Opinion: Israel is our ally. Americans must stop abandoning Israelis.

The past year has been revealing. 
Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists massacred almost 1,200 innocent people in Israel and abducted about 250 more, we’ve all learned a lot about the views of our fellow Americans. 
It’s been a rude awakening. 
From the campuses of our most “esteemed” universities to the streets of our biggest cities, protests have erupted in support of those who committed those atrocities against Israel – the defender of Western civilization in the Middle East. 
In the days immediately after the attack, student groups at top colleges, including Harvard, issued statements blaming Israel for what happened to its people. And the students didn’t stop there. They actively stood in support of those who slaughtered women, children and the elderly. 
It was just the beginning. 
Subsequent months brought increasingly invasive protests and encampments – and even more blatant displays of antisemitism. Many Jewish students didn’t feel safe on their own campuses. 
Pro-Palestinian protesters also have disrupted cities around the country, from blocking major freeways to shutting down events because of threats of violence, all because the United States has maintained its support for Israel to defend itself. 
This doesn’t feel like the America I know.
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The examples keep coming. 
In June, a mob of protesters in New York City chanted the hateful slogan “long live the intifada” in front of an exhibit in honor of the more than 300 victims murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7.
Then, in July, pro-Palestinian protesters in Washington, D.C., burned an American flag and replaced U.S. flags in front of Union Station with Palestinian flags. They also vandalized statues and fountains, according to police. 
Many more protests like this have happened across the United States.
At these demonstrations, the participants often shout hateful and disgusting things about Israel and Jews, all while praising the terrorists who on Oct. 7 started the war. 
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A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll in December found that an alarming number of young Americans think Israel should simply cease to exist. Of those ages 18 to 24, 51% said Israel should be “ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”
No wonder so many of these same young people have felt emboldened to act out at their universities. 
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These protests have not gone unnoticed, however, and Republicans in Congress, as well as influential donors, have called out universities’ lackluster response to such blatant antisemitism. 
Several high-profile college presidents have lost their posts as a result, including Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Minouche Shafik at Columbia.  
It’s not just college kids, however, who have distanced themselves from Israel. A recent poll from The Economist/YouGov found that by a more than 2 to 1 ratio (33% to 14%) Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. By contrast, 63% of Republicans sympathize with Israel; only 5% side with Palestinians. 
As a broader conflict in the Middle East brews between Israel and the terrorist-backing regime of Iran, this is not the time for Americans to be morally confused about which side is good – and which is not.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.