Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim Wanted Peace, Not More Hatred
But then comes the harder part; the part that asks us, metaphorically speaking, to walk and chew gum at the same time. There’s a line in Proverbs that “death and life are in the hands of the tongue,” as Rabbi Jill Jacobs of the rabbinical human rights and democracy organization T’ruah told the readers of Time. But, as she added in conversation with me, “You can say that language that dehumanizes Jews and Israelis can lead to violence. But that doesn’t mean it should be used as an excuse for criminalizing speech.”
Criminalizing speech in defense of the Palestinians—most particularly those now faced with starvation, homelessness, and likely epidemiologic disaster in Gaza following Israel’s killing of more than 50,000 of its residents in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack—is, however, exactly how some pundits, politicians, and public figures are presently seeking to exploit Rodriguez’s heinous act. Listen to Florida Republican Representative Randy Fine, who told Fox News after the shooting, “The fact of the matter is, the Palestinian cause is an evil one.” He then tweeted, “There is nothing peaceful about this movement, and … these demons must be put down by any means necessary.” (“Means,” in which he included, believe it or not, the use of a nuclear weapon.)
His incendiary rhetoric was not the outlier one would expect. For instance, Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican, insisted that “the ‘Free Palestine’ movement is fundamentally intertwined with support for barbaric terrorism,” before adding, “The U.S. should not tolerate these pro-Hamas agitators, whether on college campuses, on our streets, or in our government.”
