I am a Zionist, a proud Muslim Zionist, and I love Israel, but this was not always the case. In fact, for many years I was quite the extreme opposite. I experienced the high levels of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity taking place on British university campuses, because I was the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel activist.
Growing up in the Muslim community in the UK I was exposed to materials and opinions at best condemning Israel, painting Jews as usurpers and murderers, and at worse calling for the wholesale destruction of the "Zionist Entity" and all Jews. In short, there was no accommodating a Jewish State in the Middle East.
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To grow up around this constant barrage of hatred directed at Israel has a massive effect on an individual’s own opinions. More disturbingly, many of these people weren’t radical or extreme, but when it was about Israel the most vicious of rhetoric poured out, coupled with the casual anti-Semitism that seemed too prevalent, when the phrase "stop being a Jew" used as an insult.
My father, however, was much more brazen in his hatred, boasting of how Adolf Hitler was a hero, his only failing being that he didn't kill enough Jews.
By the time I had reached 18 I was completely indoctrinated to the fold of radical Islamism. My hate for Israel and for the Jews was fuelled by images of death and destruction, set to the backdrop of Arabic melodies about Jihad and speeches of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah or Osama Bin Laden.
These views were reinforced when I attended Nakba Day rallies, where speakers predicted Israel's demise as Hezbollah flags were waved proudly in the centre of London.
Was there a case for Israel? In my mind, of course not, there was no shadow of doubt. Even the most moderate clerics I came across refused to condemn terrorism against Israel as unjustified; the Jews must obviously deserve it, I believed.
So what changed? How could I go from all this hatred to the great love for and affinity with Israel and the Jewish people? I found myself in the Israel and Palestine section of a local bookstore and picked up a copy of Alan Dershowitz’s The Case for Israel. Given my worldview, the Jews and Americans controlled the media, so after brief look at the back, I scoffed thinking "vile Zionist propaganda."
I did, however, decide to buy it, content that I would shortly be deconstructing this propaganda piece, showing that Israel had no case and claiming my findings as a personal victory for the Palestinian cause.
Hafeez in Israel in a visit that changed his life
As I read Dershowitz’s arguments and deconstruction of many lies I saw as unquestionable truths, I searched despairingly for counter arguments, but found more hollow rhetoric that I’d believed for many years. I felt a real crisis of conscience, and thus began a period of unbiased research. Up until that point I had not been exposed to anything remotely positive about Israel.
Now, I didn't know what to believe. I'd blindly followed others for so long, yet here I was questioning whether I had been wrong. I reached a point where I felt I had no other choice but to see Israel for myself; only that way I’d really know the truth. At the risk of sounding cliché, it was a life-changing visit.
I did not encounter an apartheid racist state, but rather, quite the opposite. I was confronted by synagogues, mosques and churches, by Jews and Arabs living together, by minorities playing huge parts in all areas of Israeli life, from the military to the judiciary. It was shocking and eye-opening. This wasn't the evil Zionist Israel that I had been told about.
After much soul searching, I knew what I had once believed was wrong. I had been confronted with the truth and had to accept it. But I had a bigger question to confront, what now? I’d for years campaigned against Israel, but now I knew the truth.
The choice was obvious: I had to stand with Israel, with this tiny nation, free, democratic, making huge strides in medicine, research and development, yet the victim of the same lies and hatred that nearly consumed me.
Doing this is not easy and that’s something that has become very obvious. I have faced hostility from my own community and even some within the Jewish community in the UK, but that’s the reality of standing up for Israel in Europe today. It is not easy, and that’s what makes it so necessary.
This isn’t about religion and politics; it’s about the truth.
When it comes to Israel, the truth is not being heard, the ranks of those filed with blind hatred continue to swell, yet many have not been exposed to the reality, away from the empty rhetoric and politically charged slogans they are so fond of.
We can change this situation but we need to be strong and united. Israel is not just a Jewish issue - it’s about freedom, human rights and democracy, all the values that Western nations cherish. It’s also about trying to be a light among nations.
Israel’s international humanitarian aid work speaks for itself, but if we don’t get the message out there, no one will. We don’t have to be head-bowed apologists leading with :Israel’s not perfect…" - we should never be afraid to say: I am a Zionist and I’m proud. I stand with Israel. Now I ask, will you do that?
Kasim Hafeez is a British Muslim and former Islamist who is now a proud Zionist and stands with Israel. He runswww.theisraelcampaign.org and has a blog on this site. He is also on the advisory board of StandWithUs in the UK and recently completed a university speaking tour
For Hebrew version of article click here
The new anti-Semitism
Op-ed: Anti-Israel campaign identifies Jews as immoral, Jewish state as historical fraud
Moshe Dann
It's Jew-hating time, again. No cross-burnings or bomb-wearing psychos screaming for Allah. It's sophisticated, draped by UN and EU glitz, banal reports about Israeli atrocities, and Palestinian liberation. It's so holy, so morally pompous, and fashionable.
Criticizing Israel doesn't lack for issues: "apartheid," "war crimes," "stealing Palestinian land," "oppressing Palestinians," "the occupation," etc.
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NGOs funded by European governments, the UN, and most Arab and Muslim organizations and countries, condemn Israel as a pariah state, unworthy of existence. In this pogrom of conscience they wear no hoods. Their masks are self-righteousness.
The mechanism for vilification and de-legitimization, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaigns, is coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, an umbrella organization for dozens of Palestinian organizations, located in Ramallah and supported by the Palestinian Authority. A global movement, it is behind the spread of anti-Israel actions by churches, unions and student groups.
The mantra chants are easy: "End the Occupation," "Justice for the Palestinians," "Peace Now." No need to think about complicated issues; just blame Israel. And Hate. Hate.
Anti-Israel campaigns overlap anti-Jewish sentiments. This explains why hate-Israel campaigns garner support from atheists, anarchists and even some Christians, why young people wrap themselves in checkered scarves, like Arafat, and come to Israel in order to fight alongside Arabs, some placing themselves in danger, and why EU countries with hard-hit economies spend hundreds of millions of Euros every year supporting anti-Israel organizations.
Backed by Islamists, especially Muslim Brotherhood-supported student organizations, hating Israel has become the campus rage. Meanwhile, university administrators have been obsessively neutral and Jewish organizations, excessively polite.
In addition, Israel has produced its own uber-critics – columnists who condemn Israel as "racist," editors who recommend "raping" Israel, academics, literary figures, and artists who support BDS against Jews living in Judea and Samaria.
Hence, in order to understand de-legitimization, we need to distinguish between those who seek Israel's destruction, in one form or another, and those with legitimate, honest criticism. As one of the pillars of democracy is freedom of speech, drawing the line between what is acceptable, and what is not, is often difficult. Self-criticism is essential; without it there cannot be growth. But self-criticism without limit, unbalanced and exaggerated, is self-destructive.
Challenging Israel's identity as a nominally Jewish state might be acceptable if all states with official religions were rejected. Singling out Israel, therefore, is not only bigoted; it is a form of de-legitimization, a softer denial of Israel's right to exist.
The soft deniers protest their link with hard-line de-legitimizers, arguing that they support Israel, but are critical of its "racist policies," its "illegal occupation of Arab lands," its "colonialism." But the connection between criticism and full-blown hatred deepens when biased news stories and distorted rhetoric about Israeli "atrocities" and "war crimes" become self-defined truths, distortions of reality.
Decrying "the occupation as a moral disaster" for Israel therefore identifies Jews as immoral, a state-sponsored immorality, a legal and historical fraud that sharpens the sword of de-legitimization, justifies BDS campaigns, and anti-Jewish violence.
When the Gaza Strip is portrayed as "a vast prison," for example, then attacking the warders is heroic, overthrowing the system that produced that prison is justified, and Hamas missiles become “self-defense.”
If a Jewish, democratic state is inherently discriminatory, indeed "racist," those who oppose it can be honored as "freedom fighters." If Israel "steals Arab lands," then those who struggle to regain what is rightfully theirs are reasonable. If Israeli settlements are "illegal," it is a crime that should be punished. This ugly portrait of Israel is intentional, one that has no descriptive shades, no positive images, or perspective. It is one-dimensional evil.
The power of propaganda is that it lacks critical thinking, the essence of brainwashing. Delegitimizing Israel, therefore, needs to be reconsidered not only as an informational problem, but as a philosophical issue.
For the first time in history, Christian and Muslim Jew-hatred, liberals, anarchists, fascists and communists, dictators and presidents have merged into a formidable coalition against Israel, an international, multi-faceted onslaught to bring Israel to its knees.
One of the mechanisms used to delegitimize Israel is promoting Palestinianism and Palestinian statehood. Paradoxically, a "two-state" plan, instead of reducing resistance to Israel, increases it. This is because the prospect of Palestinian statehood and full sovereignty raises expectations that it will replace Israel, not accept her.
This explains why Palestinian leaders "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." It's not due to a miscalculation. It's exactly what they intend. It also explains why they can't and won't recognize Israel's right to exist, refuse to negotiate the refugee issue, and reject any compromise on Jerusalem. The problem is not territorial, but existential.
Posing simple questions reveals the dilemma: What kind of Israel is fully and wholeheartedly acceptable? Is the Nakba (catastrophe – Israel’s establishment in 1948) over? Will Arab/Islamic terrorism, violence and incitement cease with the establishment of another Palestinian state? What will bring an end to this conflict?
If the response is, “End Israel’s existence,” you know what you are fighting for.
The author is a PhD historian, writer and journalist
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