Pondering Palestine: Rhetoric and Response
- Lee
- Sep 26
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 2
“Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his beliefs. We are going nowhere. We are not some of his assets.”
Samir Abu Basil, 40, Resident of Gaza City
Why should I care about the Middle East?
These are real people. They work jobs, go to school, and have dinner with their families. They eat fast food, raise babies, drive cars, and skip bad ads on TV. They feel heartbreak and are pleading for their lives and the right to exist. Is that alone not enough?
It's so far away.
It's an 11-hour flight. It's not Mars. In fact, people seem more concerned about going to Mars than they are about Palestinian children. What is the exact proximity something needs to be to you for you to care?
It's a scary place over there.
We face many of the same problems: inaccessible healthcare, discrimination, crumbling infrastructure, being overworked and underpaid, overpriced gas, food deserts, unemployment, and our governments failing us.
The life expectancy in Palestine is 73, while America's is 79. It seems we are not doing things too differently. Palestinians have public and private health insurance, public transportation, and generally low crime rates. They have private and public schools, universities, work-from-home jobs, paid time off, music festivals, and football. They scroll through TikTok and Reddit, sharing cuisine and art. They laugh, cry, and feel just like any American does. What makes it so easy to dehumanize Palestinians or anyone in the Middle East?
The people are terrorists.
Do we define all of America as being full of terrorists because of school shootings, political assassinations, or our endless colonialism? Many around the world see America as the terrorists. So what exactly makes a country "full of terrorists"?
What about Hamas; they started it.
First of all, these are people's lives we're talking about, not a schoolyard fight. There is much more nuance here.
For example, imagine one person decides to attack all brown-haired people. They start shooting any brunette they see. Should the response of brunettes be to bomb every single citizen in the killer's vicinity? Should they starve people, block access to medical care, or shoot them when they try to get lifesaving services? No. The blame should be placed on the people responsible. The people of Palestine are not responsible for the actions of Hamas.
Let's simplify further and pretend this was a schoolyard:
Suppose you were being bullied in school. They say you are sitting in their seat and decide to take your lunch money. You try to accommodate at first, but they push and prod. They make attacks on your personhood and get their allies involved. Your teachers know what is happening but refuse to act because they don't want the bully to be mad at them. You're completely alone, and the bullying worsens. You can't eat or sleep because of the harassment. Finally, you punch the bully back. The bully bleeds, and now the principal is involved. Somehow, YOU are labeled as the bully. Now the bully is attacking you, your family, your friends, and everyone in your neighborhood.
Who is actually in the wrong here? How can we overlook all of the buildup and only vilify the reaction?
I do not want to downplay the genuine atrocity of what happened to Israeli civilians and the loss of innocent lives at the hands of Hamas. However, the comparisons being used do not cover all nuances and complexities.
Islam?!
Islam is one of the most misunderstood and propagandized religions in the world. Remember, almost all organized religions historically have misogynistic, transphobic, and homophobic values and teachings.
If you don't criticize Christianity while running your mouth about Islam, then congratulations, you've been caught by the propaganda machine and are just spewing hate. If you criticize both and/or all organized religions, ensure you're acting in good faith and speaking with facts. None of us are immune to propaganda and misinformation.
Many people don't know anything about the Qur'an, let alone its teachings and how similarly they overlap with Christianity's values.
Allah = God
The main difference is that Christianity sees God as The Trinity (The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) while Muslims see God as one being.
Both religions trace their origins back to Abraham.
Jesus is revered in both faiths. He is said to bring about the Second Coming of Christ or the Day of Judgment. The main differences are that Christians believe Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, and that he was crucified, while Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet of Allah and is the Messiah who was taken into Heaven.
Head coverings are a sign of modesty for practicing women in both Christianity and Islam. Nuns wear them in convents and public areas, while Muslim women wear Hijabs and other coverings as a show of modesty and humility.
Both religions believe in the afterlife (heaven and hell) and that good people are rewarded while bad people are punished.
The heart of both religions' value systems is the importance of compassion, prayer, ritual, forgiveness, modesty, community, and respect for others.
Isn't supporting Palestine antisemitic?
Many Israelis and other Jewish people protest against Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people. They have answered that question, but let's expand:
Opposing the eradication of an entire people does not equal antisemitism.
Opposing policies of the Israeli state does not equal antisemitism.
Supporting human rights, liberty, and dignity does not equal antisemitism.
The Israeli government is just that, a government. Criticizing Israel is not a criticism of Jewish people.
If I criticize Trump's government, I'm not criticizing every single American. Hating and discriminating against every American because of what their government does is an entirely different thing.
Why should my taxes support a country overseas when we don't take care of our own?
Your tax dollars are already going to Israel. Obama started sending roughly $3.8 billion annually to Israel until at least 2028. That is your tax dollars funding a genocide.
If you don't want your money going to foreign countries, Israel is the one you should focus on, not the few countries we send aid to. If your belief is to stay out of foreign affairs, then you should campaign against our financial and military aid to Israel first.
Are you advocating for housing, food, and healthcare for our citizens? If you're saying we should put our own people first, you better be sure you're helping those in need here and not just using that as a flimsy talking point.
Why don't they just leave?
Where would you have them go? To the United States, to be detained and deported by ICE, if they're even lucky enough to get in? To Turkey, Egypt, or Jordan, where borders are closed and open very seldomly?
They literally cannot "go back to where they came from." What is your suggestion?
Do you actually care what happens to Palestinians, or are you just wishing they would "go away," out of sight and out of mind?
Would you leave your home if someone came in and said it belonged to them now? Would you fight to stay in your home, with your family and belongings? Would you be angry? Would you have a choice?
If the options are:
Stay where you are, except your home is gone. Your city has been bombed to pieces. You don't know when or where the next bomb will hit. There's not enough accessible food to feed everyone, and when you go to food distribution centers, you could be shot at or bombed. The refugee camps are full of mosquitoes and terrible conditions. You're at risk every day. Your children are starving in front of you.
Try to leave, except the borders are closed. You try to go into Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, anywhere, walking when there aren't alternatives. You sleep in the street, waiting in line to maybe cross the border. Usually, you're turned away, but if you're lucky enough to get in, where do you go? Does your family get to come with you? All you have are the items on your back. You've lost everything and are forced to give up on your homeland. If you're like most Palestinians still living in Gaza and the West Bank, where do you go after being turned away? You have no home, nowhere to sleep, no food to eat. You're back at choice A.
Which do you choose? Is that really a choice?
What can I even do?
The first thing we can do is educate ourselves and those around us. Learn about the Nakba, the Naksa, Palestinian history, and rich culture. Read, watch YouTube videos, and listen to Palestinian voices.
Donate to families in Gaza. There are specific organizations listed under the Activism tab, but a quick search online can direct you to different Palestinian charities and aid.
Reach out to your local and state representatives. Call them, email them, start letter campaigns, and show up to tell them how important it is to demand a ceasefire.
Don't stop talking about Palestine. Show up at rallies; there are weekly Empty Pot protests nationwide. Find yours. Don't stop showing up.
Regardless of how you slice it, genocide is wrong. Apartheid is wrong. Starving people, especially children, is wrong. Not speaking out during these atrocities is wrong. Silence is compliance, and history will not remember people kindly for their cowardice. So, go do something now.
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