The Pro-Palestine Protests

‘We Have a Mass Movement of Young People Advancing Horrifying Ideas’ – Paul Berman

This post is trying to make sense of the massive pro-Palestinian protests on campuses and specifically the messages that their signs send out to the world. If they are calling attention to the suffering of the Gaza population, they are succeeding. But what do their signs really say?

‘FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE’

The students and their supporters describe the protests as a humanitarian uprising to save lives in Gaza and to advance the rights of Palestinians on the West Bank. They are chanting slogans such as: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” and “Globalize the Intifada.”

Which river and which sea do they have in mind? It is undoubtedly the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which means that Palestine’s freedom depends on the disappearance of Israel. That is a horrifying slogan, all in the name of Human Rights.

‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’

The phrase ‘Globalize the Intifada’ uses the Arabic word for “uprising” or “shaking off”. Since the most prominent expressions of Intifada have been through violence (suicide bombings and terrorism against Israelis, especially during the 2nd Intifada), it is often understood by those saying and hearing it as encouraging violence against Israelis, Jews, and institutions supporting Israel ‘globally’.

While the intent of the person saying this phrase may be different, the impact on the Jewish community remains the same.

Originally, Zionism is a movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. The vast majority of Jews around the world feel a connection or kinship with Israel, whether or not they explicitly identify as Zionists.

Zionist believe that a modern Jewish state provides Jews with a safe haven from centuries of anti-Jewish hatred, persecution, and discrimination in Europe, the Middle East, and North.

Zionism does not preclude support for Palestinian self-determination and statehood. Many Zionists support a two-state solution as the realization of self-determination for Jews and Palestinians alike.

‘STOP THE GENOCIDE’

Genocide traditionally means an attempt to exterminate a people. To say that it’s not taking place in Gaza does not mean that it’s not terrible, or that it shouldn’t be stopped. Since the State of Israel was created in 1948, the Arab population of historic Palestine has increased by 500%. So it’s not the case that Israel has conducted or attempted to carry out genocide of Palestinian Arabs.

The death toll in Gaza is tragic, that is true. But is it solely the responsibility of the IDF? Or should we put some of the blame at the feet of Hamas?

‘ISRAEL IS A SETTLER COLONIALIST SOCIETY’

The term “settler colonialism” refers to a system of oppression in which a colonizing nation engages in ethnic cleansing by displacing and dispossessing a native or pre-existing population. Settler Colonialist societies include many countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia.

If you say that Israel is a Settler Colonialist society, you’re saying that it should be destroyed. It is evil and does not deserve to exist. As many Israelis as possible should be killed, and by creating as much violence and chaos as we can, eventually the colonizers will leave. Like they did in Algeria where the French colonizers eventually left.

But Israel was not founded as a colony. Jews are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel going back to biblical times. The Zionist movement never saw itself as white Europeans colonizing someone else’s land. It was a return to the Jewish homeland by Jews who had been in exile for thousands of years.

If you tell Israelis to leave and go back to their own country, like the French in Algeria, that can not happen since Israel doesn’t have a mother country, and it doesn’t have any place for its people to go if they’re driven out. So when they’re attacked, their only alternative is to fight back.

The Settler colonialist paradigm makes it a zero sum game, which contributes to making the conflict worse, not better. As long as the survival of the Jewish state is at issue, there can’t ever be a peaceful solution for Jews or Arabs in Israel and Palestine.

‘THE RIGHT TO RETURN’

The right of return is a principle in international law which guarantees everyone’s right of return to, or re-entry to, their country of citizenship.

This also counts for the 850,000 Jews who were expelled from dozens of Muslim countries after the creation of Israel. I doubt they would want to, but protestors often forger that there are as many Jews who were expelled from Arab countries as Palestinians during the Israeli war of Independence. They are called ‘Mizrahi’ Jews and they make up 45% of Israelis.

A QUESTION OF PROPORTIONALITY

There are two ways of looking at how Israel reacts to Hamas and its threat.

A) It believes Hamas when it says that it is their religious duty to exterminate the Jews.

B) What Hamas says smacks of bravado. They are only capable of shooting primitive rockets at Israel and they are more like a barking dog that doesn’t really bite that hard.

Scenario B is how many protestors see Hamas: the underdog that needs their support.

If you believe that Hamas means what it says in its charter, the proportionality of Israel’s military response is justified because they fear annihilation.

If Israel believes that Hamas is more like a barking dog that doesn’t bite really hard, Israel’s military response seems disproportionate.

But Israel cannot predict the future. No matter what the Israelis choose to do, they have to recognize that they might be tragically wrong – either in their failure to defend themselves, or in the suffering they inflict on other people.

CONCLUSION

The slogans at the protests are destructive for both sides and do not leave room for dialogue. Many protesters are so radicalized that they are willing to advance horrifying ideas, all the while believing that they advance a just and progressive cause.

Sources:

In the Spotlight: Adam Kirsch

An Extraordinary Introduction to the Birth of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (with Haviv Rettig Gur)

‘We Have a Mass Movement of Young People Advancing Horrifying Ideas’

Pro-Hamas group that helps organize protests shares plans for Oct. 7 anniversary