These are crimes by any definition. Vandalism of public property is illegal by all measures; incitement to genocide of a protected group is is generally illegal.
Where are the police? There were plenty around - one even got attacked and dragged on the ground by the "peaceful protesters." How could they allow the public defacement of the statue, Freedom Bell and flags at Union Station?
During the 1980s and 1990s, the "broken windows theory" got a lot of attention. It says that visible signs of crime like broken windows and graffiti, antisocial behavior and civil disorder create an environment that encourages more crime, including more serious crimes.
Social scientists argue whether various experiments in policing to reduce low level crimes like vandalism have an effect on reducing bigger crimes. Other factors like changing demographics could have more to do with reduction of crime in cities that tried this than the increased police vigilance. But no one who lived in an urban areas during this time period can argue that public spaces and mass transit feel safer when there is no graffiti, when trash is picked up and when lights are repaired quickly.
It appears that the protestors subscribe to this theory. Beyond the antisemitism that animates specific anti-Israel protests, the socialist Left that organizes many of these along with the BLM protests want to subvert American society - or, as they put it in the graffiti above, "abolish the USA."
The relative laxity of the responses, both from police and from campus authorities, is encouraging these anarchists in their goal to destroy law and order.
Based on what we saw yesterday, it looks like the broken windows theory compressed into a few hours. The police didn't do anything about vandalism and arson. Protesters felt confident enough to do the crimes without their faces even covered. And then some physically attacked the police themselves.
The difference between the 1980s and now is that the vandals in the Bronx didn't have an agenda to destroy America, These criminals do. They are highly educated, well organized and law-savvy. They adjust their tactics based on how the authorities respond - or don't respond. Breaking the law is the point, not a side effect.
Over the past nine months we have witnessed the failure of law enforcement to act forcefully and early when these well publicized protests occur. That has helped encourage further violence.
And the upshot is creating an environment where ordinary people, let alone Jews, do not feel safe, just as things were in various city neighborhoods decades ago.
The rules for legal protests must be enforced at the outset. Ignoring the violations brings us to what we saw yesterday in Washington.
