These three epithets are used by the majority of Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims as synonymous words to describe that colonizer who came from the West and, with its support, seized the land of Arab Palestine and forcibly expelled its original inhabitants through threats and massacres from their homeland and land.
The use of these epithets interchangeably is not limited to the general public, who often use them instinctively, but unfortunately, they appear in official and activist Arab and Palestinian political and media discourse without realizing the extent of the political and national harm and moral deviation that leads to blind racial extremism linked to using these terms without distinguishing between Jews as followers of a heavenly religion, Israelis as citizens of a state including Jews, Muslims, Christians, and atheists, and Zionists, who are not only followers of Judaism as some believe but also include Muslims, Christians, and atheists.
We shed light on this important topic not only from the perspective of important ethical philosophy but also from the standpoint of the supreme national interest and precious national cause, which have become endangered due to the use of these epithets in political discourse, everyday speech, media, Friday sermons, and all daily talk, interchangeably, whether consciously or out of ignorance... The Zionist enemy exploits this ignorance to undermine the just struggle of the Palestinian people for the right to self-determination, the establishment of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of its refugees as stipulated by UN resolutions.
The Zionist enemy, who plans and studies strategies to confront the Palestinian people's struggle precisely, now exploits this dangerous slippage in Arab and Palestinian political discourse to infiltrate solidarity movements with the Palestinian people and their struggle, which have been growing and intensifying worldwide for years. These movements have become a thorn in the side of Zionist politics and a continuous and escalating source of annoyance to the Zionist lobby worldwide. Without the great successes of global solidarity movements that have besieged the Zionist lobby's work worldwide, which used to roam and influence global decision centers unchecked, the Zionist strategy and its research centers would not have given such importance to these epithets, which are now used to sow seeds of discord, division, and decline within the global solidarity movement with the Palestinian people.
In previous articles and lectures, I wrote and repeated a dialectic about understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which I reiterate here for reminder and warning:
The Palestinian people's struggle with Israel is a political struggle and a struggle over land and existence, not a religious or doctrinal conflict... Not every Jew is Israeli or Zionist... Not every Zionist is Israeli or even Jewish... Not every Israeli is Jewish or Zionist...
The importance of this dialectic does not lie in the ethical philosophy of the argument, which is a personal matter for each individual in society, and I do not aspire to be a teacher or moral preacher... The importance lies in the core understanding of the conflict and its parties so that we can deduce, build, and adopt from this understanding a successful, sweeping struggle strategy that topples the occupation, restores rights to their rightful owners, and returns sovereignty to its legitimate owners... Political work, strategy formulation, and deriving practical tactics from these strategies are no different from the work of a successful doctor... Success comes only by accurately diagnosing the disease, its symptoms, and causes, determining the necessary medicine to contain and eradicate the disease, constantly reviewing decisions and examinations, and adjusting medication doses according to the patient's needs and health status... This is how we must act in our struggle with colonial Zionism and in our political discourse with friends and enemies, and this is how we must deal with and engage in politics with its strategies and tactics; otherwise, we become random populists in our actions and discourse!
The fate of this randomness is destruction and extinction... After which comes lamenting the bitter reality in which we will find ourselves due to ignorance and populism that have come to dominate our political discourse and methods of struggle in the East.
Zionism is a racist colonial movement whose members include Jews, Christians, Muslims, and atheists spread across the earth... Their spearhead sits in the Israeli parliament and their research centers...
Judaism is a heavenly religion just like Christianity and Islam, and followers of this religion are spread across the earth... Only a minority live in Israel, and only a minority consider Zionism their ideological reference...
Israeli citizenship is a reality in a land that has become a political fact we must deal with... In this reality live Israeli Jews, Israeli Muslims, Israeli Christians, and Israeli atheists, including Palestinians, Europeans, Asians, Arabs, and Africans... Realism does not mean surrender nor forgetting... Rather, it means full awareness and understanding of the enemy's front composition so we know how to deal with this reality if we want to change it from within and outside!
The user of the three epithets—Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli—as synonymous with the enemy commits grave errors: historical, political, ethical, and strategic mistakes... Mistakes for which the Palestinian people pay a heavy daily price and inflict irreparable harm on the Arab nation for decades.
And to avoid prolonging, I will show you with some examples the sterility of this confusion and the extent and magnitude of the harm we inflict on our nation and history due to our ignorance... This confusion is a blatant expression of weakness within us and a loss of political and ethical compass:
What does it mean when a politician or media person addresses the occupying enemy as 'the Jews'?
First of all, it confirms the Zionist false claim that followers of Judaism worldwide are a people!
Since its first congress, the Zionist movement has tried to establish what is anthropologically wrong and a distinctly racist orientation, as scientifically proven and clarified by Israeli Jewish professor Shlomo Sand in his famous book 'The Invention of the Jewish People'... Followers of Judaism are Arabs, Europeans, Americans, Indians, Africans, and belong to the peoples of the countries where they live and descend from for thousands of years... So what is the interest of the Arab, Palestinian politician, media, and academic in this erroneous generalization? It is nothing but populism, blind racism, and direct support for colonial Zionist thought.
And assuming mistakenly that Jews are a 'people' like the Egyptian, German, or Japanese peoples... How can we generalize that they are all enemies and occupiers? Are all Arabs angels? Are all Muslims honorable and patriotic?
What about the millions of Jews who do not recognize Israel as their state and remain in their countries and communities worldwide? What about the thousands who support the Palestinian people's right to achieve their destiny? What do we say about Felicia Langer, the Israeli Jewish lawyer who defended hundreds of political prisoners in occupation prisons and headed the European coalition supporting Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons... This lawyer who trained dozens of Palestinian lawyers defending prisoners?
What do we say about journalists Gideon Levy and Amira Hass, Israeli Jews, who write daily in Hebrew newspapers about Zionist occupation crimes and expose state terrorism worldwide?
What do we say about the women of B'Tselem, the Israeli Jewish organization, who have been tirelessly exposing the brutal acts of occupation soldiers at checkpoints in occupied Palestine for years?
What do we say about these Israeli Jews in Breaking the Silence, who document Zionist army crimes in occupied Palestine and publish their reports worldwide to reveal that the crimes of the occupying Zionist state are systematic crimes against a defenseless people?
What do we say about the young men and women of Zochrot, the Israeli Jewish organization, which has worked for years to expose Zionist acts of erasing Palestinian landmarks in occupied Palestine of 1948 by changing village and site names?
What do we say about the thousands of Jews in the global organization 'The Jewish Voice for Peace in the Middle East,' who work day and night alongside Palestinian communities in Europe and America and with global solidarity movements for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and refugee return, and who resist the idea of the Jewish people?
What do we say about the group Youth 66, Israeli Jews, who recently sent an open letter to the occupation prime minister and defense minister, published in Hebrew press, refusing to enlist in the occupation army, which they described as racist and fascist?
What do we say about Jewish writers, scholars, and figures like Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé, Rolf Fregger, Baren Boim, Norman Finkelstein, Rainer Wendt Bernstein, Fani Razin, Miko Bild, and dozens of others who write and lecture worldwide exposing the apartheid regime in occupied Palestine?
What do we say about the organization of religious Jewish men who oppose the state of Israel? What do we say about the Samaritan Jews in Nablus who demanded Palestinian citizenship and oppose the idea of the Zionist state and the Jewish people?
Building the racist political Islamic discourse by mixing what is Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist is a free service to the occupation and support for Zionist crimes against the Palestinian people and the Arab nation... This blind destructive discourse covers up the history of Arabs and Muslims who lived for centuries in peace, security, and brotherhood with other religions... This is a falsification of the history of an ancient nation...
This racist discourse planted in the minds of Arab youth who take to demonstrations supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people while shouting the Nazi slogan 'Death to the Jews'... They ignorantly encourage European Jews to immigrate to Palestine...
Who truly benefits from this confusion, contempt, and ignorance? And who ultimately pays the heavy price?
