As Israel continues to defend itself against the terrorist group Hamas, a war of information is unfolding around the world. Major influencers on social media, as well as elected officials and mainstream media news and pundits, have amplified Hamas’ messages and presented those messages “pro-Palestinian.”
This mix of slogans and threats has infiltrated college campuses and even the halls of government.
Here are seven hateful and harmful slogans that Hamas and its supporters have unleashed, and many of those supporting Palestinians in America have spread.
“From the River to the Sea”
Here’s what it means: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” is the catch-all phrase symbolizing Palestinian control over the entire territory of Israel’s borders, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. That means it is a call for erasing the State of Israel and the Jewish people who live there. It is also a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers to do the same.
There is of course nothing antisemitic about advocating for Palestinians to have their own state. AJC itself is an organization that believes in a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, calling for the elimination of the Jewish state, praising Hamas or other entities who call for Israel’s destruction, or suggesting that the Jews alone do not have the right to self-determination, is antisemitic.
Here’s how it is being used: The hateful slogan has frequently appeared on protest signs nationwide during rallies in support of Palestinians, often used on social media by Palestinian supporters including government officials and members of Congress, and even on T-shirts for sale on Amazon. It has also become popular among far too common call-to-arms for anti-Israel activists on campuses across the country, including on the East Campus bridge at Duke University, on lecture slides at the Society for Ethnomusicology’s annual meeting, and scores of other academic spaces.
“Colonialist Enterprise”
By charging Israel with colonizing Palestinians, Hamas and its supporters are manipulating the cause of racial justice to advance their terrorist goals – all while hoping no one notices Israel has been the homeland of the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years.
Hamas wants Americans and Europeans to think the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a racial one, in which Israelis are seen as European and white oppressors and colonizers and Palestinians are seen as people of color who are oppressed and colonized. But the conflict is not a racial one. It’s a conflict between two nationalities.
What it means: The term “settler colonialist” refers to a system of oppression in which a colonizing nation displaces and dispossesses a native or pre-existing population. It suggests the intention to replace or even eliminate an indigenous people.
Why it’s a false charge: When you are indigenous, it’s impossible to colonize yourself. And yet that’s what Hamas is contending about Israelis. The Jewish people have a 3,000-year connection to the land of Israel. The Roman Empire destroyed the Jewish state of Judea in 70 CE and expelled many of the Jews living there, but even in exile, the Jewish people always longed to return to their homeland. Still, Jews continued to live in the land of Israel. The Zionist movement of the late 19th century gave Jews outside of Israel the hope and ability to begin to return to live there.
Far from colonizers, Jews returning to their ancestral homeland fled persecution. This includes not only Jews from Europe, but also Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews) who make up over half of Israel’s population today. These Jewish communities fled or were expelled from Arab countries and Iran due to antisemitism and persecution in the mid-20th century.
Read the full article at American Jewish Committee.
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