I’ve driven people a little crazy with my repeated assertion that the anti-Israel turn on the American left is the most consequential political development of the year. But I think the evidence is coming in. Even though action in Gaza has slowed down, anti-Israel protests continue to grow in the United States. This week it led to the closure — for hours — of several major bridges and the choking of our internal supply lines. We’re now almost at the point where, as in 2020, people who don’t have strong convictions begin joining these protests just because it’s a highly adrenalized “scene” in which something seems to be happening to the world.
By this summer’s political conventions, a huge portion of the young Left that participated in the 2020 Floyd protests and riots as well as the 2024 anti-Israel ones will be well practiced in amassing numbers in the streets that intimidate and paralyze metro police forces, blocking our logistical arteries, halting major thoroughfares, and just generally “occupying” the commons. Securing the conventions is going to be a major job this year.
Revolutions happen when crowds like this gather, when they can provoke violent confrontation and then declare the authorities illegitimate. It’s time to see this with fresh eyes.