The Demonisation of the Palestinian People

The demonisation of the Palestinian people by the western world comes as a result of the west’s complicity in the colonialist aggression of Zionism. The basic method of this demonisation process is to portray the Palestinian people, and their Arab supporters, as a people antagonistic towards the Zionist State of Israel for no reason or if there is a reason it is simply because the Jews are the chosen people of God. Either way, the Palestinians are acting in a way that is considered to be consistent with the behaviour of the demonic.

In biblical terms, human beings are sinful by their fallen nature, but they are not demonic. They may be complicit with the demonic but they themselves are not equivalent to demons. Human beings sinful behaviour is unjustified, but that does not mean there was no particular reason for their behaviour. When we see a person committing a crime we ask what their motive was. What, in their mind, was the reason for them doing the things they did? A person who kills their spouse is said to have done something unjustified in a strict moral sense but we could all have understood the actions far better if we had known that the spouse was abusive in the extreme. We understand that sinful behaviour can be provoked while not relinquishing the concept of responsibility for one’s actions.

But in the case of the demonic, we understand the concept in the sense that demons do evil without reason, without provocation. There is no causal link between their actions and the world around them. They sin for no apparent reason. They are totally irrational and are motivated by pure hatred and evil.

The key to demonising a person is to remove any causal link or reason for their bad behaviour, focusing on and overstating it and ignoring or minimising any good or normal behaviour. In the case of the Palestinian people it is done by focusing on and overstating acts of terrorism committed by Palestinians or Arabs in general. As well as this, any narrative concerning injustices committed against Palestinians, particularly in the context of root causes of the conflict, must be completely silenced.

In particular this has been done by ignoring or minimising the following.

  1. Jews and Arabs have had far better relations in the recent past (i.e. even 100 years ago) than they do currently. There has been no eternal conflict between Arab and Jew.
  2. Islam and Judaism have co-existed in the Holy land for 13 centuries.
  3. The vast majority of Jews (particularly the very religious ones) initially rejected Zionism.
  4. Zionism is not the same as Judaism.
  5. Zionism sought to create a European colony in Palestine, taking control of it by force if necessary.
  6. Palestine was inhabited by a non-Jewish people who had lived in that region for many centuries and had a deep sense of connection to the land.
  7. The Zionist colonisation of Palestine was done without the indigenous Palestinian people’s wishes or rights to self determination being taken in to account.
  8. 800,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homeland in order to create a Zionist state in Palestine that had a Jewish majority.
  9. The vast majority of Zionists, probably 98%, were not native to Palestine nor had their ancestors been for many generations, if at all in many cases.
  10. The vast majority of deaths and casualties in the Israel-Palestine struggle are Palestinian.
  11. Zionists have been guilty of acts of terrorism (as acknowledged by the International community) on many occasions in the past (i.e. 1946 bombing of King David Hotel).
  12. Pacifist resistance to Israeli oppression by the vast majority of Palestinians.
  13. Calls by Zionists for the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians from Palestine even to the point of the extermination of men, women and children.
  14. Racist comments by Zionists against Arabs.
  15. The Arab nations all seek normalised relations with Israel and have recognised its right to exist.
  16. The Palestinians have already agreed to cede 78% of their homeland to the Zionists.
  17. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been deemed illegal by the overwhelming majority of the International community and the U.N.
  18. The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is illegal.
  19. The Palestinian people are under no legal or moral obligation to be complicit with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The following has been over-emphasised.

  1. Acts of terrorism committed by Muslims, Palestinians and Arabs in general.
  2. Calls by anti-Zionists for the destruction of Israel and all its Jewish population.
  3. General anti-Semitist comments and rhetoric by Arabs and or Muslims.

More could be added to the list but all of the above helps to promote a narrative that Arabs hate Jews for no reason. They have in-bred hatred of Jews which is entirely unprovoked and irrational. They have no basic grievance which would explain their conflict with the Israelis. They are uncivilised savages that do not know how to live next to people that are different from them or do not share their religious beliefs. They have no desire for peace or justice. They are not part of the modern world. We can not give them the same rights as others just as you can not let unrepentant criminals just wander the streets. All resistance to Israel is just anti-Semitism and must be labelled as terrorism.

All of these types of narratives are perpetuated by the western media and help the Zionist State in its oppression of the Palestinian people. What else can be done with demons but oppress and destroy them? Who would know more about how to demonise a people than a people who had been demonised themselves? While I believe the vast majority of Jews believe that they would never demonise a people the way they had been,  I also believe the vast majority of Jewish people have been brainwashed just as much as anybody else by Zionist propaganda.

Craig Nielsen

ACTION FOR PALESTINE