Waving Flags, Telling Lies

A story of colonisers in Keffiyehs and that shitty song they sing

On Friday, October 6, 2023, I was just another well-meaning left wing guy who sympathised with the Palestinian people, who felt that Zionism was an ugly 19th-century invention of evil colonisers, and cared about the plight of refugees. I was definitely not "woke," in contrast to most, but I was certain that I knew how wicked the State of Israel was. Then, on October 7th, I awoke from my delusional thinking and re-examined my terribly flawed preconceptions. Here’s what I found.

The atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th 2023 were a stark wake-up call to the world - or at least, they should have been. A bloodbath, an orgy of violence motivated by hate that defied any semblance of humanity, nearly 1000 women and children were raped, murdered in their beds, butchered in the streets, or taken hostage by violent, ideologically driven men full of hate for Jews. This was not a battle for freedom. But in the aftermath, as the world watched in horror, an equally grotesque spectacle took place: social media profiles with Palestinian flags on them, protests where people chanted "From the river to the sea" as though it were a call for peace rather than a barely disguised threat of genocide, or, as was the case in Sydney, Australia, just "Gas the Jews."

There is no way to justify this madness; individuals who fly the Palestinian flag in public or from the comfort of their social media bubbles are not supporting humanitarian causes. Whether they realise it or not, they are allying themselves with the most sinister forces in history. To march with a keffiyeh around your neck, shouting slogans of Palestinian liberation, is to goose-step through history, chanting "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" with every step. Though the slogans themselves may have changed, their hateful meaning has not.

Jews are the indigenous people of Israel. This is not a matter of opinion; it is a matter of historical fact, as undeniable as the existence of Rome or the pyramids of Egypt. As historian Paul Johnson reminds us, “No people has ever been so continuously identified with one small piece of earth over such a long span of time as the Jews with their land.” To deny this is to engage in the same kind of historical revisionism that Holocaust deniers revel in. However, the anti-Zionist movement, which is frequently supported by those who criticise colonialism, ignores this truth in a twisted mockery of the indigenous rights that so many of these people claim to support.

Imagine if contemporary Britons decided that the history and culture of the Scots, Welsh, Cornish, and Irish should be suppressed and their people banished from their homeland, believing it to be a product of colonialism. The world would rightly react with horror and condemnation. However, when it comes to Israel, the Palestinians—whose unique identity is a 20th-century invention—are celebrated as the rightful owners, while the real indigenous people are written off as invaders. It’s a narrative so absurd that it belongs in the pages of a dystopian novel, not in the discourse of supposedly enlightened societies. Who, in reality, do people believe persecuted Jews and forced so many to escape during the diaspora out of fear for their lives?

History, as they say, is written by the victors, but in the case of Israel, it’s being rewritten by the losers - those who lost their moral compass somewhere along the way. After centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, Jews returned to their historical homeland, a land from which they had never truly been absent. Compare this with the European settlers in Australia, who brutally displaced Aboriginal peoples and declared themselves the rightful rulers. Today, Australia wrestles with its colonial past, striving for reconciliation. However, when it comes to Israel, the same people who support justice for indigenous populations at home actively campaign to deny the Jewish people's historical existence and right to their own land.

Winston Churchill famously warned, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.” However, the anti-Zionist movement is adamant about erasing Israel's Jewish heritage and covering up millennia of history with a falsely concocted rhetoric of colonisation and occupation. It is deeply concerning because they are so laughably wrong about who the colonisers were and who the first nation peoples are in the Middle East. It’s as if the British, after centuries of Anglo-Saxon Christian heritage, were to suddenly declare themselves an Islamic Republic and demand the expulsion of all non-Muslims. The absurdity is palpable, yet it’s precisely this kind of twisted logic that underpins the deceitful anti-Zionist narrative.

The obvious hypocrisy of the Arab and Islamic states, who for nearly 80 years have refused to accept Palestinian refugees, should also not be overlooked. These countries have not taken any action to help Palestinians become more integrated into their communities, despite their loud declarations of solidarity. They would rather keep them in filthy camps where they can be used as props in their continuous conflict with Israel. Instead of being offered the opportunity to improve their lot in life, their Arab "brothers" have chosen to treat these refugees with deliberate cruelty, which is the reason behind their predicament rather than any action on the part of Israel.

This refusal to help their own people is a damning indictment of the Arab world’s true intentions. The irony is that the Arab and Islamic states might be the only ones who truly grasp the dystopian postmodernist madness gripping the West. Unlike the West, which is consumed by identity politics and moral relativism, these nations maintain a stark clarity about their priorities. They understand the strategic value of keeping the Palestinian issue unresolved, recognising that it serves their interests far better than any humanitarian solution ever could.

You might wonder, though, what about the Israeli government's actions. It’s often said that the government’s policies are brutal, oppressive, and colonial. But let’s examine that. Israel is a state under siege, surrounded by enemies who openly call for its destruction. The policies that are so often criticised - whether they involve military actions or security measures - are the desperate acts of a nation fighting for its survival. To equate Israel’s defensive actions with colonial aggression is to ignore the existential reality of its situation and also to woefully mistake who the aspiring colonisers actually are.

Israel’s existence is not just a matter of geopolitics; it’s a matter of survival of an indigenous people in the face of existential threats. In a region where genocidal rhetoric is commonplace and enemies are sworn to its destruction, the Israeli government’s actions are not the result of imperial ambition but of a desperate need to protect its people and their traditional lands. This is a government fighting a war not of choice but of necessity against adversaries who openly declare their intent to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas made that crystal clear on October 7th.

Golda Meir, Israel’s first and only female Prime Minister, once said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” This haunting truth underscores the impossible position Israel finds itself in: forced to defend itself against enemies who would sacrifice their own children if it meant destroying the Jewish state. Just think about it for a minute, these are people who voted overwhelmingly for terrorists, who deliberately harbour them amongst the civilian populace, who assist them by hiding arms caches in hospitals and schools, who dig and conceal military tunnels for use by the terrorists, and who keep Jewish women and children hostages in their own homes.

How do the self-proclaimed champions of indigenous rights reconcile their venomous demonisation of Israel and Jews while rallying behind first nations peoples in Canada, the US, Australia, and beyond? Could it be that they are simply the worst kind of racists, those who reserve their deepest hatred for Jews? Now, someone remind me, who was the last group marching through the streets with the goal of getting rid of the Jews?

As Mark Twain once quipped, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” The tragic irony is that in supporting the coloniser Palestinian cause at the expense of the indigenous Jews of Israel, the world is not just repeating history - it’s rewriting it to suit a narrative that’s as false as it is dangerous. The supporters of Palestinian flags, whether on the streets or online, are not the champions of justice they imagine themselves to be. They are the unwitting (or perhaps witting) allies of those who would happily see another genocide, another Holocaust, unfold in our time.

So next time you see someone waving a Palestinian flag, remember this: they’re not just standing against Israel and Jews; they’re standing with the racists and colonisers of our age, the very people they claim to oppose. And that is the bitterest irony of all.

On Saturday, October 7th, I was forced to consider facts and evidence. Maybe if you haven’t done so yet, you really should do that too. Because what I found out makes me ashamed to realise just how wrong I was. Claiming that Palestinians are a persecuted indigenous people and that a Jewish homeland is a colonial exercise is almost as stupid as saying humans can change their sex, which they obviously can’t.