Words matter in talking of war in Israel

As war in Israel rages, it's not just the scenes of rockets overhead and body bags lining the ground, the stories of people terrorized and hostages taken, or the rising death toll and injury count that matter.

The words we use matter, too.

So, when I say Hamas is a terrorist organization that unleashed an unprovoked, unjustified horror when it attacked Israeli, American and other civilians — including men, women and children — I choose every word carefully.

And perhaps advocates with different perspectives, including groups like the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, choose their words carefully, too.

But it's important to understand what such language really means — and the impact it has.

On Thursday, Students for Justice in Palestine will hold a national "Day of Resistance" on college campuses and is encouraging its members to protest or organize a "sit-in, disruption or educational event." 

The group's disturbing "tool kit" for college students who take up the cause calls the Hamas attacks a "surprise operation against the Zionist enemy which disrupted the very foundation of Zionist settler society." The terrorist action, the group says, was a "historic win … reminding each of us that total return and liberation to Palestine is near." 

"When people are occupied, resistance is justified — normalize the resistance," it said.

Resistance? Is that what they call the mass killings of young people at a music festival and families in a kibbutz? Is that what they call the hostage-taking of women and children? Is that what they call the slaughter of hundreds of innocent civilians?

But Students for Justice in Palestine says Israeli citizens aren't civilians. Instead, they're "settlers" and "military assets used to ensure continued control over stolen Palestinian land."

"Responsibility for every single death falls solely on the zionist entity," the document adds.

"The zionist entity" — an oft-used pejorative that avoids calling Israel a country, or the Jews people, a term that denies Israel's very existence. 

Such purposeful phrasing pairs with a now-familiar slogan: "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free." It's been an antisemitic rallying cry for decades among terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. But one must ask: If Palestinians control the land "from the river to the sea," where does that leave the Jews? 

Students of history might remember the words of then-Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad, who said of the Jewish state in 1966: "We have resolved to drench this land with our blood, to oust you, aggressors, and throw you into the sea for good."

Many American Jews have long tried to take an appropriate middle ground, supporting Israel while also decrying human rights violations against Palestinian families in Gaza. But there is no middle ground when it comes to Hamas. There is no middle ground when pro-Palestinian groups call for Israel's destruction, label Jews as "military assets" or say terrorism is "justified."

Especially at a time when antisemitism is on the rise, when there's already so much to fear, such rhetoric must not go unchallenged, whether in the streets of Manhattan or on the cobblestones of college campuses. But there are signs American Jews won't be in that fight alone. World landmarks lit up in blue and white this week and Jews and non-Jews raised their voices together against the terror. And, appropriately, another word rang out — the name of Israel's national anthem.

Hatikvah.

The Hope.

Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.

By Randi F. Marshall

randi.marshall@newsday.com@randimarshall

Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.