When Saying "Free Palestine" is a Crime


It seems like humanity is descending into a dystopian world where war is portrayed as a sport, with opposing "teams" bombing hospitals. Expressing support for people suffering under occupation for decades is considered as support for terrorism, and a country's right to self-defense is a carte blanche for obliterating women and children with impunity. The cry for "We must protect civilians" implies that killing a few thousand civilians is acceptable.

In an example of how the world seems to be turning upside down, a video featuring a London tube driver leading passengers in chants of "Free Palestine" has sparked outrage.

This incident, a simple act of expressing support for Palestinian self-determination, has led to accusations of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments. The response to this video underscores the nature of showing even the most basic support for Palestinian rights can not be tolerated by Israel and its Western allies.

In the video, as the train travels toward a pro-Palestinian rally, the driver leads a chant, "Free, free,” and the passengers respond, “Palestine."

In an interview, Lee Harpin, Editor of Jewish News in the UK, contended that the phrase "Free Palestine" implies the annihilation of the Jewish state. This begs the question: to feel secure, does Mr. Harpin need to annihilate the people of Palestine?

The demonization of legitimate expressions of support for Palestinian rights makes it more difficult to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israeli policies and anti-Semitic sentiments.

In addition to the indiscriminate killing of civilians and keeping Palestinians under brutal occupation, such tactics will further make the path to a peaceful resolution elusive.

Following the video's circulation, the Tube driver was suspended from his job.


Raise Your Voice Against the Gaza Catastrophe

Use our Action tool to message your representatives, urging them to use their office to bring an end to violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Saying of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: If you see a wrong, you should try to stop it. If you can't stop it physically, then you should speak out against it. If you can't do that either, at least dislike it in your heart..  Riyad as-Salihin


  Category: Featured, Highlights, World Affairs
  Topics: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Palestine
Views: 1395

Related Suggestions

 
COMMENTS DISCLAIMER & RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The opinions expressed herein, through this post or comments, contain positions and viewpoints that are not necessarily those of IslamiCity. These are offered as a means for IslamiCity to stimulate dialogue and discussion in our continuing mission of being an educational organization. The IslamiCity site may occasionally contain copyrighted material the use of which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. IslamiCity is making such material available in its effort to advance understanding of humanitarian, education, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and such (and all) material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.