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The past few weeks of news from Palestine have been horrific. After Hamas forces launched a surprise attack to reclaim Israeli-occupied land for Palestine, the Israeli government retaliated with widespread bombings on Gaza. Amidst this terrible violence, it can be difficult to find reliable information to draw well-informed conclusions about the situation, especially in an era where misinformation and propaganda spread rapidly on news networks and social media.
I’ve been vocal about my support for Palestinian independence on social media, which has led to some long, tough conversations with people who associate my words with things I don’t stand for. Trying to explain all the layers of Palestine’s complex history with Israel can often spiral into unproductive clashes based on biased talking points, so I want to address a few common misconceptions that undermine understanding and compassion in these conversations.
Firstly, many people falsely assume that supporters of Palestinian independence oppose Israel because they are antisemites who condemn the existence of a Jewish state. The current state of Israel was founded in 1948 as a homeland for Jewish people whose homes and families were destroyed during the Holocaust. Although the ancient kingdom of Israel holds religious significance as a Jewish holy land, the modern state’s establishment caused the destruction of the Palestinian nation and the forced displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians, an event known as the Nakba. There is nothing inherently wrong with the creation of a predominantly Jewish state, but Jewish and Palestinian people both deserve equally safe homelands, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land uplifts one group at the expense of the other. The current Israeli state relies on brutal settler colonialism and apartheid against Palestinians, and international law states that Palestinians have the right to resist occupation. Antisemitism is a real and terrible form of discrimination that has caused deplorable violence throughout history and still oppresses Jewish people around the world today, but opposition to Israeli settlement on Palestinian land is not itself hatred towards the Jewish community. While both antisemitism and Islamophobia do taint some narratives about Israel and Palestine, many people support Palestine because they are anti-colonialist, not because they are antisemitic.
Secondly, people also assume that supporting Palestine means blindly aligning oneself with Hamas and condoning Hamas violence against Israeli civilians. While the recent Hamas attacks delivered a heavy blow to a colonizer state, the United Nations defines killing civilians as a war crime, regardless of which “side” the civilians are on. We don’t have to pretend that Hamas militants are innocent heroes or turn a blind eye to the crimes committed against Israelis. However, Western media has largely framed the Hamas insurgence as an unprovoked terrorist attack while downplaying the violence that the Israeli state has inflicted upon Palestinian civilians for the past 75 years. If you are outraged by the recent attacks but still support the Israeli state despite its long history of slaughtering Palestinians, you aren’t really standing up for “peace” or “innocent lives,” because settler colonialism is inherently oppressive and violent.
Furthermore, the Israeli government has repeatedly impeded Palestinian attempts to achieve peace. Israel actually helped Hamas take power in Gaza by dismantling more moderate Palestinian parties that supported a more peaceful resolution, and in 2018, Israeli snipers shot over 6,000 unarmed demonstrators in Gaza. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement aimed to end colonization and apartheid by cutting off global commerce with Israel but was met with widespread global opposition. A bloody Hamas takeover was never the ideal plan for Palestinian liberation; rather, violence has become the last-ditch effort of a nation where multiple attempts at nonviolent decolonization have failed. The Israeli government references the bloody Hamas attacks to justify bombing Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, but they refuse to negotiate for a peaceful compromise.
While the struggle for Palestinian independence is a deeply nuanced issue with a long, complex history, my position is clear: I hope that Palestine can achieve self-determination and freedom from colonization with minimal bloodshed on both sides. I hope that truth prevails while misinformation and propaganda are debunked. And more than anything, I hope that we have the courage to stand up for justice so we can foster a lasting peace.