Context? Let Their *Own* Words Win Your Pro-Israel Debates

As appeared in Future of Jewish 

 

With the Republican and Democratic National Conventions behind us and a new university semester upon us, the political discussions regarding Israel and Hamas, Israel and Palestine, Israel and Iran, Israel and the U.S. Administration…you pick…increase in frequency and intensity.

Unfortunately, arguments with friends and family can devolve into shouting matches.

How does one discuss, convince, or at least, input an element of doubt into those who have bought into the anti-Israel demagoguery to really understand what those anti-Israel movements are really about and discover their own “aha!” moment of the truth.

History is usually written by the victors and academics. History is usually taught by the era (i.e., the rise and fall of the Roman Empire) or the event (i.e., World War 1). History is rarely taught by comparison of commonality (i.e., the Black Plague vs. the Spanish Flu).

How can we learn what they really were striving for without the bias of the victors or academics? What could be researched and how should it be examined?

Wouldn’t it be better to hear it in their own words? Let the pro-Hamas and anti-Israel advocates make their own case to your friends and family, in their own words, so you don’t have to?

As a former advertising & marketing professional and professor, I know that popular culture in the form of advertisements, slogans and jingles, is a great representation of the real ideals, beliefs, and morals of the people at a particular time. Therefore, the songs, poetry, slogans, and even national anthems, of a revolutionary movement are a great place to uncover the ideals, beliefs, and morals of those people striving for a specific cause or revolution.

My goal as a professor was always to teach my students how to think, not what to think. I accomplished this by employing the Socratic method – showing the facts and then asking questions. This results in many “aha!” moments. Specifically, because it is in the revolutionaries own words! – rather than the unsubstantiated rhetoric being shouted on campuses or presented by biased (left or right) media outlets.

On our city streets and college campuses the demonstration chants are getting more aggressive and speak more towards inciting violence. All for “free Palestine.”

However, the words, as their actions, of the Arab leadership consistently demonstrate that this “Palestine liberation” movement for a homeland for Palestinians was never their intention. What does “permanent ceasefire” mean if your objectives don’t change? Their objective simply is, and always has been, the elimination of Israel and the extermination of Jews as a people and religion. Here are just five examples of the Arab and Palestinian leaderships supporting this anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, and anti-Zionist position in their own words:

1. 1937 – Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, a local Arab leader: “There is no such country [as Palestine]! Palestine is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country is part of Syria.”
2. 1947 – Haj Amin el-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem: “Palestine was part of the Province of Syria…Politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity.”
3. 1948 – Secretary-General of the Arab League: "This war will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongol massacres and the Crusades."
4. 1977 – PLO executive committee member, Zahir Muhsein: “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people…to oppose Zionism.”
5. 1994 – Yassar Arafat, the Chairman of the PLO, called for a "jihad" to liberate Jerusalem. He suggested that his peace agreement (Oslo Peace Accords) with Israel was only a tactical step that could still be reversed as it is based on ‘Taqiyya,’ which is an Islamic law that ‘permits’ lying to confound and defeat enemies through deception.

Yasser Arafat was very effective in saying one thing to the English language news media and then saying the opposite in Arabic to his followers and the Arab audience. That pattern continues. The proof can be found in media reports on UNRWA and Hamas education programs, as well as key websites that translate messages. Here is a synopsis of what can be found:

Quotes attributed to Palestinian leadership:

• "The Muslim loves death and martyrdom like the Jews love life."
• “The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem.”
• “The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromise.”
• “Peace for us means the destruction of Israel.”
• “Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest.”

Songs/Poems, and many videos, have a common violent and bloody theme:

• “Strap on the belt, O daughter of my land, and detonate it in front of the enemies / How sweet is the taste of Martyrdom”
• “Write 'death, death, death to Israel' with flowing blood, And with the bleeding body cause death, death, death to Israel"
• "[Arafat] you are the rifle and I am the one who learned its art / O [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas, walk on and don't worry... / By Allah, my blood is your blood
• "I'm coming towards you, my enemy, We're going down from every house with cleavers and knives, With grenades we announced a popular war. I swear, you won't escape, my enemy, from the revolution and the people.”

The Hamas Charter. It is hard to expect anything but violence without any opening for peace. Their claim of peace “under the wing of Islam” refers to the concept of ‘dhimmis’ or second-class citizenship that comes with many religious restrictions:

• “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." In other words, genocide for the Israelis and non-Muslims.”
• “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”  
• "I swear by the holder of Mohammed's soul that I would like to invade and be killed for the sake of Allah, then invade and be killed, and then invade again and be killed."
• “Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions - Islam, Christianity, and Judaism - to coexist in peace and quiet with each other. Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam… It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement, and terror.”

The Palestinian Authority Charter offers the following highlighted points of view:

• “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.”
• “The destiny of the Arab nation, and indeed Arab existence itself, depend upon the destiny of the Palestine cause.” In other words, linkage for the desire of leverage.
•  “…and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.” In other words, genocide.

Also, there is a lot of talk about the Palestinian refugees. Yet, after the first Arab-Israeli War (1948-1949), the head of Britain’s Middle East Office in Cairo, Sir John Troutbeck, reported to the Foreign Office, that the Palestinian refugees declared to him that their Arab brothers “were the ones who persuaded them unnecessarily to leave their homes.” Thus, self-acknowledging the role of various Arab states in the creation of today’s Palestinian refugee problem, now containing even four generations of the original refugees.

The quoted text above are their own words. Perhaps showing or challenging friends and family to read them, note their sources for authenticity, and then ask themselves a few questions, they will see the light or at least have some doubt to keep questioning and verifying.

Here are some suggested questions for them:

1. How do the messages presented (quotes, slogans, and songs), reconcile with your recollection, understanding, history classes, and the messaging presented in the current media news cycles?
2. In reading the topic information, concepts, and objectives, in their own words, did you learn or conclude anything new? If so, what?
3. Are the revolutionaries right in their cause and course of action? Why? Why not?
4. Do you think the revolutionaries will live up to their ideals, stated in their own words, if their revolution is won? Will the resulting society be better or worse for the general population under their new leadership?

Bonus question: Who are the Palestinians? (Answer: Simply look up the origin of the word “Palestine” on the internet, note who lived there when the Roman conqueror renamed it. Hint: Israelites/Jews.)

Having had many of these ‘conversations’ myself, it became my focus to create such a resource. Readers can find all this evidence, and more, in Chapter 8, Sources, and Appendices, of the newly released book: Revolutions: In Their Own Words, What They Really Say About Their Causes, now available on Amazon  (Please forgive the obvious plug for my new book.)

This new book presents a new way to look at history (and relevant today) by providing a short, introductory background to the revolution being discussed, a collection of representative songs and slogans, and some comments and analysis to get started in making one’s own conclusions about each revolution. For the purposes of “compare and contrast,” the book also covers the revolutions of America, France, Russia, Israel, Cuba, and Palestine.

By presenting all this evidence and letting them come to their own “aha!” moment of the truth and understanding perhaps will be more powerful than any argument or loss of friendship.