“The Columbia demonstrations have gone way too far”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/columbia-protests-israel.html

That was the title of John McWhorter’s article that I received as an email. I subscribe to several NY Times services, and one of them consists of McWhorter’s articles.

The title of this exact same article, as it appears in the daily NYT online edition, reads a bit differently:

“I’m a Columbia Professor. The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice.”

I don’t know which headline was written first. Nor do I know who changed it or why it was changed.

I don’t agree with everything McWhorter writes in this piece.

For example:

“I myself think the war on Gaza is no longer constructive or even coherent.”

He’s got that wrong, I believe. Hundreds of Israelis civilians living near Gaza were taken prisoner by Hamas. The logical coherence of Israel’s position is clear and simple, I believe: Unless and until all the Israelis now held hostage in Gaza are freed and returned, the fighting, the killing, and the destruction will go on.

The war on Gaza should continue and the pressure should increase until a deal is reached for the release of all the Israeli hostages in exchange for an end to the assault on Gaza. The sooner the Israeli civilians are released and returned to Israel, the sooner the assault on Gaza will end.

A deal between Israel and Hamas should come with an ironclad guarantee from the Israeli government that the moment all the Israeli hostages are returned to Israel, the assault on Gaza will immediately cease. But until all the Israelis held hostage are freed, the war should not end; it cannot end; it will not end.