In light of the recent human rights violations in Palestine, it is important to remember who to direct our frustration and anger towards.
To achieve this, it is very important to realize what is happening in Palestine and to call it and acknowledge it for what it is; this means calling it ethnic cleansing and genocide instead of a conflict and understanding the difference between the oppressors and the oppressed instead of trying to show two sides in a black and white situation. To do this, let us begin to comprehend and unpack what it means to be anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic – especially in light of Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s interview with CNN.
Anti-Semitism can simply be defined as hostility or opposition towards people of Jewish descent or followers of Judaism. Zionism, in stark contrast, is the movement and proposition for the creation of a purely Jewish state. By definition, Zionists support the creation of Israel and anti-Zionists oppose this. It is now important to understand the cause of this opposition.
The creation of Israel is opposed not because of anti-Semitic sentiments but rather due to the history of oppression, marginalization, and genocide faced by the Palestinian people for Israel’s existence to materialize. Being anti-Zionist, therefore, is not being anti-Semitic since Zionists do not speak for all Jews present globally. This makes it clear that the Israeli government makes it look like criticizing Israel’s human rights violations is anti-Semitic to not face opposition.
This clarifies that our anger and frustration in this regard is to be directed at the Israeli government, which is separate from the Jewish community, and that the main focus should be the constant loss of Palestinian people and censorship of the Palestinian Liberation Movement.
In Pakistan, a Muslim majority country, we do not need to be reminded of the consequences which are faced when an entire religion is painted in a negative light due to the actions of a few and we need to remember to not do this. It is important to analyze this situation and think about who benefits from illustrating Islam and Judaism to be against each other when this is a simple case of humanity against oppression.
It is crucial, therefore, to find solidarity between the Muslims and the Jews to showcase the nature of Israeli propaganda. This will remind us where our anger and frustration need to be directed to better illustrate the larger political and power dynamics at play that need to fall to truly free the Palestinian people from the oppression currently occurring.
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