Why I stand with Palestine

I have always been an outspoken advocate for human rights and for just causes, and as I watched the first few videos of Palestinians protesting their eviction in Sheikh Jarrah, I knew I had to do my part. To write about Palestine, to use my platform to amplify Palestinian voices. It was the least I could do. And yet, to my surprise, a lot of my support was met with backlash. LinkedIn is not a platform particularly catering to political debates; however, the subject is far beyond political, far too urgent, and we must bring it up wherever and whenever we have the opportunity. I have decided to write this article to address the comments I have received. It might be a bit long and detailed, but nevertheless essential to understand my way of thinking and maybe open the door to a constructive dialogue and a true engagement.

The issue is indeed polarizing, but that does not mean it is complex. There are two sides to the story, but that does not mean that both sides are right. One side is oppressed, and the other plays the victim. One side is silenced, overlooked, while the other uses international platforms and giant tech companies to cry wolf and discredit critics. There are two sides to the story, but the numbers tell one story. In eleven days, at least 243 people were killed in Gaza, and twenty-six in the West Bank. Over 72,000 were displaced across the Palestinian territories. In Israel, the death toll stands at 12, zero displaced. This is not a conflict between two sides. It is cleansing under a military occupation, now classified by Human Rights Watch as apartheid. We must call it what it is.

When we talk about Palestine, good intentions get muddied up with a lack of information, or an abundance of disinformation, and many who would have liked to help had they known the truth, end up on the sidelines trying to make sense of what seems like a complex situation. No one likes to feel helpless in the face of great injustice, especially when it is unfolding just a few kilometers away and broadcasted on our screens. Many a time, silence means complicity. This is one of those times. Excessive force must be condemned, loudly and repeatedly, for that is the only way to stop it. The impunity with which Israel systematically uproots communities, deters the media, and interrupts real events coverage goes on, and it is our duty to challenge it.

The conversation around Palestine is complex because the story of Palestine has been told, for far too long, by those who have every interest in portraying it as a complex one. Complexity discourages attention and protects the oppressor. Israel’s courts planned to evict six families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. That is not complex. Israeli authorities closed the Damascus Gate and stormed the Al Aqsa mosque on the holiest of months in Islam. That is not complex. Of course, no one has the right to attack civilians. The scale of injustice that has been unfolding since 1948, has left the Palestinians no choice but to fight back with every means available to them.

Palestinians in Gaza, living under siege in the world’s largest open-air prison, have no choice but to protect themselves. The world has no right to take that away from them. If it wants to put an end to violence, it should spare its opinions on the Palestinian right of self-defense and invest its time and efforts in exercising boycotts, divestments, and sanctions against the occupation.

Jewish communities and individuals from around the world, many of whom I have been speaking with for a long time, have spoken up against the atrocities committed in Palestine, refusing the conflation of “Anti-Zionism” with “Anti-Semitism”. One such Jewish voice was American writer Hadas Thier who says she was born in Israel to parents who had fled the holocaust. In a series of tweets, she wrote: “Conflating anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism is an insult to my parents and to the family that they lost in Europe [...] I want to be clear that fights between pro-Israel & pro-Palestine protestors are about *Israel* not about antisemitism”. Jewish employees at Google asked the company to express support for Palestinians. They insisted that it stops taking sides with Israel. Meanwhile, The Independent reported that an investigation by 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, revealed gross violations of Palestinian digital rights on social media. Many users reported Facebook and Instagram were censoring their pro-Palestinian content and coverage during these 11 days of turmoil. The company acknowledged only one such incident and apologized for an “enforcement error”. Despite backdoor deals between big tech companies and Israel, the role of social media and citizen journalism in debunking myths and exposing human rights violations was undeniable. Covering up facts and deterring reporters no longer works.

Crimes have been committed and we mourn the loss of innocent lives. International organizations such as the International Criminal Court have a role to play in seeking justice for the victims of unlawful attacks on the innocent, however, this can only occur under an international political green light, and a genuine desire to seek justice.

Peace without justice, without freedom, equality, and dignity for all, cannot be called peace. It is merely a return to the status quo that favors one community and silently kills another. Peace is no ceasefire either. A ceasefire is an end to firing rockets and missiles, which is the very least guarantee of safety. For peace to reign, what we need is an urgent end to the systematic discrimination, occupation, and the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian People.

Innocent people pay the price everywhere, but that must not blur the simple truth that there is an oppressor and an oppressed. For years, Israel has told a story about defense, so that it cannot be held accountable for its attacks, but facts and contexts matter. Pundits rush to label a rocket from Gaza towards Tel Aviv as terrorism but fail to denounce the terror of military occupation bombing schools, hospitals, mosques, and homes.

Since 2000, for every Israeli child killed, 15.8 Palestinian children die from Israeli aggression, according to countthekids.org. The Israeli public repeatedly elects governments who oppose Palestinians right to self-determination, expand illegal settlements, and use devastating violence to maintain the status quo. The Israeli public comprises settlers who have personally occupied indigenous people’s homes. Mona el Kurd’s now-famous Instagram video of an assault on her home by a settler called “Jacob” captured and exposed his justification to the world: “If I don’t steal it, someone else will.”

Stealing homes is violent. Not taking sides is dangerous. Yes, we do wish that no soul gets harmed, for we are guided by human goodness. But this means no soul should get harmed, on either side. In that sense, silence kills. Speaking up and supporting Palestinians is the way forward for peace. Denouncing the bombing of the al Jazeera and Associated Press building is the way forward for peace.

In the end, we cannot decide the future of this occupation, but we can take a stance against injustice. Once again, we are called upon to be on the right side of history. That side is rarely a popular one. Quite the contrary, it is often mislabeled, attacked, and silenced. That is how we know it is right. 

History will look back at the time we live in as the twenties of the 21st century, the same way we now look back on how the twenties of the 20th century were: Of olden ways and could have done better and thought more of generations to come, as a collective. We do not want future generations to accuse us of standing still in the face of injustice. Everything we need to know is at the tip of our fingers. The right answer is staring us in the face. We have no excuse.