Academic Neutrality in the Face of Genocide: Palestine and Israel
Just hours ago, Al Jazeera reported at least 50 deaths amid an airstrike in Jabalia, a Gaza refugee camp. Although it was said to have been aimed at a high-ranking Hamas commander, the Hamas denied his presence at the time of the strike.
To summarize, the Israel-Palestine conflict is a long-standing dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians over a piece of land in the Middle East. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim the same land as their homeland, and this has led to conflicts and disagreements for many years. The conflict began in the mid-20th century when Israel was established as a nation, and many Palestinians were displaced from their homes. Since then, there have been wars, violence, and ongoing tensions between the two groups.
In the recent past, I’ve seen many people debate on who to support: the Palestinians or the Israelis. Others (mostly influencers and public figures) have chosen to take an all-lives-matter approach, which, objectively, is not all lives matter at all. Sometimes, when we’re confronted with a situation like this, we need to ask ourselves who benefits the most from our impartiality. In the words of Anna Baltzer, taking a side means being accountable to those who are being oppressed.
The people of Palestine have shown extraordinary acts of resilience and citizenship over the past several weeks. Israel has continued to bomb more than 1300 civilian buildings, hospitals, and schools. Out of the estimated 2,200 Palestinians that were killed in Gaza, about 60% were women and children. Israel has also cut internet access, water, fuel, and medicine and humanitarian aid delivery into the Gaza Strip and has unlawfully used white phosphorous to shell Dhayra, a populated town in the south. While it’s undeniable that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has had little progress in stabilization since its creation in the mid-90s, it’s impossible to ignore the ongoing genocidal rhetoric of Israel.
As individuals with a moral compass, as people who use social media on a daily basis, and as people who have valuable conversations with those around us, isn’t it our duty to shape the narrative into what it actually is? Many major news outlets and academic journals have been unwaveringly neutral on Palestine and Israel, but the truth is, there’s nothing neutral about ethnic cleansing and mass genocide. In terms of public figures, they remain neutral to save their public image by attempting to be fair and just, but this tactic is quickly backfiring. The way we understand and discuss a situation can either help stop ongoing atrocities or it can allow them to continue, and being academically neutral in such situations can show support for hegemonic discourse and contribute to colonial genocide.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. — Desmond Tutu
Academic institutions and public images can’t absolve us of our duty to address the ongoing harm done to the Palestinian people. Neutrality is not an option for Palestinian people, because the suffering of Palestinians and their supporters, although different from one another, remain very real. It’s not something we can brush under the carpet as a means of ‘keeping peace.’ There comes a point where equity is more valuable than equality, and we’ve reached it. It’s important we realize that the ongoing violence directly impacts the minds of people who have grown up opposing Zionist colonial violence. The emotional and psychological toll on Palestinians, whether they are in Palestine, refugee camps, or European cities, cannot be pathologized or reduced to individual problems.
The aggression toward the Palestinian people did not start on the 7th of October. For more than 75 years, Palestine has been the victim of violence and ethnic cleansing, a fact that many individuals are well aware of. When we say “Freedom for Palestinians,” it’s not about wishing to deprive Israelis of their existing freedom. It’s about recognizing that Palestinians are currently denied the same freedom that Jewish Israelis experience on a daily basis. Supporting Palestine does not mean you condone Hamas; it means you don’t condone genocide.
The Palestinian fight for freedom and self-determination is a universal struggle against all forms of oppression, which means that the Palestinian struggle should not be taken over by insincere acts of ‘inclusion’ and ‘equality.’ So, wherever you are, whoever you are, fight for what is right. And this isn’t asking you to side with one racial or ethnic group. This is asking you to side with justice.
