How should I feel about Israel?

I am from a village called Beit Nuba in Palestine.

 

 

Beit Nuba is (was) a village located about 14 miles north west of Jerusalem. It is mentioned that King Richard the lion heart camped in Beit Nuba during his crusade, and so did Saladin, that’s almost a millennium ago. On a sunny June morning, Israeli army showed up on the village, ordered everyone to leave and demolished the entire village, the 1000 years history levelled to the ground, and nearly 2000 people in an instant became refugees.

Everyone I know in my extended family, from both my parents sides is a refugee. Being a refugee means that you are always treated as a second class citizen in every country you reside. It also means that you are in an internal conflict in belonging: to the country you live in and the country you call your homeland, and because of this duality your loyalty is often questioned.

 

 

All we have of Beit Nuba is a punch of keys for houses that no longer there, stories and memories for places that we cannot see, visit or call home. Every Palestinian home has a key for a house they cannot return to, memories of places that they are forbidden from visiting. Every Palestinian home has a child named after a town, named after a right to struggle and resist, named after a hope of return.

 

This is my life and the life of millions of Palestinians like me; belonging to a place that no longer exists on the maps, have no rights to return to my homeland, and the cause, the reason, and the source of this suffering is Israel. So do we, refugees, children of refugees, parents to more refugees, have the right to hate Israel?

 

Despite my family suffering, I find myself in fear of expressing my feelings about Israel, because I might be labelled as antisemitc! I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous  and scary anti-Semitism is, millions of Jews lost their lives because of antisemitc 1930s Europe, and for many centuries before that they have been repeatedly abused and persecuted. I have always rejected any form of racism, and I have a personal interest in doing so as I am a person of colour and a Muslim living in Europe. I have advocated that Muslims should work with other minorities; Jews, LGBTQ+, Black Lives matter and any other minority group to fight racism.

 

The past few weeks I have seen a rise in American and British “whites” defending Israel and accusing anyone criticising its actions as antisemitc. I could easily question their motives and intentions, especially knowing that the most recent antisemitc terrorist attacks were carried out by “White Nationalists” who Trump refers to as “very fine people” and none of those pro-Israel groups are actually calling them out.

 

 

Conflicting Zionism and Israel policies with anti-Semitism is a very dangerous matter. Jews deserve to be protected and should not be subjected to any form of racism, that protection should not give Israel the immunity from criticism. Israel is a state, not a religion, ethnicity or a sexual orientation, many parties compete in elections to rule, with different visions and policies, some of which are plainly racists, some of the actions of this state violates Human Rights convections, like for example demolishing Beit Nuba. Where do I stand on that, if I criticise Israel am I antisemitc? If I dislike or hate Israel because of what it did to my family, am I antisemitc?

 

 

I am one of the lucky ones, I live in the UK, enjoy my rights as a British citizen, and very rarely someone would say to me: go back home! Million other Palestinians aren’t this lucky,  still living in refugees camps, denied many of their basic rights as humans, and of course no right of return.

For all the Palestinians, in or out of refugees camps, under the occupation or in other countries, the cause of their prolonged suffering is the state of Israel! Hating it, is an understatement.

 
I know many people will be uncomfortable with the idea of “hate”, do not expect me to apologise. If people living in refugees camps, restrictions on every aspects of their lives, and have suffered for generation, if such things do not make you uncomfortable but their right to express their feelings makes you cringe, then you have no feelings and for that only: I am sorry.