Recognising a Palestinian 'state' is wrong
This isn't about freeing Palestine, justice, peace or resistance but a sort of Islamic Supremacism and, associated with this, the hatred of Jews
When it comes to what’s happening in Gaza, I can’t get some images out of my mind. Whenever I see some politician or supposed ‘expert’ talking about genocide, into my mind pops the pictures of the Bibas family with their two sons, Ariel and Kfir. I know many thousands have died and that, as war always is, it is terrible, but those two innocent kids give the lie to the motivations of Hamas and other Gaza militant groups. All the talk about resistance and imagined historical wrongs pale beside the kidnap and murder of two little children whose only crime was to be Jewish. And, because of that crime, I don’t believe a single word from Hamas and its many apologists across the world.
On 21st September, the leaders of Britain, Australia, France and Canada announced the formal recognition of the Palestinian ‘state’. This announcement, wrapped up in words about peace, represents the most abject appeasement of violent Islamist ideology imaginable. Worse, at least in Britain, the main purpose isn’t to try and conclude the long sad story of Israel and Palestine but to placate the voices of militant Islam in our country. As many have observed, beneath this supplication to voices supporting Jew-hate, violence and Islamic supremacy lies, at least in part, a cynical electoral calculation: for Labour (and probably Labor, Liberal and En Marche too) Muslims are a vital voting bloc now under threat from independent, far-left and Green politicians exploiting that Jew-hate and ideas of Islamic supremacy.
A day later and Labour MPs with large Muslim populations in their constituencies appeared clucking around the man who masquerades as the ‘ambassador’ for the non-existent Palestinian state having spent a lifetime living well in Western capitals where he acts as an apologist for suicide bombings, murders and terrorism. All this pulls us away from the genuine plight of Palestinians by framing that plight as the result of deliberate policy perpetrated by Israel, the Jewish lobby and America. This, like the idea that there’s an ongoing ‘genocide’, is a lie. And these lies, probably by intent, gloss over the reality that, while Israel isn’t entirely innocent, much of Palestinian suffering is a consequence of actions by the PLO, Fatah and most egregiously Hamas. Central to these actions is the celebration of martyrdom and the raising up of terrorists as heroes of the people, all supported by what are called ‘Pay for Slay’ payments to the families of terrorists and suicide bombers. When tens of millions in your economy depend on terrorism, is it any surprise that this activity persists?
In understanding why what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is such a tragedy, instead of starting with Israel, we need instead to start with ideas of Islamic Supremacy inherent in the ideology of both Fatah and Hamas. In simple terms a large part of the Muslim world cannot countenance the idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East because it is an affront to their idea of Islam as a faith. It is this Islamic Supremacy that leads to arguments that Jews are not semites, that the ancient history of Israel is myth not truth, and that the State of Israel displaced a previous Palestinian state. It suits the idea that Israel is part of the Muslim world to focus on the actions, perceived and real, of the modern Zionist state. And, in doing so, to use the descendents of Palestinians displaced in 1948 as perpetual victims, as people deprived of their birthright. Elsewhere tears may still be shed over displacement but the people involved, nearly six million hindus and sikhs who left what is now Pakistan, nearly seven million Germans displaced by the creation of modern Poland after WWII, have moved on. This is not the case for the descendents of 700,000 displaced Palestinians.
As the Hamas terrorists poured into Israel on October 7th 2023, we know from contemporary reports that, while the idea of resistance and rebellion was there, much of the motivation for the murder, torture, rape and kidnap was simple hatred of Jews: "Look at how many I killed with my own hands, your son killed Jews!" screams one terrorist down the phone to his mother. These levels of hatred aren’t the result of isolated incels but the outcome from decades of propaganda, lies and misinformation about Jews and Israel. Over 6,000 Gazans poured into Israel on that terrible day, not to fight an army but, for most of them, simply to kill as many Jews as they could. Yet here in Britain we’re told almost daily that these were acts of resistance, that Israel by simply existing brought the attacks on themselves, and that any response from the government of Israel is disproportionate, targeting civilians, and designed to eliminate Palestinians.
The reality, at least for the foreseeable future, is that there isn’t a peaceable solution to the situation in Israel and Palestine. Neither party is really interested in a two-state solution (the last chance for that went when Arafat preferred to launch the intifada rather than agree the deal brokered by Bill Clinton) so the interests of Britain are not served by granting Palestine a statehood without government, borders or an agreed polity. Indeed, the likely outcome here is that recognising Palestine dumps more oil onto the fires by valorising the more violent elements of Palestinian culture as represented by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Meanwhile the Islamic Supremacists will continue to claim there is a Quranic justification for Muslim control of the Holy Land. In truth Western interests are best served by doing what we’ve done for decades, making sure that Israel is able to defend itself, protect its borders and provide a home for seven million Jews.
To return to where we started, with two innocent kids kidnapped and murdered simply for being Jewish. That so many Muslims, and others, seem not to see the sheer evil of that act must give us pause for thought and cause for concern. Each week across the West mobs wrapped in keffiyah and waving the flag of Palestine while screaming ‘Free Palestine’ continue to plague our cities. And, as the rage at Jews and the celebration of Hamas violence extends, the result is:
“A man has been arrested and charged after a fatal shooting at a US country club while a wedding was taking place. Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, was killed and two other people were shot before the suspect was taken into custody, authorities said. Witnesses said someone struck the gunmen with a chair after he said "free Palestine" and opened fire at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua…”
Violence begets violence and those inclined to evil will always seek to use a “noble cause” to validate their violence. We should not tolerate the manner in which weekly marches in places like Leeds act to intimidate a minority group and where one of its organisers, now Deputy Leader of the Green Party, helped target a Jewish university chaplain:
“...the now deputy leader of The Green Party called the Jewish chaplain at Leeds University, Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, 'creep', a 'low-life' and an 'animal'. Ali also falsely claimed that Rabbi Deutsch had tried to kill women and children in Gaza. Unsurprisingly, the Rabbi and his family were forced into hiding after this attack after receiving a large number of death threats.”
In the end the events of October 2023 were not about freeing Palestine, justice, peace or resistance, they were motivated by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamic Supremacism and, associated with this, the hatred of Jews.
Brilliant piece Simon, thank you.
People in the West need to understand the concept of taqiyya. Sure, there might be a legitimate case for self-preservation through the moderation of actual beliefs to prevent persecution, but one needs to understand that even modern English translations of the Quran have additions to make Islam appear less militant and intolerant.
This is an English version of Surah 9:29 which remains loyal to the text and its meaning, reflected in numerous less publicised Hadiths: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."
This is the softened and sanitised version: "Fight those from among the People of the Book who believe not in God and the Last Day, and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, and who follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the jizyah with a willing hand, being humbled."
The other issue is contextual apologia. Many modern moderate Muslims claim the Surah was revealed in a defensive context, protecting Muslims from Christian aggression. This ignores Islam's brutal history of conquest and is a fiction. The evidence suggests very few Christians converted out of genuine theological conviction in the 7th century. Christianity’s deep roots, institutional strength, and view of Islam both a rival faith and an outright heresy made voluntary, heartfelt conversions rare. Demographic studies estimate that Christian populations remained the majority in places like Egypt and Syria well into the 9th–10th centuries.
The persecution of Christians and Jews by Islam is an old, old story. “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahud, jaysh Muhammad sawfa ya’ud” – “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return” is a common chant at anti-Israel protests. It was heard during the jubilant protests in London on October 8th. Khaybar refers to a historical Jewish subjugation with targeted executions and the enslavement of women and children by a Muslim army.
This is not to deny that there aren't large majority tolerant populations of moderate Muslims in the West, merely that literalist interpretations, more loyal to the original intent of Islam, will always emerge amongst more devout and fundamentalist Muslims in any Muslim community. It's an intransigent theological problem, not a matter of extremist interpretations.
Most Western audiences remain completely oblivious to the Islamic doctrine of abrogation (naskh), which prioritizes later Quranic verses, giving Surah 9 (At-Tawbah) natural dominance due to its late revelation (630–631 CE) and militant content (e.g., 9:29’s call for jihad and jizyah). Although there are modern reforming counter arguments and many moderate Muslims who are unaware of the theological structure of their faith, naskh assures the theological dominance of more militant interpretations.