We will never stop defending Palestine!

Many Palestinians and their supporters are done with the explanations. They have no words left. When a live-streamed genocide can be debated for over eight months as to whether it actually qualifies as such, there are no more words.

From Deir Yassin to Jenin, from Kafr Qassem to Sabra and Shatila, from Tal al-Zaatar to Rafah and Nuseirat, we know what a massacre looks like. It is an insult to play word games with us about whether Palestinians are actually being murdered en masse on the altar of Israeli-American hegemony and domination.

From Ansar to Sde Teiman, for decades, Palestinians have been taken hostage by “Israel,” detained without charge or trial, and brutally tortured and mistreated. We also know what it looks like, because most Palestinians have at least one family member who has been imprisoned either in Israel or surrounding complicit countries.

And enough of this hyper-focus on anti-Semitism. Yes, it exists, and the danger comes primarily from white supremacist fascist forces. But the constant demand that Palestinians prove that they are not racist towards the Jewish people when their struggle is clearly against the Zionist colonialist project has become a means of diverting attention from the cruelty and brutality of the crimes of ongoing Israeli war.

We must also address the underlying, deep-rooted racism that helped facilitate this genocide. The longevity of the “mass rape” story, despite being repeatedly debunked, has lifted the curtain on the depth of anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism in Western societies.

The Zionist lobby seems to have decided from day one that this “atrocity propaganda” would generate the most support and sympathy. This story continues to be recycled and amplified in the West, in part because it taps into centuries-old Western distrust and stereotypes of “Arab men” – Arab men who are bloodthirsty, violent, misogynistic and unworthy of trust.

Professor Rudolph Ware pointed out that this is an age-old tactic that has been (and still is) used against the black community in the United States, detailing how false allegations of rape in the United States have often led to mass lynchings. He also discussed how the issue of “safety” is weaponized against people of color, as we now see on many college campuses.

So please don’t watch Palestinian babies burn alive and then lecture those same people on how and when to resist. Do not wring your hands over the Rafah and Nuseirat massacres if you are in any way complicit in allowing this trajectory to happen. Almost six months ago, Reverend Munther Isaac said during his Christmas message: “Your charity, your words of shock AFTER the genocide will make no difference. Words of regret will not be enough for you. We will not accept your excuses after the genocide…”

This is not the time (if ever there was) for Western partisans to appoint themselves as moral arbiters of what constitutes acceptable liberation tactics or to lecture Palestinians on “violence.” This can only serve to enable the current repression in Western countries against pro-Palestinian supporters and their message.

In Canada, one example is the recent arrest and potential “hate charges” against Samidoun’s Charlotte Kates, coupled with draconian restrictions on her freedom of expression. Many community groups, including the Canada-Palestine Association and other organizations like the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), have mobilized to challenge this outrage. The BCCLA clearly stated that it was “concerned that the (Penal) Code is being used as a weapon to silence certain political speech, namely statements in support of the Palestinian liberation movement, including the right to resist to the Israeli occupation.

Such criminalization is often based largely on alleged or fabricated links to groups on Canada’s “terrorist list.” Due to pressure from the Zionist lobby over 20 years ago, this list currently includes all Palestinian Resistance groups and Hezbollah, and that same lobby is now working overtime to include Samidoun as well.

After eight and a half months of endless brutality and genocide, we no longer have the energy to engage in lengthy conversations, in which we are forced to repeatedly justify why Palestinians must and should resist by any means necessary ( including armed struggle). We are even expected to justify why they have the right to exist, historically and in the future.

We will no longer walk the path of endless words with little or no return, words that “will make no difference.” The hypocrisy and double standards of the “rules-based” international order have been laid bare for all to see. , and we are counting on Palestinian resistance to move us forward.