Everyone understands that slogans such as “Free Palestine!” and “Ceasefire Now!” are just euphemisms for a Hamas victory. Never has that been more evident than today.

Take New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, the new darling of the American left. He has publicly demanded a “ceasefire” in Gaza scores of times since the Oct. 7 massacre — a slaughter he recently referred to as a “war crime” rather than what it was, a terrorist attack. He even traveled to Washington in November of 2023 to start a hunger strike meant to pressure the White House into forcing a “permanent ceasefire” on Israel.

After 24 hours, Mamdani finally released a mealymouthed statement both-siding the war. Most of his allies haven’t even bothered to do that much.

As of this writing, “ceasefire” champion Bernie Sanders, who has spread the Gaza “genocide” hoax hundreds of times to his millions of followers, has said absolutely nothing about the Trump deal. The same goes for Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and, no doubt, scores of other Hamas apologists.

It seems awfully curious that the people who have made Gazans a central political cause do not seem at all relieved that there’s at least a temporary cessation of violence. After all, they have incessantly told us that there is a genocide going on and mass starvation was right on the horizon.

Why aren’t there widespread celebrations across Western cities and college campuses today? Why aren’t Ceasefire Now! activists ecstatic that the world will again shower Palestinians with hundreds of billions of dollars of aid to rebuild, even after they started another war? Why aren’t they celebrating the fact that food and supplies will flow to the hungry without Hamas stealing them?

You know why.

Like many pro-Palestinian activists, Mamdani, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are willing to see the suffering and death of Palestinians in the cause of eliminating the “colonialist” Jewish State. There was a ceasefire in place on Oct. 7. Not one Israeli soldier was in Gaza on Oct. 6, 2023.

Before Israel had even retaliated for the massacre, pro-Palestinians were marching against Israel in American cities. Those marches would soon become fixtures on college campuses and in progressive cities. The media often highlighted the big Ceasefire Now! banners that were unfurled at these events, avoiding, as best they could, the genocidal sloganeering, “From the River to the Sea” and “Globalize the Intifada” and so on, that actually dominated them.

For many media types, ginning up anger at “colonialists” and Jews was a lucrative business. For progressives looking for a new cause after the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter hysteria had petered out, “Palestine” was perfect. I’m not sure what the next great leftist struggle will be, but I’m certain its champions will be as ignorant on the topic as they are passionate.

“Free Palestine!” was always a cheap virtue signal. Those who throw it around never have to suffer the consequences of the extremism they support. The sad reality is that they have succeeded in ratcheting up antisemitism in the West.

At the same time, however, the target of their ire, Israel, has been winning in the Middle East.

College students can continue with their junior-varsity Hamas jamborees, but over the past two years, the extremists in Gaza have been decimated as a fighting force. Their allies in Hezbollah have been decapitated. The Assad dictatorship in Syria has been banished. The Iranian mullahs, patrons of Hamas, have been embarrassed, and, with our help, their nuke program has been set back years. The Iranian-backed Houthis have been smacked around.

At the same time, Israeli peace with most Sunni Arabs still holds.

Now, it’s far from certain that the Trump peace plan will work. Palestinian “deradicalization,” the first step in the president’s 20-point peace plan, will be a tough lift, considering the entire identity of Palestinians is tethered to a mythical origin story and hatred of their neighbor.

The plan still offers a huge opportunity for Gazans to drop their bellicosity and accept their neighbor’s right to exist. There could be peace.

No thanks to the Ceasefire Now! crowd.

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