In Gaza, a 22-year-old man was beaten to death for daring to protest Hamas. At universities in the United States, students march in support of ‘Palestinian Resistance,’ and hold multi-day hunger strikes in an effort to sever any financial ties with Israeli institutions. These actions embolden the terror group, without a word for Uday al-Rabbay. The contrast could not be more alarming.
Since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel in October 2023, college students across the United States have stood firm in their support of ‘Palestinian resistance.’ They have expressed themselves through encampment style protests, graduation speeches, assaulting Jewish students, and even blatantly admitting that they stand with Hamas. These protesters only find value and purpose in their actions when they can frame them as attacks on Israel or expressions of hatred toward Jews – not out of any real concern for Palestinian lives. Their activism isn’t about supporting Palestine; it’s about demonizing Jews and glorifying terror.
In the recent months there have been developments in the anti-Hamas protests happening in the Gaza strip. This past March and May, hundreds of Palestinians assembled to protest against the terror group, who even they acknowledge is ultimately at fault for the destruction of Gaza. Protestors chanted “out out out, Hamas get out,” amongst other phrases condemning the group.
This anger towards Hamas boils in the hearts of many Gazans who are fed up with the trajectory of their lives. In a recent video shared by the Center for Peace Communications, a mother speaks emotionally to a camera, verbalizing her dismay towards Hamas. She explains that after going through multiple fertility treatments, she was finally able to build a family – just to lose everything. “I have nothing left to live for in Gaza. “I want to get out of Gaza.” Her anger was specifically directed at Hamas senior-leaders like Sami Abu Zuhri, who said in an interview that “all martyrs will be replaced many times over.” Her anger was directed at leaders who don’t lead, but rather thrive off of the death and suffering of their own people. Leaders who hide in Qatar, live in luxury, and use civilian tragedy not as something to prevent, but as a strategy to advance their power.
22 year-old Uday al-Rabbay was present at those protests, but wanted to spread his message even further. He took the initiative to stand up in a Gaza coffee shop, and loudly denounced Hamas.
For al-Rabbay, this decision would end his life. Hours later, 30 armed men from the al-Qassam Brigades stormed his home and dragged him away. He was tortured for hours, beaten until he died, and al-Qassam Brigades threw his mangled body off a rooftop. Their final touch? A note taped to his clothes reading “This is the price for all who criticize Hamas.”
If students’ actions were really about supporting Palestine, we would have seen campus protests, and enraged students upset about the murder of Uday al-Rabbay.
If the goal of students across American campuses was truly to “free Palestine” and uplift Palestinian voices, Uday al-Rabbay would be a hero – not because he sacrificed himself for the cause by becoming a martyr – but because he stood up to an oppressive, evil terrorist regime who is controlling Gaza with an iron fist.
But because he defied Hamas – not Israel – his name is unknown on American campuses.
This proves the hypocrisy of the campus “Free Palestine” movement.
This is not resistance. Palestinian terrorism sees Palestinians not as human beings, but as human shields, and disposable pawns. When American students blindly support this Palestinian anti-Israel movement, they become mouthpieces for the ideology of Hamas leaders.
If American college students really believed in a “free Palestine,” they would condemn Hamas, be diligent about getting their facts correct, and advocate for the Palestinian cause without demanding the dismantling of the Jewish state.
If you wouldn’t tell the woman in the video that her dead children are a necessary sacrifice for “the cause,” then don’t chant in support of the men who would.
This article was originally published in Times of Israel.
