It is time to reject the term 'pro-Palestinian'.
“Pro-Palestinian” is like the term “family values” in the 1980s and 1990s. It sounds harmless. But in reality, it is not.
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This is a guest essay written by Pat Johnson of Pat’s Substack.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
Since October 7th, there have been weekly rallies for Israeli hostages outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Hardly an event can go by without at least one passerby going into paroxysms of rage at the idea that we are holding a vigil for captives. Drivers roll down their windows to scream obscenities or, more often, simply “Free Palestine!” which is fine, I guess, but they do so with an emotion that seems far beyond rational.
I have watched people descend into absolute madness at the sight of a few Israeli flags. During a march down Robson Street, a woman standing on the second floor of a restaurant became the Tasmanian Devil, waving her arms, shrieking at the top of her lungs, apparently out of her mind that a group of Zionists had interrupted her meal.
Correct me if I am wrong, but this level of intensity is unknown in any other cause. People do not even bother protesting against Uyghurs in Chinese concentration camps or half a million Syrians killed in a civil war in which their government targets its own citizens.
Even the Russian attack on Ukraine does not elicit this degree of passion. Actual Ukrainians do not seem to be as visibly incensed about the situation in Ukraine as people with no familial connection to “Palestine” — or possibly even the ability to find the place on a map — demonstrate on this issue.
This is not a quantifiable assertion, but the degree of passion, unique to this one issue (not coincidentally involving Jews) is proof enough to me that something irrational is at work.
The closest parallel to this manic obsession I can recall in my rather long history of activism is the unhinged hysteria of antigay activists of a few decades ago. Even then, though, the religious fundamentalists and political extremists who seemed so threatened by my identity and existence did so from a theological or ideological foundation.
Looking into their eyes, I could see a modicum of sincerity. That’s not what I see in the eyes of “pro-Palestinian” activists. It’s pure, irrational hatred unrooted in any rational foundation.
This led me to consider the parallels and differences between the “family values” activists of days gone by and the “pro-Palestinian” activists of today.
“Family values” and “Free Palestine” are both deceptive. They are hatred disguised as positivity, upbeat language used to couch ideas fraught with intolerance.
In some cases, members of either group may believe they are advancing a positive agenda. But the substantive outcomes for the people on the receiving end — the Jews (because they are almost all Jews) who have “Free Palestine!” screamed in their faces, and the LGBTQ+ people who had “family values” waved at us to neutralize the legitimacy of our identities — is much the same.
Let’s not kids ourselves. People shouting “Free Palestine!” are having precisely no impact on life for Palestinians. What they are doing is making life difficult for Jews in Canada (or wherever).
I cannot prove that this mania is evidence of anti-Jewish animus. Those who exhibit the hysteria cannot prove that it is not. And none of us are any further ahead. But anyways: All of this raises a major problem for we who support Israel and are allies to Jewish people. We do not have a slogan with anywhere near the power of “Free Palestine!”
Fighting antisemitism, while a positive thing to do, is (linguistically) a negative act. We are opposing something bad, rather than endorsing something good. In fact, “anti-antisemitism” is a double negative. Of course, a double-negative is a positive. But that does not make it easier to chant.
Which raises another question: Is chanting a constructive strategy?
Probably not.
But in the current climate of short attention spans and shouted arguments, the absence of bite-sized messages puts us at a massive disadvantage.
The most infuriating thing is that the “Free Palestine!” chant, while so succinct, is profoundly disingenuous. An independent “Palestine” would almost certainly be among the least free places on Earth.
A snappy slogan that is a lie is still a snappy slogan.
Likewise with a bunch of the other lies and deceitful lines the anti-Israel crowd employs.
“End the occupation now!” is a snappy slogan that denies the reality of the conflict. The occupation exists because of Palestinian violence — not the other way around. When Israelis believe Palestinians are prepared to live in peace, the occupation will end.
Until then: No peace? No “Palestine.” So their chant is directly counterproductive. Of course, they do not care. Because being constructive is not their goal. Their goal is denouncing Israel.
“Apartheid!” “Ethnic cleansing!” “Genocide!” These obscene libels are likewise not aimed at advancing a productive future for Palestinians. Their goal is to isolate and demonize Israel. It does nothing to improve life for Palestinians.
This is why the term “pro-Palestinian” (almost) always deserves scoff-quotes.
Why don’t pro-Israel and pro-Jewish voices have a snappy message?
For one thing, Jews tend to be cerebral. (It is a stereotype, but it is also true). Shouting slogans is not really a Jewish thing.
I cannot help thinking, nevertheless, that this is one big reason why we are at a major disadvantage among the masses of ordinary people trying to wrap their heads around the issues at play. They scream “Free Palestine!” and we say, “Well, you know, it’s sort of complex. In the time of Abraham …”
While I do not have an easy answer to the problem we pro-Israel voices face, I do have a corrective for one of our core messaging errors.
I frequently hear Jewish friends say they were made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe by a “pro-Palestinian” event or some “pro-Palestinian” sticker, graffiti, or social media post.
At the risk of adding burden to friends who are already under attack, I think we need to ask them to be clear.
If the situation that made our Jewish friends uncomfortable was actually “pro-Palestinian,” they probably would not have been uncomfortable. It is a problem because it is not “pro-Palestinian.” It is anti-Israel.
And, even if it is not antisemitic, it is probably an unsafe place for Zionists, which makes it an unsafe place for probably 90 percent of Jews, so it amounts to the same damn thing.
“Pro-Palestinian” is like the term “family values” in the 1980s and 1990s. It sounds harmless.
But “family values” was a bludgeon to attack LGBTQ+ people and others who did not fit the narrow definitions of what these people thought a family should be. Put mildly, it did nothing to strengthen families, reduce divorce or have any other impacts presumably “pro-family” people advocated.
“Pro-Palestinian” is on par. It does not advance life for Palestinians. It attacks Israel, without advancing any constructive solutions.
In decades past, we rejected the term “family values” and called it what is was: anti-gay hate.
We need to do that with the term “pro-Palestinian.”
When we say we were made uncomfortable or unsafe by “pro-Palestinian” expressions, it makes us sound intolerant.
They are the intolerant ones. If they weren’t, we would not feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Right?
While I cogitate on coming up with snappy slogans, let’s all take a good first step: Stop calling them “pro-Palestinian.”
They are anti-Israel.
“The anti-Israel / anti-Jew hate speech made me uncomfortable.” Simple.
Btw, something I noticed for years and years but recently changing. The label “Jew” had been used derogatorily for so long that Jews were always saying “I’m Jewish” rather than “I’m a Jew”. Now I hear people proudly saying “Jew”
Well said. Since the protests began I used the terms "anti-Israel protestors" or "Pro-Hamas militants" to describe these gatherings of paid activists, anti-Semitic orcs and drugged-out losers who crawled out of their parents' basements to screech lies and attack Jews. Their kefiyahs are the 21st century version of Hitler’s brownshirts. Shame on Amazon and other vendors who sell them, although I understand some creative souls have turned them into “pooper scoopers” for their dogs.
The good news is that many of these protests have finally been disbanded by police. And they can no longer pass themselves off as righteous events organized by sincere students. For example, in a major court ruling in Virginia, a Richmond judge ordered that a so-called “pro-Palestinian” group - American Muslims for Palestinians - with alleged ties to the terrorist organization Hamas must turn over closely guarded financial documents. This represents a significant setback for American Muslims for Palestine, a Virginia-based nonprofit organization that could now be compelled to turn over sensitive financial records, including donor information it has long successfully shielded from public view.
If Israel’s enemies have been winning the PR war, I think they have overplayed their hand. As the presidential election heats up we will be hearing less about supporting not-so-innocent Palestinians and more about removing the influence of terrorism in our schools and other institutions.