I’ve considered myself a liberal all my life. I demonstrated for civil rights and against the Vietnam war. I believe that love is love, science is real, Black lives matter, and that a woman should make her own choices about her own body. (Don’t believe in abortion? Don’t have one!)

I deplore the meaningless loss of life that happens all too often: school shootings, attacks on young Black men who “dare” to venture into certain neighborhoods, and yes, Palestinian civilians too.

However, I’m disgusted and horrified by people on the New Left attempting to cloak their antisemitism as “concern” for Palestinians. And their refusal to acknowledge Hamas as the murderers and oppressors they’ve been since they started governing Gaza in 2007.

Where was all this “concern” when Hamas dug up water pipes in Gaza to make rockets, and diverted construction materials meant for Palestinian building projects to create tunnels for launching weapons into Israel?

Where was the outrage when Hamas began building terror units in/around/under civilian buildings such as hospitals, schools, mosques, and homes, knowing full well that this put Palestinian civilians at risk?

Where is the condemnation of Hamas when LGBT Palestinians face extreme ostracism, are sometimes forced to flee as refugees, and risk being kidnapped and beheaded?

Hamas authorities also ban the activities of LGBT rights groups. And it isn’t just LGBT Palestinians who are oppressed by Hamas in Gaza. The oppression of women is an intrinsic feature of Sharia law. Human rights researchers rank the Palestinian territories among the worst places in the world to be a woman.

Where are the pro-Palestinian voices protesting Lebanon (where Palestinians actually DO live under apartheid in segregated, impoverished refugee camps)?

And where were the voices protesting Syria, where Palestinians were forced to flee in 2011 from the Yarmouk refugee camps? Or when Iraq invaded Kuwait and Palestinians were targeted because Arafat sided with Hussein and many thousands of Palestinians were expelled from the region, resulting in a population decrease of about 95%?

If someone is only protesting against the Jews and Israel, do they really give a damn about Palestinians? Or only care when they get to blame the Jews instead?

Hamas commander Mahmoud Al-Zahar is quoted as saying, “Israel is only the first target. The entire planet will be under our rule.”

You don’t have to be Jewish to take that threat seriously. Remember 9/11?

So yes, let’s free Palestine. From Hamas.