Pro-Hamas group commemorates October 7 at the University of Maryland

Today, Jews and friends of Israel around the world are mourning the lives lost on October 7 of last year when Hamas massacred more than 1,200 innocent people in southern Israel. It was the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Taking into account the size of the two countries, it was a more devastating attack than the one we suffered on 9/11.

But Hamas sympathizers are also commemorating the day. At the University of Maryland, for example, a group is holding an October 7 event at which. they say, they will mourn people killed in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas.

It’s as if a collection of Nazis held an event on Holocaust Remembrance day and claimed they were mourning the deaths of German civilians killed by allied bombings during World War II. (That number has been estimated at 350,000, minimum.)

The University of Maryland tried to prevent the Hamas sympathizers — a group called Students for Justice in Palestine — from going forward with their commemoration/celebration. The University has hosted dozens of events by this group. But citing safety concerns, it decided that, on this highly-charged day, it would only host university-sponsored events.

The University of Maryland’s Jewish Student Union said it was “relieved” by the decision, but the Hamas sympathizers challenged it in court as a violation of the First Amendment. They were represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union. CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator when the Justice Department prosecuted the Holy Land Foundation and others for providing support to Hamas.

The Hamas sympathizers prevailed. Judge Peter Messitte found that they were likely to prevail on the merits and granted a preliminary injunction against the university. Accordingly, the university reversed its decision, thereby permitting student-led events on this day.

Messitte has been judging in Maryland for many decades — first in state court and then at the federal level. I always found him to be fair judge, and I believe he probably got the law right this time. The pro-Palestinians probably do have a First Amendment to hold a peaceful pro-Palestinian event, even on Oct. 7, because their right to free speech probably outweighs hypothetical security concerns on the facts presented in court.

It’s true that their event will make many Jews on campus feel very uncomfortable and probably somewhat unsafe. It’s also true that colleges routinely block or punish speech by conservatives on the pretext that it makes woke students feel uncomfortable or unsafe. But when a case like this reaches court, the judge must faithfully apply the First Amendment without regard to campus double standards.

The fault here doesn’t lie with Judge Messitte or with the First Amendment. The fault lies with the in-your-face aggressiveness and blatant insensitivity of the pro-Palestinian group.

But who is surprised by this? These are the kind of people who have been harassing, and at times physically attacking, Jews on college campuses all over America. Why would anyone expect them to respect the victims of the October 7 massacre — an event many of them celebrated, as did CAIR, the outfit that represented them in court?

It’s up to the public, not the courts, to show its disgust with groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.

Trying to put a sympathetic spin on the middle finger it is flashing at Jews, the group claimed in court that it is not celebrating the Oct. 7 massacre. Rather, it imputes a different significance to Oct. 7 — the start of a “genocide” against Gazans.

But Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza did not begin on October. 7. Israel began the bombing campaign on October 13 and the ground invasion of October 27.

If the pro-Palestinians want to commemorate October 27, I’ll be tempted to join them. It was a great day because it likely marked the beginning of the end for Hamas as a fighting force.

By contrast, October 7, 2023 was a day of infamy — an infamy that Hamas supporters are now compounding with their commemoration events.