I suspect that with few exceptions, those objecting to the "occupation" of Palestinian lands have always meant all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and not just Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. With the growth of the movement over the last 25 years or so, especially on university campuses, it has emboldened people to come out of the proverbial closet, with a few pretending that the Palestine that will arise from Israel's ashes will be a secular, democratic binational state, regardless of the fascistic nature of Hamas, the most powerful Palestinian movement of the day and Hamas's closest allies.
As regards the charge of settler-colonialism, as John Strawson has pointed out, Israel, rather uniquely, was established as a refugee state. That understanding of Israel's founding has been twisted into such an unrecognizable state that the victims of 1800+ years of forced displacement, persecution, pressure to assimilate/convert under duress, discrimination, pogroms, real genocides and ethnic cleansing become the hated "settler-colonialists" while a population that doubtless, in significant proportion, descend from people who resettled there under a succession of conquerors and occupiers which followed the Romans are presumed to be "indigenous" to the land.
It is striking that people can call for a “ceasefire” and “peace” and simultaneously fantasise about a bloody war to destroy Israel. I wonder how many dead they would expect this fantasy to require. I also wonder how many who talk about settler colonialism are at all bothered about Russian settler colonialism in Eastern Ukraine. I suspect many hate Israel because they hate the West and don’t have any problem with settler colonialism when it is practiced by an enemy of the West.
A much needed response to the false and damaging narratives about Israel and Jewish history. I am on my way to Hyde Park for an October 7th remembrance even. I should not have an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, made worse by the images from the protest yesterday. It is very disturbing that the blatant support of terrorists, with banners proclaiming 'I ❤️ Hezbollah' are prominent in our diverse city.
The logic of "Anticolonialist" arguments like these would, if applied consistently, call for the expulsion of the entire non-indigenous population of the Americas & Australasia, the repatriation of all Arabs to Arabia & all Bantu language speakers to West Africa, & all Russians to West of the Volga.
And of course, all English back to Germany.
The above suggestions are of course as impossible in practice as they are imbecilic in theory.
Exactly the same as they are when applied to Israeli Jews.
Thanks for the great summary. However, I think we should recognise that this widespread distortion of history predates the post-7 October collective nervous breakdown. The distortion across all Western mainstream spaces has been a decade+ in the making and Jewish organisations have not paid sufficient attention to this. It is enough to look at any English-language children's books about history and geography published over the past decade to see what I mean - I challenge you to find an example that references a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel in ancient times. Here is just one example (out of dozens that I have noticed) from 2021, which simply vanishes any Jewish or Biblical reference when recounting the history of Jericho (!!!): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R5MBXRV226F87/. The fact that this - basically antisemitic - piece of historical revisionism in a current publication of the British Library and Nosy Crow (a mainstream publisher) has gone unchallenged is a scandal.
You're absolutely right. Just for example today Hezbollah announced it had attacked 'occupied Haifa.' It feels like if the Israel haters need to claim that Israel's very existence is a crime in order to somehow justify the immense hatred that they maintain towards it. If it was just the occupation, it would be hard to explain why they hate Israel more than any other country in the world.
I suspect that with few exceptions, those objecting to the "occupation" of Palestinian lands have always meant all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and not just Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. With the growth of the movement over the last 25 years or so, especially on university campuses, it has emboldened people to come out of the proverbial closet, with a few pretending that the Palestine that will arise from Israel's ashes will be a secular, democratic binational state, regardless of the fascistic nature of Hamas, the most powerful Palestinian movement of the day and Hamas's closest allies.
As regards the charge of settler-colonialism, as John Strawson has pointed out, Israel, rather uniquely, was established as a refugee state. That understanding of Israel's founding has been twisted into such an unrecognizable state that the victims of 1800+ years of forced displacement, persecution, pressure to assimilate/convert under duress, discrimination, pogroms, real genocides and ethnic cleansing become the hated "settler-colonialists" while a population that doubtless, in significant proportion, descend from people who resettled there under a succession of conquerors and occupiers which followed the Romans are presumed to be "indigenous" to the land.
It is striking that people can call for a “ceasefire” and “peace” and simultaneously fantasise about a bloody war to destroy Israel. I wonder how many dead they would expect this fantasy to require. I also wonder how many who talk about settler colonialism are at all bothered about Russian settler colonialism in Eastern Ukraine. I suspect many hate Israel because they hate the West and don’t have any problem with settler colonialism when it is practiced by an enemy of the West.
Ceasefire was never about peace. Ever.
The term "peace activist" has become this weird dog whistle that signals the person calling themselves that is anything but...
A much needed response to the false and damaging narratives about Israel and Jewish history. I am on my way to Hyde Park for an October 7th remembrance even. I should not have an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, made worse by the images from the protest yesterday. It is very disturbing that the blatant support of terrorists, with banners proclaiming 'I ❤️ Hezbollah' are prominent in our diverse city.
They do still talk about the Occupation but its meaning has changed.. Just like the meaning of "genocide". Words now serve power.
The logic of "Anticolonialist" arguments like these would, if applied consistently, call for the expulsion of the entire non-indigenous population of the Americas & Australasia, the repatriation of all Arabs to Arabia & all Bantu language speakers to West Africa, & all Russians to West of the Volga.
And of course, all English back to Germany.
The above suggestions are of course as impossible in practice as they are imbecilic in theory.
Exactly the same as they are when applied to Israeli Jews.
Thank you for writing this. It expresses so much that many I know, and used to respect, need to understand.
“We want 1948?” Do they want to give the mandate back to the British?
Thanks for the great summary. However, I think we should recognise that this widespread distortion of history predates the post-7 October collective nervous breakdown. The distortion across all Western mainstream spaces has been a decade+ in the making and Jewish organisations have not paid sufficient attention to this. It is enough to look at any English-language children's books about history and geography published over the past decade to see what I mean - I challenge you to find an example that references a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel in ancient times. Here is just one example (out of dozens that I have noticed) from 2021, which simply vanishes any Jewish or Biblical reference when recounting the history of Jericho (!!!): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R5MBXRV226F87/. The fact that this - basically antisemitic - piece of historical revisionism in a current publication of the British Library and Nosy Crow (a mainstream publisher) has gone unchallenged is a scandal.
You're absolutely right. Just for example today Hezbollah announced it had attacked 'occupied Haifa.' It feels like if the Israel haters need to claim that Israel's very existence is a crime in order to somehow justify the immense hatred that they maintain towards it. If it was just the occupation, it would be hard to explain why they hate Israel more than any other country in the world.