Whenever I talk about anti-Israeli xenophobia, I inevitably get somebody come up and explain that theyâd like to not be xenophobic (although they donât call it in that term, of course), but that itâs those damn Israelis making them be xenophobic. And they always say it in this kind of, sense that Iâm going to sympathise with them.
The reason I have no time for this excuse is because of the distinction between emotion and action.
What Israel has done to Gaza is horrific, and I would hope that regardless of your views on the conflict, we can all acknowledge that there are now many people living among what is an almost-destroyed country. The IDF has committed war crimes at a minimum, and Israelâs current government (at the time of this post) is blatantly racist and anti-Palestinian. And I get that when we see those things, especially with social media where you now see children being blown up on your feed, that is going to give you negative feelings about Israel. And when you have negative feelings about a country, you very quickly end up having negative feelings about a countryâs people.
Thatâs normal. It is normal to feel like this. It is normal because from the very start of our species, our brains had to group people into boxes in order to survive. This Group of people give you berries and help sharpen your hunting sticks and so they are Good; This Group of people chase you with their hunting sticks and steal your berries and so they are Bad. Placing friend or foe into simple boxes is how human beings made it through so many centuries.
Which is why whilst it is sometimes difficult to read, I do not blame Palestinian, Lebanese, etc people for fearing or hating Israelis. They are genuinely in fight or flight, life or death mode right now. Trusting the wrong Israeli could end with them getting attacked or killed. Mending the hatred and fear between all of these populations is going to take centuries, generations. That trauma will not go away easily.
Westerners watching this all on social media? No, Iâm sorry, you do not get that excuse. You are not over there. You are not being bombed. You are not being killed. You are watching this on your TV, and you can turn off whenever you want. If you really wanted to, you could disassociate from the entire thing and never think about Israel again, by constructing your social media feeds and being careful about what news channels you watch. You have an immense amount of privilege in that if you are wading into this conflict, you are choosing to do so, and you are making the choice that you will be presented with death and destruction and suffering. You are choosing to interact with this.
And yeah, good. Itâs good for people to witness this and to take an interest and to want to end suffering. But you do not get to hijack that suffering and act as though you seeing the destruction of Gaza on a screen is the same as actually being in it.
You hate Israelis? Fine. Now itâs your responsibility to unlearn that. Because you can unlearn it, because you are not the one having your villages ransacked, or guns pointed at your head, or your home taken over by settlers. You are not directly in that horror and fear and fury.
And you need to take a step back, and start taking some responsibility for your emotions. If you hate Israelis, that is your issue to solve. Israelis do not need to perform in the way you want in order for you to recognise their humanity.
You have the Internet. You have libraries. You have bookstores. Go look for the Israelis who protest against their government. Go look for the Israelis who try to help Palestinians. Go look for the Israelis who write nuanced, conflicted essays. Go look for the Israelis who create books and films in order to explore their reality via fiction. Go look for the Israelis who set up interfaith groups. Go look for the Israeli children who arenât old enough to understand anything about whatâs happening. Go look for the Israeli scientists who are creating incredible progress in medical science that can benefit everybody in the world. Go look for the Israeli engineers who help create the same technology you use to publicly deny their humanity. Go look for the Israeli musicians who have created beautiful music for the world to enjoy. Go look for the Israelis who were traumatised by Oct 7th, but still want to give peace a chance. Go look for the Israelis who want nothing more than to have a happy childhood, get a job, marry a nice spouse, raise their children, then retireâjust like everybody else. Go look for the Israelis who are just like you.
If hearing Hebrew frightens you, go listen to Hebrew until it doesnât.
If you think all Israelis hate Palestinians, go talk to them until you find one who doesnât.
If you think all Israelis are ugly, go Google Image them until you find one you find beautiful.
If you think all Israelis are bloodthirsty, go research it until you find one advocating for peace.
If you point the finger at Israelis, remember there are three more pointing straight back at you.
I donât really care if the past couple of years has âcaused youâ to dehumanise and hate an entire population of people. Your emotions are your responsibility to tackle. Dehumanisation is your problem. Take some goddamn responsibility and sort yourselves out.
Hating an entire population is not a sign that population is flawed. Itâs a sign that you are.
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