolonialization" was within closer reach, they called for further violence.
It was never about ceasefire, it was always about the survival of Hamas, and the continuation of what they started on October 7. We shouldn't wait for another Iranian attack to realize the truth behind these cynical attempts.