Anti-Zionism Is A Death Cult

Reflections on the terror attacks of October 7th

I first attended an anti-Zionist Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) rally when I was 15 or 16. It was a non-optional family activity, undertaken with the Palestinian-American side of my family. Back then, nobody at these sort of events was screaming “gas the Jews”, or holding up swastikas in the manner seen now in 2023 in the shadow of the October 7th Hamas attack. Nowadays, anti-Zionism has truly gone mask off and revealed itself as a new form of Nazism. But back then, the most explicit chant was probably something more like “no justice, no peace.”

And I wasn’t even particularly comfortable with that. I like the idea of peace, and I always have and always will. War is terrifying, bloody, and awful. Peace is an opportunity to grow and build. Yes, I saw Palestinians as an oppressed group, dispossessed of our lands, our homes, our nationhood, our self-dignity, and economic stability. But I believed that we were campaigning for political, economic, and social equality. If not under a one state egalitarian, multi-ethnic solution like the United States or Britain, then at least under some kind of stable two state solution.

I had close Jewish friends growing up. Working for tech companies in Silicon Valley, my Palestinian father had plenty of Jewish work colleagues. I certainly did not believe that we should drive Jews into the sea, or displace or dispossess anyone. After all, that is what happened to Palestinians in 1948, right? Why would we want to inflict the same suffering we had experienced onto others? Especially onto a set of people who I already realised had already suffered a great deal, during the holocaust. Now, of course, I understand that the holocaust and the development of Zionism was just the climax of centuries of antisemitic abuse, expulsions, and pogroms.

Perhaps it’s difficult for Palestinians to understand Zionism, because Zionism is not about Palestinians. It’s for the self-defence and advancement of Jewish people. Zionism seems like the inevitable consequence of Jewish people banding together to defend themselves against antisemitic onslaughts similar to the attacks of October 7th. And the more the Palestinians attack Israel, the more Israelis will yearn for self-defence and solidarity in the face of the attacks, strengthening Zionism.

Looking at the charred corpses of Jewish toddlers murdered by Hamas makes me feel very naive about the Palestinian cause. Yes, everyone deserves political and social equality. Palestinians deserve to have the same human value as anyone else, and have often been subject to inequality and mistreatment by the Israeli government, or institutions. But you don’t massacre a music festival or Olympic locker room to create political and social equality. You don't slaughter children to create political and social equality. You don’t rape women and take hostages to create political and social equality. Those are the actions not of the oppressed, but of oppressors. Those are the actions of people who wish to dominate, to terrorise, and to subjugate. Those are the actions of a group determined to drive Jewish people into the sea. Those are the actions of a death cult seeking to repeat and expand the holocaust.

For me, I’m never going to support this sort of thing. I don’t want to feel associated with it in any way. It makes my skin crawl. Why can’t we live peacefully together and respect one another, instead? I don’t want to be an oppressor. I want to build a better, happier world. I don’t want to live in a world full of hate and conflict. I don’t want to see injured children covered in blood crying and screaming. I don’t want to see anyone’s home turned into a smoking hole in the ground. I don’t want to see families being expelled or exterminated. Shouldn’t this sort of thing be obvious to everyone? Isn’t it the basis of the fabric of civilisation?

On a deeper wavelength, the terrorists who attacked Israel on the 7th of October do not care much for Palestinians, either. They may claim to be fighting for the Palestinians, but this is a brazen lie. They know that Israel is a military superpower, possessing overwhelming military force. They know they cannot defeat Israel. They know that provoking the Israeli people with acts of extreme violence will lead to Israeli bombings of and incursions into Gaza, which will lead to many Palestinian deaths. But they feed off this violence. They are like demonic succubi feasting on death and suffering. They maintain their grip on power and gain foreign funding and recruits by promising to wage jihad against the Israelis, to avenge Palestinian deaths, and reclaim lost territory. They love death. They love war. They love suffering. And even though it brings most Palestinians pain and destruction, it brings riches and power for the corrupt leadership.

If the Palestinian leadership of Gaza wanted to be a successful country, they would have focused on economic and social development. Rather than fantasising about recapturing Tel Aviv and Haifa, they would focus on building up the land they control, and make the best of things in the manner of other small city-states like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai. First off, recognising Israel and promising a complete end to attacks on Israel would allow many restrictions on Palestinian activities to be lifted. Then, low taxes, infrastructure, and mega-projects would attract foreign investment. But these bloodthirsty men leading Hamas don’t want to be a successful country. The leadership of Hamas is happy to live in luxury apartments in Qatar. They don’t live in refugee camps in Gaza. They don’t have any skin in this game. They benefit from the success of other countries, while leading their own country to death and destruction. And so the death spiral continues.

Perhaps now Israel will invade Gaza and remove Hamas from power. That will be a bloody and hellish process for all involved, especially innocent civilians, many of whom are children. But removing Hamas from power will not necessarily end the death spiral. According to a 2021 Washington Institute survey, the most popular solution to the conflict favoured by Palestinians is reconquering the entirety of historic Palestine, including pre-1967 Israel. To me this seems like an utterly delusional belief. Israel is a first-world nation with a powerful military backed by the United States, and Israelis have no interest in being reconquered by men who want to brutally murder them, or forcibly convert them to Islam, or deport them to Europe or North America. They will repel it with every fibre of their being, as they have successfully done for the entirety of their history.

If Palestinians continue to try to reconquer lost territory, I expect us to find ourselves back in the same death spiral of terror and conflict, leading to Palestinian defeat and death, leading to more anger, resentment, and increasing desire for revenge.

Surely after having failed to reconquer Israel for 75 years, the time has come to try to peacefully coexist with Israel? I hope that once the smoke has cleared, we can take a more peaceful path.