Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIt's time to stop infantilising the Palestinians
The jubilant reaction of many Palestinians to the kidnapping of three Israeli teenage boys has been met in the West with a bit of a shrug. The official daily PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida has published cartoons mocking the three students and celebrating their capture. The Fatah Facebook page featured a cartoon of three rats dangling from a line. Sweets have been handed out on the streets (a traditional gesture of joy and celebration). Many children have been photographed by their parents, holding up three fingers and smiling. An internet campaign gathers pace and popular support for the abduction has continued to proliferate on Palestinian social media according to the journalist Elhanan Miller. Hamas, of course, is exultant. Yes, Abu Mazen has condemned the kidnap and there have been some brave Palestinian voices raised in defence of the three youngsters, but their voices are isolated; Palestinians calling for the return of the three students have been threatened.
And yet, despite all this whooping and cheering about the trauma and possible death of Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, the Palestinians will likely pay a very small price in the international community or global public opinion. Why?
In part, because an anti-Zionist mindset that has taken root in the West, and at its heart is unexamined assumption that Israelis and Palestinians are different kinds of people. Israelis have agency, responsibility and choice, Palestinians do not. In short, the world treats the Palestinians as children the pathology of paternalism it has been called.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alanjohnson/100276898/its-time-to-stop-infantilising-the-palestinians/
King_David
(14,851 posts)This is not new and certainly not for Europe.
They call it "Zionist " now and pretend they not talking about Jews.
We even have someone in this group who is self described AntiZionist and even claims to talk for the Jewish people even tho she herself is not Jewish .
We have someone in this group who thinks antiZionism is just dandy and she even describes it as being akin to white supremism.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)To stop coddling the Apartheid state.
Submariner
(12,485 posts)Events like shooting to kill people gathering for a funeral leads to the anti-Zionist mindset imho. They appear to be bringing the scorn upon themselves.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113464571