WASHINGTON — A conversation I had last week with a progressive Jewish friend is, I think, representative of many discussions happening on the left. Most liberals are horrified and outraged over Hamas’s killings and kidnappings in southern Israel but also strongly support a Palestinian state and are deeply critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The calendar may have flipped to autumn, but I’m still clinging to my summer’s crowning achievement: At the tender age of 37, I finally learned how to swim freestyle.

The Biden administration has gleaned the wrong message from James Carville’s famous quip, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

It hardly should be necessary to condemn the killing of a 6-year-old boy, but the death of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a student at Central Elementary School in Plainfield, Illinois, is too disturbing to ignore.

We often hear about Americans’ declining knowledge of our system of government, but a new report by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center highlights just how dire our civics education problem has become.

More than a year and a half after Russia invaded Ukraine, Western leaders continue to support that country’s valiant efforts to repel an unprovoked invasion. But the U.S. Congress needs to act swiftly to provide new assistance. It must not be distracted by fatigue among the American public or the ominous opposition of some Republicans in Congress to further assistance.

Disclosure: The columnist’s wife, Mari Will, is an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.).

On Thursday, a vehicle trolled around Harvard Square bearing screens with the names and likenesses of some of the Harvard University students who had signed on to a public statement blaming Israel for the brutal attacks on civilian families within its own borders. Earlier, Bill Ackman, the billionaire CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, had said that other CEOs in his sector had asked for the names of the students, lest one of them “inadvertently hire one of them.”

We bet the farm — in a way.

Last month, the United Nations issued a warning in its report “Gender Snapshot 2023,” predicting that should current trends continue, more than 340 million women and girls “will live in extreme poverty by 2030 and close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.”

Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas is a corrupt monster, the governing organization Hamas is a theocratic monster. The lives of Palestinian civilians frankly do not matter to anyone (including their own “leadership”), and Israel’s governing coalition is thirsting for revenge after Hamas attacked the nation Saturday.

The menu this week at Harvard’s Quincy House includes a salad bar with “Baby Arugula” and “Grilled Tofu” and entrees of “Cumin &Ginger Braised Beef” or “Saffron Chicken with Lemon &Olives.”

These are difficult, often frightening, times.