“It’s all connected.”
Those were the words I saw spray painted on a wall with a Palestinian flag in an Instagram post supporting the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles. The imagery suggested a shared struggle between the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and individuals detained by ICE. I too oppose the ICE raids — simply put, tearing families apart without due process and detaining people on arbitrary grounds is objectively wrong. But this graffiti represents a growing trend in left-wing circles: drawing loose connections between the war in Gaza (which they would call a genocide) and any other injustices they see in the United States and around the world.
They claim to fight oppression, but more often than not, they stand by the oppressor when it suits their worldview. The truth is, the only connection I see is in the oppression that the far left supports.
Support for Hamas has been at the forefront of the far left’s oppressionist advocacy over the past two years, whether it be Momodou Taal’s flagrant declaration that “we take our cue from the armed resistance in Palestine” or a speaker's more covert reference to “resistance fighters” at the protests outside the Oct. 2024 Board of Trustees meeting, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine and Cornell’s Coalition for Mutual Liberation have never hesitated to publicly declare their support for the designated terrorist organization that not only murdered more than 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, but continues to murder Palestinians who oppose them.
Support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also come to follow the same pattern. The Democratic Socialists of America, which has a chapter at Cornell, claims to oppose the Russian invasion while objecting to military aid for Ukraine. This affinity for the invasion has even entered European politics: influencer-turned-member of the European Parliament Fidias Panayiotou, who is also anti-Israel, refused to vote for a motion calling for the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children and departed for a trip to Russia with Germany’s far-left Sahra Wagenkrecht alliance the next day.
More recently, far-left support for the Maduro regime has come back to light as keffiyeh-clad protesters protested against the talk given by three Venezuelan dissidents at Cornell: Maria Machado, David Smolansky and Edmundo Gonzalez. Machado is a Nobel Prize winner forced into hiding for daring to voice opposition to the Maduro regime. Smolansky was forced into exile for the same reason. So I ask this of the CML: is this “mutual liberation?”
Is it “mutual liberation” to support Hamas — the same Hamas that Vladimir Putin instructed Russian citizen Sasha Tufanov to thank for his release after they kidnapped him 408 days earlier? Is it “mutual liberation” to protest against a panel of Venezuelans who lack the right to protest in their home country? Of course not. And you know it. Because the tyrannical mindset you claim to oppose — cloaked in the language of liberating Gaza, of not funding weapons manufacturers supplying Ukraine and resisting American imperialism in Venezuela — has manifested itself in you.
You claim to be oppressed. You claim your right to protest is being trampled at Cornell. Yet, how do you react to those whose oppression doesn’t align with your politics? In the case of Israelis butchered by terrorists, you cheer. When Venezuelan dissidents are given the platform to speak truths about a socialist regime they cannot voice at home, you scream in support of their oppressors.
But it’s not just the oppression you support. It’s also the oppression you carry out. When an Israeli student dared to carry out his own academic freedom and ask questions, your professor violated his civil rights and kicked him out of the class. When the university hosted a panel on the future of Israel and Palestine, you trampled on their right to speak. When you didn’t like the companies that were present at a career fair, you shoved police officers to stop students from exercising their right to engage with those companies. Ultimately, when those you disagree with got a platform, you responded with violence and disruption.
I can only be glad that you are not in a position of power. If you respond to dissent with violence when you are not in control, I can only ask this: Am I really to believe you would not react like Sinwar, Putin and Maduro if you could?
Ezra Galperin '27 is an Opinion Columnist and a Government and Jewish Studies student in the College of Arts and Sciences. His fortnightly column, Ezra's Cornell, discusses campus politics and how they are affected by the wider political climate. He can be reached at egalperin@cornellsun.com.
