A Response to “Whose Land is it Anyway”
I am republishing in full an unedited response to the PVHS yearbook editorial entitled “Whose Land is it Anyway.” This response was written by PVPUSD alum Heidi Basch-Harod:
A Response to "Whose Land Is it Anyway?"
"Whose Land is it Anyway?", an editorial essay in the Palos Verdes High School 2023-24 Yearbook, lacks critical context and promotes harmful misinformation jeopardizing the safety and security of Jewish students and the community-at-large. While yearbooks in the Palos Verdes Unified School District do include editorial sections that often highlight significant world events of that year, this should not be used as a platform to promote any form of bias. This yearbook essay illustrates the dire need for a district-wide implementation of education, workshops, and training for teachers and students alike, specifically focusing on the oldest hatred of the world: antisemitism.
According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), “antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions, and religious facilities.” Looking at this editorial through the lens of the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism, which has been ratified by the Los Angeles City Council and the United States Government, the editorial doubles down on omission of facts, resulting in several manifestations of antisemitic language.
Contrary to the editorial’s false claim, the "seeds of Israel" were sown not in the 1910s but over 3,000 years ago, when the Jewish people became a distinct ethnic and religious group in the land of Israel. This is a historical and archeological fact, not a religious belief. The modern State of Israel's existence is based on Jewish rights to self-determination in their ancestral home – a right all peoples are entitled to under international law.
The article frames Israel's establishment in 1948 as an original sin that "paved the way for the emergence of Hamas." In fact, the leaders of the Zionist movement who became the State of Israel’s first leaders agreed to a two-state solution in 1947. Palestinian and other Arab leaders rejected this U.N. partition plan and then launched a war to seize all of the land instead. Those leaders, including the Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, espoused genocidal racism against Jews - the same type of violent extremism and antisemitism that has always fueled Hamas. Al-Husseini and other Arab leaders, admirers and supporters of Hitler, had great plans to help Hitler carry out the genocide of the Jews in the Middle East and North Africa. On that note, the Holocaust is not mentioned in this essay at all.
The yearbook piece claims that millions have been displaced in the conflict, but fails to articulate the full picture of the Arabs and Jews who were never again to return to their homes, property, and livelihood. In 1947, multi-state Arab aggression against Israel resulted in a shattering war for the Palestinian Arab community: between 600,000-750,000 persons (of a total 1.2 million) either fled or were expelled to neighboring states, or the remaining parts of British Mandate Palestine occupied by Arab armies (the West Bank by Jordan, the Gaza Strip by Egypt). Roughly 150,000 Arabs remained in what is today Israel. Today they have a population of just over two million people with full rights and citizenship. Those that remained in the West Bank have grown in size to over three million. Gaza’s population is approximately two million.
As for the one million Jews in Arab countries (Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, the Jordanian-held part of Jerusalem and West Bank, Tunisia, and Morocco), nearly all of them either fled or were expelled between 1948 and the end of the 1960s.
The essay makes the claim that “Israel has forcibly annexed 4 million acres of Palestinian land and systematically destroyed over 530 Palestinian communities, resulting in mass displacement and loss of life.” It conveniently omitted the War of 1967 in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq mobilized opposite Israel’s borders to destroy it. It also leaves out that from 1948-1967 Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Jordan occupied the West Bank. Jordan also occupied East Jerusalem and the Old City. There is no mention of the 1956 War with Egypt, the War of 1973 (Yom Kippur War) with Egypt and Syria, the historical and ongoing attacks of Hezbollah from Lebanon, Iran’s enduring commitment to destroy Israel, directly or via proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi rebel group).These are the wars Israel fought and is fighting that led to increasing its borders for the security and safety of its citizens.
It is free speech and appropriate to criticize a country’s policies. Israelis, like Americans, are plenty critical of government policies. This essay is not that. Rather, it is an erasure of the Jewish people’s history. With increasing incidents of antisemitism experienced by students across the Palos Verdes Peninsula, this incident should serve as the tipping point. Enough is enough. It is time for the leadership of the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District and the administrators of the schools to work in cooperation with appropriate educational partners, to implement educational initiatives that address the issue of antisemitism, Jewish history, and misinformation.
To read the full essay by the author and published in the yearbook, click here. To read a full rebuttal of this essay, scan the QR code provided.
Heidi Basch-Harod serves on the Board of Directors of 360Perspectives, a newly established non-profit organization whose mission is to work with communities and schools to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate by building empathy and connection through the power of storytelling and education. She graduated from the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District in 1999 (PVPHS).
See below for a thorough review of the essay, “Whose Land Is It Anyway?”, with manifestations of antisemitic language included.
The definition of antisemitism that is used here, and that which has been ratified by the Los Angeles City Council, the United States Government, and – hopefully soon – by the State of California and the Palos Verdes Unified School District, is the following definition adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA):
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions, and religious facilities.
Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
Using these contemporary examples of antisemitism, the narrative below deconstructs the yearbook editorial. The term “manifestation” is used to identify for the reader antisemitic concepts culled from the yearbook piece, which follows commentary that intends to provide context and historical perspective.
Anchored in the above definition of antisemitism and its manifestations, let’s begin.
The question of Palestine stands as one of the most enduring and contentious issues of the 21st century, stretching back to the 1940s and continuing to wreak havoc, displacing millions and claiming countless lives today.
This first sentence incoherently and inaccurately conflates a history of a conflict that did not begin in the 1940s, but rather in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The question of Palestine was answered in 1947 with a partition plan, adopted by a two-thirds majority of the United Nations General Assembly, stipulating two states for two peoples, Jewish and Arab. The Zionist leadership accepted the partition plan. The Palestinian Arabs and neighboring Arab states did not, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War.
The Palestinian Arab community was shattered by the war: between 600,000-750,000 persons (of a total 1.2 million) either fled or were expelled to neighboring states or the remaining parts of Palestine occupied by Arab armies (the West Bank by Jordan, the Gaza Strip by Egypt). Roughly 150,000 Arabs remained in what is today Israel. Today they have a population of just over 2 million people with full rights and citizenship. West Bank Palestinians today number approximately three million. Gaza’s population is approximately two million.
As for the one million Jews in Arab countries (Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, the Jordanian-held part of Jerusalem and the West Bank, Tunisia, and Morocco), nearly all of them either fled or were expelled between 1948 and the end of the 1960s.
I hope you can appreciate the significance of what the author has left out when referring to the displacement of millions and countless lives claimed.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
The land of Israel-Palestine historically has been embroiled in conflict, owing much of its turmoil to Jerusalem – a focal point for all Abrahamic religions, however, it was only relatively recently that the debate of Israel versus Palestine catapulted into global consciousness.
Of course, one can go back to the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the 7th century, and then the Crusades, to show that Jerusalem was in fact a focal point of conflict and identification. For the reference to the more ‘recent’ debate “of Israel versus Palestine” catapulting it into global consciousness, is the author referring to the fact that the status of Jerusalem has been an ongoing sticking point in any attempts at negotiated peace leading to a two-state solution?
Regardless, Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Jews are an ethno-national religious minority indigenous to the Middle East, with a constant presence in what today includes the modern State of Israel. We practice Judaism, we are not just a religion.
There is no manifestation of antisemitism in this sentence, but the statement is problematic and nonsensical, while trying to read as intellectual.
Prior to World War II, Palestine, under loose British control, boasted a diverse population steeped in Abrahamic belief, primarily Muslim thanks to previous Ottoman control.
British control was not “loose”, lasting from 1917-1948. The author is referring to the millet system of the Ottoman Empire and dhimmitude whereby Christian and Jewish minorities (both considered to be “People of the Book”) were allowed to live in relative safety as subjects of the Muslim Ottoman Sultan. This “diverse population” was subject to the “jizya” tax simply because they were non-Muslims. At times Jews had to wear certain color hats or articles of clothing to show they were Jews. They could not ride on horses so as never to be taller than Muslims. It was a conditional safety at best.
For hundreds of years, until World War I, the Land of Israel/Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Following its defeat by the British, Ottoman lands were divided into multiple entities by the victorious Allied powers. The territory that is today Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, plus Transjordan (today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) came under a British Mandate. Jordan was removed from the Mandate in 1921 when the British installed Emir (later King Abdullah I, a Hashemite prince from what is today Saudi Arabia). He promised to be an ally of the British and they needed local legitimacy to maintain their control of the territory that linked them to the Jewel of the British Empire - India.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
The seeds of Israel were not sown until the 1910s with the Balfour Declaration in Great Britain.
The Jewish people have a connection to the Land of Israel dating back over 3000 years. This was not conjured up in the 1910s by the British. Every Muslim, Christian, and Jew knows this because we share scripture and books of prophets. To be sure, the British played a key role in assisting the Zionist movement, but it is disingenuous at best to speak only of Britain’s actions while ignoring the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land and aspirations for self-determination.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Britain sought a solution to what they described as the “Jewish problem,” simultaneously sparking the rise of early Zionism within European Jewish communities.
Zionism, the political ideology that outlines the Jewish right to self-determination was founded by Theodor Herzl in the late 1800s. There was also a movement in the Russian Empire to return to Zion (Jerusalem) in response to the ongoing and worsening pogroms instigated by the Russian Czar to distract his subjects from their dissatisfaction with his rule and corruption. Zionism was not sparked by the British; rather it was a political ideology that came into being when empires were breaking apart and the idea of nationalism and the right to self-determination for self-defined peoples became the zeitgeist.
Manifestation: Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews. [Referring to the phrase the “Jewish problem”.]
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
This confluence of anti-Semitism and Zionism facilitated large waves of migration to Palestine, a trend that only exploded during and after World War II.
If you were to study the five waves of Jewish immigration (aliyah) to what is today the modern State of Israel, indeed anti-semitism and Zionism facilitated these waves. As we know, the Holocaust, carried out by Hitler’s Nazi regime, began after it came to power in 1933 and lasted through 1945. “A trend that only exploded during and after World War II,” was due to the Holocaust. This would be where mention of the Jewish genocide that occurred during World War II would have been useful.
We mostly hear that six million Jews and seven million others, in Europe, perished in the Holocaust. However, the influence of Nazi Germany spread throughout the Middle East as well. In this time period, Vichy France (read Nazi-allied France) ruled Tunisia and Morocco. Consequently, there were also concentration camps in North Africa where Jews were rounded up.
There are other incidents of violence against and expulsion of Jews from Arab lands in this time period. For example, in 1941, the Farhud (Arabic for pogrom) of Baghdad occurred. Over two days of violence, rioters murdered between 150 and 180 Jews, injured 600 others, and raped an undetermined number of women. According to the official report of the commission investigating the incident, 128 Jews were killed, 210 were injured, and over 1,500 businesses and homes were damaged. Rioting ended at midday on Monday, June 2, 1941, when Iraqi troops entered Baghdad and reestablished order in the capital city. The then ruler of Iraq, a Nazi sympathizer, was very much carrying out Hitler’s work in Iraq. The “trend” was due to antisemitism in the Arab Muslim world and its amplification by Hitler and his Nazi regime.
Manifestation: Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
This trend, however, was vehemently opposed by the local Christians and Muslims who constituted as 90% of the population. They perceived the mass migration and the transfer of land as a blatant disregard for their presence, emblematic of Western arrogance. Thus the persistent conflict between Israel and Palestine can be traced back to this “original sin,” and the profound failure of British diplomacy in the Arab world.
There are two ways to interpret the term “original sin” in the section above. One is the reference to the establishment of the State of Israel, which marked the time period known as the Nakba for the Palestinians. The second interpretation is something much darker.
Jews have had a constant presence in the Land of Israel and what is today the modern State of Israel for over 3000 years. The relations between the Jews and Arabs in the land have shifted throughout Jewish history. In the time period ostensibly under discussion, based on the author’s use of the term “original sin”, it is likely that she’s referencing 1948 and the creation of the State of Israel. To that end, prior to this period land was purchased by Jews from absent Ottoman landowners. The majority of Palestinians on agricultural or pastoral land were farmers or shepherds – sharecroppers and tenants of land owned not by them. They were subsequently displaced by their landlords. In the context of the war that broke out in 1947 when the partition plan was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs, the amassing of land was a consequence of war prosecuted by the Arab nation-states.
By 1947, the Jewish population had increased to 35% of the total population in British Mandate Palestine. Due primarily to population growth, plus Arab migration into British Mandate Palestine as quality of life improved, the Arab population doubled between 1900-1948. By 1947, neither the Jews nor the Arabs trusted the British, who played both populations against each other as was their method of colonialism — to divide and conquer.
The tone of the editorial further contends that Israel was born in sin due to failures of British diplomacy in the Arab world. This reader interprets the author’s judgment of this historical period, during which Jews were escaping genocide in Europe and being expelled from their homes in Arab lands, as the fault of the Jews, when in fact migration patterns were a response to the Nazi genocide of the Jews and Arab antisemitism.
Manifestation: Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews. Referring to the only Jewish State as born of “original sin”.
Nevertheless, Israel's geopolitical significance has transcended its origins as a British miscalculation, evident by the fact that practically every nation in the world has seemingly taken a side.
Here again the author posits that Israel is a British construct and insinuates that it’s a mistake Britain wishes it had never made. Although Israel, in fact, was brought into the international community by a vote at the United Nations (as was an independent Palestine in 1947), this statement questions the legitimacy of Israel’s existence today. In fact, Israel has been a country and member of the international community for 76 years.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Perhaps most notably is the United States’ stance as a strong ally of Israel, funneling a grand total of $3 billion annually into the country– 99.7% of which is dedicated solely to its military. Additionally, Washington also provides large-scale political support to Israel, having used its United Nations Security Council veto power 42 times against resolutions condemning Israel, out of a total 83 times in which its veto has ever been used. However, this seemingly one-sided allyship is not a mistake. The position of Israel near martial hotspots such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran makes it an extremely strategic ally to Western powers alike. The billions of dollars worth in foreign aid to its military, as well, makes sense when considering the fact that Israel has essentially evolved into a de facto emergency American military outpost with the amount of aid it receives growing each year. Many Israeli politicians have actually spoken out against American aid, saying that Israel no longer needs it and that the relationship is harmful to the sovereignty of Israel as a nation.
This paragraph is also difficult to unpack. The United States actually gives more than $3b to Israel each year. It is now $3.3 billion, the bulk of which is delivered in coupons that can only be redeemed in the United States for defense systems, thereby all going back into the U.S. economy (the military industrial complex). Other allies in the region receive substantial aid packages as well, for example: Egypt ($1.4b) and Jordan ($1.6b).
On the topic of the United Nations, the international body notoriously condemns Israel more than any other country in the world. There is much to be said about this. UN human rights bodies repeatedly single out Israel while ignoring other states' malevolent behaviors and actions.
The author claims that “Israel has essentially evolved into a de facto emergency American military outpost with the amount of aid it receives growing each year,” yet there is nothing wrong with the United States establishing a close military alliance with Israel. The relationship is based on shared values, not realpolitik.
With no citation about Israeli politicians condemning US aid, it is difficult to approach this claim and it reeks of “tokenism”.
Manifestation: Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has forcibly annexed 4 million acres of Palestinian land and systematically destroyed over 530 Palestinian communities, resulting in mass displacement and loss of life.
This statement fails to mention the War of 1967 in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq mobilized opposite Israel’s borders to destroy it. It also omits that, from 1948-1967, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Jordan occupied the West Bank. Jordan also occupied East Jerusalem and the Old City, during which time Jews were not permitted to pray at the Jewish holy site of the Western Wall. In fact, from the 12th century when the Mugrahbi Quarter was built at the Western Wall by the Arab ruler of the time, Malik Al-Afdal, until Israel reclaimed the Old City in the 1967 War, housing existed nearly up to the Western Wall. Thus Jews had little to no access or space to worship.
The editorial characterizes Israel as an aggressor nation that, unprovoked, systematically sought to displace Palestinians and destroy their livelihoods. It omits the 1956 War with Egypt, the War of 1973 (Yom Kippur War) with Egypt and Syria, the attacks of Hezbollah from Lebanon, Iran’s enduring commitment to destroy Israel, directly or via proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi Rebel group). In an attempt to ensure the security and safety of its citizens, Israel has fought and continues to fight wars to defend its borders.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
This destabilization paved the way for the emergence of Hamas, a terrorist group committed to reclaiming Palestine through violent means.
Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. This movement was founded in Egypt in the 1920s. It is one of the most influential Islamist organizations in the world. Founded in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission is to Islamize society through the promotion of religious law, values, and morals. Though the leaders of Hamas are Palestinian they are not interested in a two-state solution. Hamas’ ideology is eliminationist and even genocidal - the 1988 Hamas charter dehumanizes Jews and views them as a threat to humanity. They seek to not only “reclaim” Palestine but any lands they believe belong to the Muslims. They are as vicious to Palestinians as they are to Israelis. They won an election in 2005 in Gaza and then proceeded to violently eject members of the opposition Palestinian faction - the Palestinian Authority (PA). There is an ongoing rivalry for leadership over the Palestinians by these two groups. Both are ruthless with each other. Hamas’ emergence is a much more complicated story that has as much to do with frustration with the PA as it does with not being able to defeat Israel and eradicate the only Jewish state.
The rise of Hamas came about in the late 1980s as an internal Palestinian political crisis in the face of a corrupt, self-serving Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO, which became the PA after it denounced the use of terrorism, also sought to destroy Israel through violent means.
The rise of Hamas occurred at the same time as the Oslo Accords – in the early 1990s – when the implementation of a two-state solution seemed closer than ever before. They reject a two-state solution. A major reason for the failure of the Oslo Accords was the repeated suicide bombings carried out by Hamas.
Manifestation: Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
On October 7, 2023, coinciding with a Jewish holiday, Hamas launched a coordinated assault, claiming the lives of 1,139 individuals, including 695 civilians. In retaliation, Israel declared a state of war and launched a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip. While Israel justifies its actions as self-defense, the ferocity and scope of the invasion have elicited international condemnation from bodies such as the United Nations and Amnesty International.
In this part of the yearbook editorial, the author states facts of the events of October 7. Of course, the numbers are inaccurate. Then she questions whether Israel’s right to self defense is justified because of the way it is prosecuting the war against Hamas. Although the United Nations and Amnesty International are known international entities that practice severe double standards on the State of Israel, they are presented here as the authority on how Israel is executing this war in real time and the arbiters of whether or not this is a just war.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
An estimated 28,000 Palestinians have died since the commencement of the operation, including 10,000 children and 7,000 women. The disproportionately high number of child casualties underscores the harrowing reality of life in Gaza, where militarization and instability deny many the opportunity to reach adulthood in the first place. Israel's bombardment has ravaged one-third of Gaza's homes and cultural landmarks, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis. Additionally, Israel initially told civilians to flee to southern Gaza, but has since dropped bombs on regions initially declared “safe” as well.
These claims present numerous inaccuracies that can be refuted with several articles. What is the ratio of civilians to combatant casualties? “Militarization and instability” of whom? Is the author referring to Hamas? To Israel? And the accusation of intentional targeting of civilians. As incidents have occurred, many have been repeatedly refuted and then hesitantly updated in several news sources and even, at times, by Hamas.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Family trees have been dismembered, and whole branches obliterated within Gaza, however, the media consistently presents a false dichotomy of the situation.
Hamas declared a war on Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, the organization has promised to commit hundreds of October 7s until there are no more Jews in Israel and until Israel no longer exists. They refuse to release the remaining hostages – dead and alive – and refuse to surrender their control over Gaza. It is Hamas’ choice to use their civilian population as a strategic weapon in this war and the consequences are indescribably tragic.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
It is not Israel vs. Palestine; it is instead Western influence versus international cooperation.
What is the meaning of this statement? What is Western influence? What is international cooperation? Why are they at odds with each other?
Does Western influence equal the acknowledgement of the Jews as a people with the right to exist in their ancestral homeland? Is that the Western value the author rejects? The Western value of nationalism? The Western values of free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of belief, etc… ? All rights afforded to the citizens of Israel? Are those the Western values the author finds at odds with international cooperation? With whom is international cooperation to be conducted? With which nations? With those that deny Israel’s right to exist - Iran, Syria, Lebanon? How can we know?
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Manifestation: Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Manifestation: Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
The conflict that rages on within today’s Israel-Palestine is one that could’ve been solved decades ago: in 2013, 70% of Palestinians in the West Bank and 48% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, together with 52% of Israelis supported "an independent Palestinian state together with the state of Israel.”
The author is correct that this ethno-national, territorial conflict could have been resolved decades ago. It could have been resolved in 1947 with the UN ratified partition plan that outlined the boundaries of an Israeli state and a Palestinian state. While an argument can be made that the PA accepted a two-state solution in principle, with the sticking points being Jerusalem and the “right of return”, ultimately it has been rejected repeatedly by Palestinian leadership because it continues to deny Israel’s right to exist. The international community aids and abets in keeping this denial alive and well in the way it perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem through the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA is a United Nations entity through which Palestinians are registered, in perpetuity, as refugees, even if they hold Jordanian or American citizenship and live in one of those countries, for example. There is no other refugee population that has this sort of entity assigned to it, or such mechanism to maintain eternal refugee status.
What’s also strange here is using statistics without citation. And 2013 was not decades ago, it was one decade ago. So where did this come from and where was it going? Furthermore, Hamas continues to not accept a two-state solution.
If the political representatives (Hamas) of a people (in Gaza) do not recognize a two-state solution, how does that plan get implemented, with what entity? The Palestinans are politically split between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority – they are not unified and therefore who are these people being polled? Those in the West Bank? Those in the Gaza Strip? These numbers are meaningless.
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
However, today’s climate looks much different with the vast majority of citizens in Palestine and Israel alike both opposing a two state solution. That doesn’t mean that the possibility of a two-state solution doesn’t stand though; the only real bodies opposing peace in this fashion are the United States, Israel’s far right, and Hamas. With UN support, though, it is undeniably possible to stop the pouring of gasoline on this international fire to ultimately find peace.
As of May 30, 2024, the citizens of Israel are still supportive of this defensive war against Hamas. There are political differences and discontent with the current Israeli government. Israelis are still in a state of trauma and shock, and still awaiting hostages to be returned dead or alive. The framing of this conclusion is faulty at best, very abrasive, and strangely anti-American.
The United Nations has proven its track record in singling out Israel time and again. The United Nations has made it very clear since October 7 that peace looks like a ceasefire where Hamas continues to wield and hold power and that is untenable for the survival of the State of Israel. The United Nations Security Council did not even put Hamas’ acts on its agenda until Spring 2024. How exactly would the Israelis perceive the United Nations as contributing to the stopping of “pouring of gasoline on this international fire”?
Manifestation: Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Manifestation: Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Manifestation: Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Heidi Basch-Harod serves on the Board of Directors of 360Perspectives, a newly established non-profit organization whose mission is to work with communities and schools to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate by building empathy and connection through the power of storytelling and education.
Author’s Background:
2012 M.A., Middle Eastern and African History, Magna Cum Laude, Tel Aviv University
Junior Researcher - Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University
“Rape is Not Resistance: Women’s Rights in a Post-Oct. 7 World,” Newsweek, Nov. 29, 2023.
Former Online Content Editor & Ongoing Contributor - Palestine-Israel Journal
Holocaust and Israel Studies Educator, Congregation Ner Tamid
2003-2006 - U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Human Rights Caucus & Non-Immigrant Visa Specialist
SHESOURCE Expert, Women’s Media Center
Executive Director, Women’s Voices Now
2007 M.A., Public Policy, New England College
2003 B.A., Political Science, UC Berkeley
1999 PVPHS High School Graduate
1995-96 - Mrs. K’s English 2 Honors Class
