Misconceptions And Myths About The Israeli Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli Palestinian conflict is always present in the media, but how much do you know about it?  Everyone usually has an opinion about the conflict, but most people in the west know very little about what really is going on in that part of the world. In order to understand the problem we have to clear up some misconception and expose some myths that are usually associated with it.

Jews and Muslims Hate Each Other

A common misconception is that Jews and Muslims hate each other. The conflict is rather a political one. As a matter of fact, Muslims and Jews lived in a remarkable peace together up until the creation of Israel in 1948. Before the creations of Israel, Muslims and Jews lived side by side. Jews didn’t exist in the holy land only, but rather thousands lived in Morocco and other Muslim countries with their Muslims neighbors. As a matter of fact, many immigrated to Muslim countries escaping the European Christian persecution. The Problem only escalated when European Jewish Immigrants came to the holy lands as mass immigration from Europe increased. One can clearly see this in the Israeli demographic who look nothing like middle easterners, not even like the Jews that already existed in the Middle East. While many Americans think this is a religious conflict as portrayed in the media, the issue is associated with nationalism. Devout orthodox Jews oppose the state of Israel and make it clear that the Zionist political movement hijacked their religion to generate sympathy. Truth be told, People behind the creation of Israel are secular rather than religious Jews. Israel was recently named ” the gayest country in the Middle East” due to its high rate of homosexuality and secularism. So, while people think this is about a Jewish state, Israel remains a very secular country.

 Israel Is The Underdog Fighting Strong Arab Countries

One of the widely repeated statement in the west is that Israel is a victim fighting Arab countries surrounding it from all directions. This victim narrative works very well for Israeli public relations in the West. While it is true Israel is surrounded by Arab countries, It is very important to know that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. Israel’s military might is bigger than all Arab countries combined. While Israel is equipped with Modern and highly advanced American weaponry, Most Arab countries have a military technology that’s at least 20 to 40 years old. According to the Guardian Israel posses an estimated 80 nuclear warheads. Many Arab countries suffer economic issues which make them incapable of engaging in any wars. Israel, however, enjoys American financial support that exceeds 3 billion dollars a year according to the business insider report. As you can see, Israel is not only powerful military but financially with the Support of the most powerful nation on earth. To describe Israel as a victim is a result of the invasion of the American mind with deliberate false journalism.

Arabs Are Anti-Semites

Another major misconception is Arabs are antisemites or have anti semitic sentiments. The phrase anti-semitism has somehow become associated to the Jewish people only. The first thing that comes to mind when we hear “anti-semitic sentiments” is the Jewish people. What most people don’t know however, is that Arabs as well are Semites. No one denies that the Jewish people suffered a lot, but it should be known that throughout history they suffered by the hands of Christians and Europeans not Muslims. In terms of language, Arabic is a semitic language and shares a lot with Hebrew. Moreover, the principles of the Islamic religion shares more with the Jewish faith than it does with the Christian faith. Even in terms of Attire, orthodox Jews and Muslims dress modestly than their Christian counterparts. In brief, it is neither linguistically nor logically accurate to describe Arabs as anti-semites because Arabs are themselves Semites.

 Israel Has The Right To Exist Is The Same As Saying Jews Have The Right To Exist

Israel has the right to exist: in the minds of many people this translates: Jews have the right to exist. These two statements are not the same. What the west doesn’t understand is that Muslims and Arabs differentiate between Israel and Jews. Israel is founded by a Zionist secular political movement, Jews are just people that follow the Jewish religion. Muslims like many orthodox Jews believe that Zionists hijacked the religion of the Jewish people to generate sympathy for their cause. And since the holocaust is such a tender spot in many people’s hearts, they automatically think that Israel represents Judaism. So, to clear things up, Jews existed and coexisted with Muslims and Christians in the holy lands before the creation of Israel in 1948. This coexistence changed gradually because the Zionist Immigrants from Europe wanted Palestine for themselves. Even though Arabs were the Majority and owned most of the lands, they now have lost most of their lands to Israeli settlements that are growing every day. In other words when Muslims hear Israel has the right to exist it only means one thing” Israel has the right to steal Arab and Muslim lands.   

God Promised The Land To The Jews So All Other Races Should Leave

From Christian and Jewish perspective it sounds like god pinky promised his “favorite people” this huge land in the Middle East. It doesn’t matter if there are any people living in it.  Disturbing as it is, not too many discuss this in the Media. It sounds like whether you believe in the Bible or you don’t, everyone has to abide by it. Can you Imagine If the Muslim holy book promises Muslims a certain land? What would you do if a certain sect or group today get together and claim God promised certain areas in the world? It is unbelievable that so many people especially Christians turn a blind eye on how many palestinians die everyday because they believe GOD GAVE THE LAND TO THE JEWS, no one else but the Jews. What kind of a God promises a certain group a certain land? What kind of a God favors a Certain group over others? Whatever it is, it must be an unjust God, it must be an unwise God. It is no surprise that Christians who represents the West support Israel, they support Israel because they believe that with the creation of Israel Jesus will come. For both Jews and Christian, the creation of Israel is also a sign that GOD fulfilled his promise and that the prophecy has come true. To sum it up, nothing will ever convince Jews and Christians that Israel is committing any wrongdoing because they see what Israel is doing as blessed by God.

All Jewish People Support Israel

The media seems to always present the Jewish people as unified and supportive of Israel’s actions. What the media does very well at is the fact that it doesn’t cover the stories of thousands of other Jews who not only criticize Israel but oppose Israel as an occupying secular movement. These anti-Zionist Jews claim that Israel is using their religion and their history as an excuse to steal land from indigenous people. At first the phrase anti-Zionist Jews may sound like a contradiction, There is however, thousands of orthodox Jews who opposed and still oppose the creation of the state of Israel. These are native Jews who lived in the holy lands before the mass immigration of European Jews. An example of Jewish groups that oppose Israel we find Neturei-Karta which was created before the creation of Israel. Members of these groups have left Israel over the years because of persecution and harassment by Israeli government. These groups oppose Israel because Ideologically they believe that a sovereign Jewish state is not is  correlation with Jewish law.  They believe that a Jewish state will be established without human intervention or war which is the exact opposite thing Israel is doing today. Orthodox Jews experience harassment  if they criticize their government. Such harassment have led these groups to create movements like Jews for Justice for Palestinians, International Jewish Anti-Zionist, Jewdas and many more.

Our American Public opinion

The American public opinion favors Israel for two reasons: The first reason has to do with the public, who is being deceived about what’s going on.  According to BBC just in 2014 between 8 July and 27 August, the death toll has reached more than 2,100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while Israel has lost 73 most of whom are soldiers. A quick google search will reveal that almost over a million Palestinians have been killed since the creation of Israel and that number doesn’t exceed 25 thousand Israelis.  This is not to say that Israelis’ lives are less important, but it should clear up the misconception that Israel is the victim whose existence is endangered. Our media except a few independent networks, always try to paint Israel as a victim defending itself against Palestinian rockets raining down on its neighborhoods. The question they never ask is why are they being attacked?

Whatever the reasons are, the sad truth is people die regardless of the numbers from both sides. According to the UN Almost 5 million Palestinians are classified and registered as refugees in Jordan and surrounding Arab countries.  These are Palestinians and their descendants who fled their homes escaping israeli ethnic cleansing.  The second reasons for the west’s favorable view of Israel stems from worldwide sympathy the Jewish people have gained following their persecution in Nazi Germany, and other places in Europe. While the Jews definitely suffered under the hand of Europeans, the Zionist secular movement that established Israel has done a good job hijacking the suffering of the Jewish people and Jewish religion.  They hijacked the Jewish religion and put its people in danger to take land from other people to establish an only Jewish state, which nobody somehow finds to be a racist ideology.

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