Defending oppressed Palestinians against Israeli tyranny. Seeking peace doesn’t mean compromising justice for the resisting, weak, and oppressed.
Plato and Aristotle both defined a tyrant as a ruler who seizes power unlawfully, often driven by personal gain, lacking moral virtue, and ruling without regard for the well-being of the citizens. I believe this definition fits Israel perfectly.
One of the biggest problems facing our world today is that not enough people speak out the plain and simple truths. Good people, influential people, people of alleged integrity, can very easily become supporters and aiders of oppression and tyranny when the support for the oppressor is the popular one. They do so by either speaking out of ignorance in defence of the tyrants, or staying neutral enabling the narrative that supports tyrants.
It was reported that Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.”
The following points come lacking dollops of political correctness and are to serve as a challenge to global tyrannical narrative that consistently defends Israel:
1- Israel is anti-Judaism: The 6th (Do not murder), 8th (Do not steal), and 9th (Do not accuse anyone falsely, Do not tell lies about other people) Torah commandants are as clear as day. True jews that follow Torah commandments would never support Israel in my opinion, and as such, being anti-israel doesn’t mean being anti-jew. Palestine has always been for a long period of history shared between jews, christians, and muslims.
2- Israelis are land invaders: The narrative of “oh situation is too complex, it is difficult to understand, etc.” is a lazy narrative, let’s challenge it. The situation in Palestine is not a conflict; it’s an Israeli invasion sanctioned by global superpowers and a prolonged tyrannical occupation spanning 75 years and continuing, aimed at seizing territories that do not belong to them. Why would any other fact other than this confuse you about the situation? If israelis wish to have a state, by all means, I’m in favor of them finding a land that doesn’t belong to anyone for them to have it.
3- Palestinian land is being stolen for 75 years and counting: Stealing Palestinian land is wrong. We call those who steal things as robbers and thieves. What do you call someone actively killing a landowner to steal it? Answer: A criminal who violates human rights and transgress against God’s Law in all abrahamic religions, and civic and international law (what more do you want?). Granting the right to self-defence to invading criminal thieves contradicts ethical principles, let alone giving them the right for unequivocal, unchecked, brute retaliation green pass to go commit mass-genocides and driving people outside of their land and homes? Labeling a situation like this “unfortunate” is mischaracterization and staying silent about it and remaining “neutral” aids the oppressor.
4- Superpowers of the world today lack integrity: The narrative that superpowers uphold justice is not backed by real life actions. Supporting one country like Ukraine with financial, humanitarian, self-defence weaponry, and military aid to recover their lands is commendable but then condemning Palestinians attempting to recover their lands followed by actively blocking off any financial, humanitarian, self-defence weaponry, and military aid is a pure moral lapse. What kind of double standard is this? If there is ever a future superpower, I hope it is one that is rightly guided by objectively moral principles that bring justice on this planet, because the current ones simply aren’t.
5- Rewarding/Aiding thieves is an act of grave injustice: The narrative that splitting the “bounty” between the original owner and the thief would bring peace is abhorrent. Any suggestion that a thief/invader/robber should retain even 1% of what they stole is ethically flawed, let alone endorsing the notion of allowing them to keep half, let alone just settling for them not stealing 100% of it, and asking them to stop at only 98%. Imagine if it became an international law that any criminal attempting to steal someone’s property, starving them, and killing them, would be rewarded by giving the criminals half what they attempt to steal. What kind of world would that be? Why would you support that? Do we just just making exceptions if a thief is too forceful?
6- Knowledge is Power and your voice matters: Learn the real history, learn who is the oppressed and their struggles to fight back, learn about the oppressor and their long standing history of crimes, not honoring agreements, disregard for so-called international law. Stop being neutral because it is the easy thing, when you know a massive injustice has been committed, you must bring justice first, then talk about peace. Staying silent is giving the green light to corruption and tyranny.
7- Israel commits state-terrorism: Terrorizing Palestinian landowners by forcing them to leave their rightfully owned land and homes, consistently bombing them, and applauding the active cutting off food, water, and humanitarian supplies from them is definitely a form of Terrorism. That’s what Israelis are currently doing to people in Gaza. What about labelling those trying to restore their lands from illegal settlers, do they get labelled terrorists too? Where is your consistent narrative?
8- Language is a powerful tool, easily weaponized: Concepts like terrorism, antisemitism, and polarization, once weighty and meaningful, have been diluted, corrupted, and wrongfully weaponized in the past decade. Big words that get floated around in attempts to discredit anyone. The fear of being linked to these negative terms can lead people to silence themselves. It's a tactic similar to how a tyrant can silence with bullets, but the advantage with language is that one can, in time, come back to life when they choose courage over fear. This is what Jewish Voice for Peace had to say:
9- Palestinians have the right to defend themselves and repel the invaders: Under no world order, should the people getting killed, getting their lands stolen, being oppressed, be prevented or ever condemned for defending themselves or even attacking their enemy in pursuit of justice using military power when social and political discourse fails and the world stands watching for over 75 years.. In Israel, all citizens over 18 years of age, regardless of gender or ethnicity, are obligated to serve in the military, both men and women are required to serve for at least 24 to 32 months. If the illegal settlers have right to defend what they stole, then the land owners have an even more right to fight back, period.
10- Justice will be served either in this life or the hereafter: Live a morally consistent life that is worth living, speak against injustice, and do what you can to help those in need of help and to be the voice of those who are voiceless. For everything will be accounted for on the day of judgment, and may it be that you stood by the oppressed and stood against the tyrants of your time.
