The most prevalent slogans being displayed and shouted by the students are “Free Palestine,” “From the River to the Sea” and “Globalize the Intifada.”

These are naked aspirations of violence against Israel and support for its elimination. Nowhere to be seen are condemnations of Hamas terrorists, demands to release the hostages, or calls for peaceful coexistence with Israel. The students have the right, in our democracy, to express any opinions, but a harsh light must be shed on their nefarious demands.

Numerous interviews with protesting students have exposed their shocking lack of basic knowledge. There also appears to be an element of groupthink in play, where participating is considered trendy and cool. But there are serious consequences. These protests are giving aid and comfort to Hamas and Iran.

The terrorists are certainly enjoying the massive support for their “cause” and the vilification of Israel. For Hamas and their masters in Tehran, the violent hatred being displayed against Israel is a boon and validates their despicable atrocities of Oct. 7. It should also come as no surprise to anyone that Cuban intelligence has been training anti-Israel and anti-American student agitators for years.

Whether the students are aware of it or not (and given the ignorance and vapidity being displayed by so many of them, chances are they are not), they are dupes in the machinations of evil foreign powers whose values are very different from our own. This is all part of a worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel and turn it into a pariah among nations.

This scheme has a long, sordid pedigree.

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union launched a subversive disinformation campaign to tar Israel as a “lackey of Western imperialism.” Third World countries at that time were enlisted to support this effort. The infamous “Zionism is racism” resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1975 was a milestone in this campaign. No less than three U.N. bodies — the Palestinian Committee, the Palestinian Division, and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices — were set up expressly to isolate and castigate Israel and to create the false impression that Israel is an illegitimate, outlaw state, similar to apartheid South Africa.

Beyond the obvious horror of the images of the Oct. 7 attack, the scenes of masses of Gaza residents celebrating and in many cases participating in the violence were sickening and revealing. It is nothing short of tragic that generations of Palestinians have been fed from childhood a diet of murderous hatred of Israel and Jews. This must change.

Not enough attention is paid to a counternarrative that is real and that points the way to a better future.

The notion that all Muslims or all Arabs hate Israel is wrong and dangerous. In Israel itself, Arabs, who make up 20% of the population, are full citizens with all legal rights. While more should be done to integrate them even further, they are already a thriving community with more political rights than Arabs in any Arab state.

One-third of doctors in Israel are Arab, as well as half of Israel’s pharmacists. This puts the lie to the obscene and false accusation that Israel is an apartheid state. Despite the challenges, Arabs and Jews live in peace and friendship in Israel.

The Abraham Accords have shown Israel can achieve peace with neighboring Arab states. Of course, the Palestinians need to be included in the circle of peace. But this can be achieved only through good-faith negotiations and by true recognition — at long last — that Israel is here to stay as a Jewish state.

This better path is there for the taking. The international community needs to promote and encourage it.

For more than 75 years, the West has tolerated and promoted the false notion that Palestinians are unique victims who deserve special attention and treatment. They do not, and it is insulting and condescending to Palestinians to pretend otherwise.

The years after World War II resulted in tens of millions of refugees. They were settled and absorbed long ago. Only the Palestinians, who became refugees as a result of a war they and their fellow Arabs started, claim to have the “right of return” more than 75 years later. In service of this claim, the international community has coddled the Palestinians and encouraged them to believe that 1948 — i.e., the creation of Israel as a Jewish state — is not a permanent and settled matter.

It is high time the Western world — students included — gave the Palestinians some tough love. The message must be clear and unambiguous: This evil dream will not be fulfilled. Only when Palestinians and their supporters understand this will a peaceful and prosperous future — for Palestinians and Israelis alike — be possible.

Dan Burton is a Republican former member of Congress from Indiana who was chairman of the Middle East Subcommittee. Gil Kapen is the executive director of the American Jewish International Relations Institute-B’nai B’rith International (AJIRI-BBI) and a Republican former staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.