Freedom ain't Free

I sincerely hope this is not a place where we discuss political or divisive topics. In addition to enjoying every adventure God has given me, I started this blog to poke fun at my life experiences. However, these days were quite painful. The horrors carried out in some regions of the world by particular groups of people were beyond my comprehension. It was all very stark and white, and it went beyond politics. On this issue, neutrality was undeserved since it only helped the oppressor.

Let's have a human-to-human conversation, everyone. Since many people still seem to be undecided on their support or give up after expressing condolence, I would like to bring this to your attention. Do you feel that your problems are already too great for you to worry about them? or is it a result of your feeling afraid? Given that the perpetrator was the current global hegemon and military superpower, or is it that you feel the problem is complicated? No one is blameless?

You are the very audience member with the ability to help or impede efforts to put an end to this genocide; therefore, I beg you to stay here and dig further. Please allow me to convince you that ignoring this humanitarian issue will cause more harm than good.

I was an unknown writer, unimportant, powerless, and aware that reading is not even a very popular culture these days. I am not even sure how much of what I say will persuade others, but in spite of everything, I still wanted to be a member of a choir that raises the voice of justice. Being unimportant has its advantages. One is afforded greater freedom of speech.

I took motivation from the life of the prophet Moses (alaihissalam), who called Pharaoh to return to Allah in spite of his sense of inferiority toward Firaun (Pharaoh). Moses was indebted to Pharaoh, his former adopted father who had raised him, and had once erred by killing a member of the Pharaoh clan accidentally. He also lacked the military power to fight the Pharaoh's army. Although Moses was not a particularly articulate person, he nonetheless spoke out, calling on Pharaoh to return to the path of righteousness and repent of his wrongdoing.

I do not care if this argument fails; like most people, all I am trying to do is find a way to avoid using violence.

1. Please recognize the crimes!

It is not necessary for you to have a high IQ or extensive knowledge of historical events between Palestine and Israel to be able to tell the difference between self-defense and murder. The killings were publicly broadcast, so it is no longer a claim that you can put in the back of your head. Why does the victim need to explain why they need to be saved? You need to act and stop the killer first, especially when the target is defenseless, such as babies and women.

Give me one reason to justify the act of dropping a bomb from the sky, indiscriminately, on a hospital, school, apartment complex, mosque, refugee camp, or any other densely populated area. Is it because there is one terrorist? It is not reasonable at all.

I do not know why people can sympathize with 9/11 so easily but find it impossible to recognize how it is happening in every area of Gaza on a daily basis. Putting things in perspective, the Gaza Strip was only two-thirds the size of Singapore but had a higher population density of 2.2 million people; 40% of the population were children. Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip since the start of its protracted attack on October 7, 2023, which is the equivalent of two nuclear bombs detonating on Hiroshima.

It should be the worst crime that you have ever witnessed happen in history. If you are unable to feel something after witnessing such horror, maybe you should check whether your humanity is still flickering. For the record, this massacre has been ongoing since October 7, 2023.

2. Fighting the word’s weaponization and distorted characterization!

You should realize right now how journalism was used to weaponize people. The global mainstream plays with words such as self-defense, human shield, and eradicating terrorists while acting incoherently, abetting acts such as carpet bombing, usage of illegal explosives on the defenseless population, and sieging the whole city from basic necessities such as food, water, medication, electricity, the internet, and any form of humanitarian aid—all are blatant violations of international law and human rights.

They also try to install apathy in people and manufacture consent for the massacre, refuting the protesters as anti-Semitic or terrorist sympathizers or haters of Jews. It was a total mischaracterization. Begging for a ceasefire meant literally to stop the killing on both sides. Free Palestine chanting was literally meant to free Palestine from decades of oppression, returning them to the multi-race state that they once were and giving back their right to live like other humans. It does not mean wishing any harm to Jews at all. What pro-Israel is doing right now is projecting the wrong definition of those words and playing victim to consent to the act of killing.

3. Are you condemning HAMAS?

For me, this is a question that intends to create deadlock in debates. It might be easy to condemn if you ask for the views of people who don’t know the context, but the result of this “yes” or “no” was not even close to resolving the real issue.

Let me start by giving you a little bit of context about myself as a Malaysian Muslim. As Muslims, we are obviously siblings by faith, but as Malaysians, we have learned about Israel and Palestine since elementary school. Our communities constantly strive to bring awareness to Palestine because some of us fear the Palestinian struggle will be forgotten by future generations.

Their voice was already suppressed by mainstream media, which was funded by the imperialist colonizer; they were treated like outcasts by their Arab neighbor, who intended to normalize ties with their colonizer; and their cries for justice appear to be growing bleak. We believe we would be doing them a disservice if we allowed them to be forgotten.

We are not some dude who wakes up in the morning and sees news about what happened on October 7, 2023. We know deeper that the ambush was not unprovoked; we follow each season of Palestinian subjugation by the violence of Israeli regimes for whole decades.

Do you need a summary for the whole season of “Game of Thrones” in Palestine? I will give you context.

• Since 1948, when Israel was established, Palestine has been subject to settler colonialism, an internationally recognized fact acknowledged by the United Nations. Colonialism was carried out by a military regime backed by Western imperialists, US and Europe.
• The colonialism was carried out by displacing Palestinians from their legitimately own land, building illegal settlements, and prosecuting those who resisted. All acts were done with force and violence.
• Zionist society is one of the most militarized societies in the world; every adult was required to enlist in the military, and the majority of civilians carried weapons. These weapons were generally used to subjugate the Palestinian people and demonstrate to them who was in charge of the country.
• To live in occupied Palestinian territory is to be in a parallel universe, with entirely different rules imposed upon one's identity. The sole crime committed by the Palestinian people is that they are genuine native Palestinians who represent an existential threat to Israel.
• There are two ways to escape the prosecution: they may either become refugees in their own nation or flee to another country without the right of return.

• In 1967, the Palestine area was reduced into two territories. Gaza and the West Bank.
• Since 2005, Gaza has been under full blockade, with Palestinians being herded like animals inside the small territory and the flow of necessities restricted, which exacerbates the situation economically and restricts freedom of movement.
• Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the settlers overtook almost 90% of the territories, turning Palestinian towns and villages into isolated enclaves, cutting off communities and families from each other, and separating farmers from their land and Palestinians from their workplace.

~End summary~

I know some might say there are always two sides to every story. Biblical claim on what happened 4,000 years ago and argument on who is the real indigenous of the land. There is also a Holocaust card used to justify all the aggression. But for me, all of these were still feeble excuses to execute genocide on others, especially when the other part was not the one that was inflicting the pain. It was the Nazis who carried out the Holocaust, not the Palestinians.

Another allegation is that HAMAS was responsible for the killing, raping, and injuring of civilian Jews. Let me remind you that while all of the genocides in Gaza were broadcast live, all of the crimes committed by HAMAS are based solely on unsubstantiated and weak evidence. I am not saying that everything the journalist said was false, but I do ask you to challenge any of the evidence or the allegation made.

We are not supporting terror, but we want people to open their eyes. Hamas was an idea, not an organization. The idea was rooted in a desire to free the country and subdue the violence that has been ongoing for 75 years. Under the Geneva Convention, occupied people have the right to resist their occupier. They have tried many peaceful means, only to be met with violence from the military and settlers. Link: Palestinians killed during the march of return. This is why it led to aggression.

We know how the story builds up, so asking us to condemn them after watching how they have been radicalized was insensible. We feel no different from Palestinians; we feel the same despair watching more of their land being annexed, and we also hoped those Palestinians would be freed from dehumanization. We taste humiliation from everyone who treats it with double standards.

Besides, what Israel did to the Palestinians was more severe and inhumane. Why does no one ask us to condemn their atrocities for 75 years?

4. Why is this issue revolutionizing?

You can criticize the idea of using terror, but you can never condemn the desire of people who just want freedom and dignity as human beings. “Free will” is not an accessory; it is embedded when God creates humans. Regardless of our differences and generations, this value is aligned.

No matter how much money they pour in, ideas will never die. Humans desire freedom, especially from cruel regimes. You can exterminate entire HAMAS members, but you will create another version of HAMAS elsewhere.

There are already more than 2 billion Muslims in this world who are in ire because it seems the Israeli government has taken advantage of the situation to eliminate Palestinians all together. Now non-Muslims are also waking up upon seeing the immoral conduct. The desire to free Palestine no longer belongs to the Palestinians alone.

Didn’t you see the rally around the world shouting “Free Palestine” all the way?

So I want you all to focus on the root cause of this terror. Make sure to propagate your concern at the right source so we can find a way to solve this vengeance and the radical movement. To extinguish the idea is to end the occupation and violence. Dismantling apartheid and the fascist regime. Returning Palestine to a country where people of all races and faiths can live side by side

5. The importance of taking sides!

The majority's desire is revolutionary, so you can never discount it if their pleas are consistently denied and their protests are disregarded. This can only lead to the assumption that violence is the only choice available. This is how siding on the wrong side can do harm. It will only intensify the pressure and radicalize the other side to be more violent.

I know there are people suffering all around the world; why suddenly need to focus on Israel and Palestine?

First of all, no matter how hard your life is, nothing can be harder than the life of current Palestinians, who are being targeted by precision bombs day and night.

Whatever happened was shoved in front of your eyes; purposely unseeing it is despicable.

I am not here to ride on hatred and public opinion. I am also not trying to pedal another radical movement. I especially want people to keep talking about this issue. No human life should be trivialized.

Politics is about people and public opinion, which is why it is critical that we unite and make our voices heard in order to force the politician to negotiate if they are no longer speaking for the majority of us. You may be disappointed now that your efforts were in vain and that the hegemony is unyielding.

But trust me, something did change. The politician did show concern, and in the last month, we have witnessed a shift in the positions of some of the nations that were silent when this war broke out.

This is why I took time to explain why this issue was revolutionizing.

What are the conclusions?

Firstly, it is important to acknowledge the current priority, irrespective of one's stance: "STOP KILLING CIVILIAN." Express it through actions such as protest, boycott, and divestment.

Second, no voice in supporting the cause of “Free Palestine” is trivial. The least you could do is raise awareness in your vicinity.

Third, putting an end to the occupation peacefully will make the notion of resorting to violence instantly evaporate.

Fourth, no one should be cleared because of an imbalance of power; instead, a single standard must be applied when evaluating the perpetrator and the victim.

Fifth, imperialism is bad, and it creates instability around the world. We should put an end to it.

Thanks for reading.

Side notes:

I might sound na?ve when speaking from a humanist perspective, but this is where humans align. I am financially literate, and my interest in geopolitical events is not lacking. I can imagine those seasoned analysts who read this essay scoffing off while saying, "ITS NOT AS SIMPLE AS YOU THINK !" People can laugh at my naivety all they want.

However, I also possess medical literacy, which allows me to see pain beyond the visible wounds. With some cybersecurity literacy, I also want to warn you about the threat in the cyber realm. It was scarier to fight an invisible vigilante who could invade your data realm.

Last but not least, I sincerely believe in God's final judgment and retribution; endorsing genocide is an act of disobedience; God has never lost a game; it was only a matter of time.

Hasbunallahu wani’mal wakeel :

(“Sufficient for us is Allah, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.”)