10 | JANUARY 11 • 2024 J
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Opinion

Pro-Palestinian or Anti-Israel?
T

hose who claim to
support the Palestinian
Arabs, in fact, do
precious little to help them.
The plight of the Palestinians
globally — such as the
denial of civil
rights by their
own dictators,
withholding
of citizenship
rights by
other Arab
nations and
the murder of
thousands of Palestinians
by their Arab brethren — is
largely ignored by Western
leftists.
Where were demonstra-
tions opposing the
“occupation” of “Palestinian”
lands when Jordan seized
Judea and Samaria (aka “the
West Bank”) and Egypt took
over the Gaza Strip following
Israel’s War of Independence
in 1948?
Where are groups like
Students for Justice in
Palestine (SJP) and the
Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) today when
both Palestinian dictatorships
— the Palestinian Authority
in Judea and Samaria, and
Hamas in Gaza — ruthlessly
oppress their people,
denying them virtually all
basic human rights and civil
liberties?
Do any “progressives”
protest the treatment of
Palestinians by Arab states,
where they are denied
citizenship, restricted from
many professions and have
repeatedly been massacred
and deported? Do feminists

or gay activists on college
campuses rail against the
mistreatment of women or
the LGBTQ+ community by
Palestinian rulers or Arab
society generally? Why not?
The reality is, those
who call themselves pro-
Palestinian exclusively
attack Israel — leveling
false accusations against the
world’s only Jewish state
and the Middle East’s only
democracy. Indeed, Israel
is the region’s only nation
where Arabs are granted
not only citizenship and
full equality under law, but
also enjoy greater economic
opportunity than most all
other Arabs. Israel also
provides significant material
support to Palestinians who
are not Israeli citizens —
including healthcare, water,
electricity and employment.
Tragically, the only reason
Palestinians get so much

lip service (and not much
more) from the Western left
is precisely because they
consider Israel — rather
than Arab antagonists of
the Palestinians — their
archenemy. The cause of the
hypocrisy is a perverse blend
of neo-Marxism and classic
antisemitism.
Leftists did not protest
between 1948 and 1967
when Jordan occupied Judea
and Samaria and Egypt
ruled Gaza, even though the
international community
declined to recognize either
annexation as legitimate.
Neither Jordan nor Egypt
even mentioned forming a
Palestinian state and, in fact,
not even the Palestinians
demanded statehood from
them. Curiously, it was
only after the Six-Day War,
when the Jews recaptured
their ancient heartland in
Judea and Samaria, that the

Palestinians and the left
screamed “occupation!”
The Western left is almost
completely silent about
criminal human rights
abuses committed by the
Palestinian dictatorships. P.A.
President Mahmoud Abbas
is now in the 20th year of
his four-year presidency, and
he has canceled “national”
Palestinian elections since
2006. In both the P.A. and
Gaza, Palestinians are denied
free speech, a free press,
women’s independence
and virtually all other civil
liberties. Corruption in both
dictatorships is rampant, and
arbitrary arrest and torture
are commonplace.
Members of the LGBTQ+
community are ruthlessly
persecuted and murdered.
Yet leftist groups like Queers
Against Israeli Apartheid
ignore these outrages, and
hypocritically criticize Israel

Protest meeting in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., in support of Palestinian resistance to
Israel during the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, Oct. 8, 2023.

TED EYTAN/WIKIPEDIA

PURELY COMMENTARY

James
Sinkinson
JNS.org