Why the Left can t think straight on Hamas | Washington Examiner
The sheer depravity of Hamas s attack on Israel, during which its terrorists murdered close to 1,000 people and beheaded babies, is causing acute discomfort and splits in America s Left.
For many, this is not the same discomfort as is felt on the Right and in the center, where there is simple horror and instinctive sympathy with terrorized people who otherwise live freely and peaceably in a high-functioning democracy under the rule of law.
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For them, appalling cruelty and sadistic gloating by Hamas murderers unambiguously distinguish evil from good. Common decency and humanity incline ordinary people to side with the victims. These swift reflexes are supported by inescapable conclusions based on considered assessment of the facts. Most people see nothing about which to equivocate and they are right.
Disquiet on the Left, however, often flows from moral confusion and dishonorable calculation. Where concern about Hamas exists at all among progressives, it is troublingly alloyed with tactical and strategic considerations rather than arising purely from humane and honorable sympathy.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) is a good example of the repellent type. She tried to have it both ways on Hamas and Israel, saying, My heart is with all those impacted, shamefully side-stepping the issue of who are the victims and who the perpetrators. This was obviously to seem statesmanlike in making a public declaration but simultaneously to avoid offending her many Muslim voters.
This was very different from the revulsion expressed by Lawrence Summers, former President Barack Obama s treasury secretary, when 31 Harvard student groups wholeheartedly supported the killers. When the students held the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence, Summers responded, In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been so disillusioned and alienated as I am today.