The murderous Hamas attack on Israel can be described as a success only in a limited and horrific tactical sense: More Jews were murdered in a single day than at any time since the Holocaust. The surprise was achieved thanks to elaborate planning and lavish Iranian funding and to Israeli complacency on the part of the military and distracted political echelon. The price was immense and terrible.

But in a strategic sense, the attack was a failure and illustrates a truism of Middle Eastern history: The Palestinians, in this case Hamas, are their own worst enemies. Even their successes are, or will be, failures. Consider some of the unintended consequences of the Hamas attack. These range from local to regional to global effects.

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Truth is a rare commodity when it comes to international organizations. This is all the more so when it comes to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the internationally funded welfare organization for Palestinians.

For decades critics have pointed to UNRWA's promotion of the Palestinian "right of return" that rejects the existence of Israel, its employment of terrorists, and the antisemitism embedded in its school curriculums. UNRWA's own employees have spoken out on these and other problems both in the media and before Congressional committees. President Trump defunded UNRWA but the flow of money was restored by the Biden Administration.

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Do academic organizations represent intellectual values—above all objectivity? Or do they represent the current state of their communities and those communities' prejudices and obsessions?

Hamas' horrific Oct. 7 massacre is a litmus test for human decency. So, how did academics and intellectuals react?

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has made its position known, saying, "There can be no justification for the targeting of civilians. Many of our members have been directly affected and we join them in grieving."

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Intellectuals have a deep addiction to terror. From the French revolutionaries of the late 18th century who invoked Jean Jacques Rousseau to the physician ideologues of ISIS like Ayman al-Zawahiri, intellectuals have been at the forefront of justifying and instigating mass violence.

The latest iteration of this intellectual tradition of terror is "decolonization." The invasion of Israel and the murder of over 1300 Israelis to date have illustrated this mindset at work.

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In a widely predicted move, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has now joined the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) in adopting a boycott of Israeli universities. It represents a turning point in the discipline of anthropology and a milestone in the fall of American academia as a whole.

The resolution, which was adopted by a large margin of its members, prohibits Israeli universities from advertising in AAA journals and participating in other organizational activities. It does not, however, prevent Israeli anthropologists from presenting at AAA meetings or publishing papers in AAA journals.

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