Is It True that Zionist Israel is Defending Itself? (By: Imam Yakhsyallah Mansur)
By: Imam Yakhsyallah Mansur
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala says:
لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ ٱلنَّاسِ عَدَٰوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلْيَهُودَ وَٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ ۖ وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُم مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا نَصَٰرَىٰ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ (المائدة [٥]: ٨٢)
“Indeed, you will find those who have the strongest hostility towards the believers, the Jews and the polytheists. And verily you will find the closest in friendship with the believers are those who say: “Indeed we are Christians”. That is because among them (Christians) there are priests and monks, (also) because they are not proud.” (Surah al-Maidah [5]: 82)
Shaykh Prof. Dr. Imad Zuhair Hafidz in the interpretation of Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah explains the verse above, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala prioritizes the mention of the Jews because their enmity to believers is greater than other people.
That’s because their enmity has been going on for generations. They block the path of da’wah because of their stubbornness, arrogance, and malice. They are disbelievers because they like to rebel, disobey, and belittle people of knowledge.
As for the polytheists, they are idol worshippers who have been immersed in disobedience and lust, and have been accustomed to disbelief and misguidance for a long time.
On Thursday night, August 4, 2022, we all witnessed in various media, the Israeli military again launched a massive air attack on Gaza, Palestine. Al-Jazeera media reported, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid argued, the attack was carried out to prevent attacks from Gaza, Palestine into their territory.
Although there has been a ceasefire on Sunday local time. But not long after, Israel launched its attack again.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the three-day aggression killed 44 people, including 15 children and 4 women, and injured 360 other residents.
Zionist Israel Narrative and Propaganda
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in various media, Zionist Israel builds a narrative as the victim. They seem to position their country as the injured party so they deserve to defend themselves.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has always said that his country seems to be in the middle of a sea of Arab countries ready to gang up on him. So, Israel built a nuclear area, military fleet, and all weapons under the pretext of defending itself if attacked by “terrorists”.
War seems to be the “standard language” for Zionist Israel in carrying out its agendas. Criticism from various countries is considered a passing wind. The screams of children and women who were victims of his aggression were completely ignored.
The pretext of self-defense seemed to be the perfect excuse to bombard Gaza’s infrastructure with as many civilian casualties as possible. This has been going on for more than 70 years, since 1948 when the Zionists proclaimed independence in their colonies.
For people who have common sense, and still have a conscience, of course they can distinguish which parties are fighting to defend their rights and which are merely “alibis” to defend and justify their cruel actions.
Historical facts show, Zionist Israel is a terrorist group that ruthlessly seizes land, expels and massacres innocent Palestinians. Even the atrocities are not only committed by groups and institutions, but are the policies of the country. So, it is appropriate for the international community to refer to the Zionists as “State Terrorists.”
Self-defense is actually very appropriate for the Palestinian fighters. They are fighting to get back the land that has been seized. They are fighting for independence from the Zionist Israeli occupation which is very cruel.
So, legitimate self-defense belongs to the Palestinian people, not the Israeli colonial state. The real terrorist is Israel who robs, expels and kills innocent citizens, women and children who should be protected.
The Palestinian people rose up only to fight for their rights, to regain their homeland. The Palestinian people do not seize the territory of other nations, nor do they want to control the assets and wealth of other countries.
In their struggle, the Palestinian people have also taken various diplomatic steps to avoid violence and bloodshed. Palestinian figures tried to take the path of peace, ranging from negotiations, ceasefires, to UN resolutions that had been agreed upon dozens of times.
However, all of that, did not make the Zionist Israel retreat even an inch. They continue to straddle Palestinian lands and continue to expel Palestinians to this day.
Balfour Source of Calamity
The Balfour Declaration is a 112-word agreement signed by the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour to the Jewish figure, Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1917, stating that Israel is permitted to build a “national home” in the Palestinian territories.
Israeli historian from the University of Exeter, England, Ilan Pappe in his book entitled “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” reveals the heinous acts of Israel in massacring the Palestinian people in the 1948 period. Pappe stated, the most important part in Israel’s ideology is the forced exile of the population. indigenous (Palestinian) and that strategy continues to this day.
Palestinian Political and Nationalist Awni Abdul Hadi (d. 1970) condemned the Balfour Declaration in his memoirs. He said, “The declaration was made by foreigners (British) who have no claim to Palestine to Jews who have no rights to our land.”
Legal researcher at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Muhammad Abu Hashem, said Britain and Israel bear direct responsibility for all massacres committed against Palestinians in the occupied territories. He called the Balfour Declaration a source of Zionist terror against Palestinians.
For Britain, the decision was to put an end to the existence of the Jews who often caused trouble in Europe. Initially, the British offered the Jews their colonies in Argentina or Uganda to be their “home”. But the Jews refused and chose Palestine, which British geopolitical expert Halford Mackinder called the heartland of the world. Whoever controls Palestine, they will rule the world.
Since then, the wave of migration of Jews from Europe and beyond to Palestine has been increasingly massive. The Zionists then mobilized and raised funds to bring the Jews to their land of hope.
The Balfour Declaration is a Zionist strategy to be able to control Palestine. This was proven by the British decision to “leave” from Palestine in 1948. Since then, Palestine has been completely under Zionist control.
Israel then declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Since then, the Palestinian territories were seized by Zionist groups by expelling hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their lands.
The day after the declaration, on May 15, 1948, Zionist Israel expelled 700,000 Palestinians. They were expelled from their homeland and became refugees in their own country. This event is known as Nakba Day (day of doom and destruction).
Day by day, the savagery of the Zionists continues to run rampant. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians died. While millions more fled to various countries. Their lands were confiscated, their houses were destroyed and they were expelled without being allowed to return to their hometowns.
Those who tried to resist were caught and thrown in prison. Not a few of them met his martyr behind bars, without assistance and care.
Israeli massacres continued, such as Balad al-Shaykh in 1947, Deir Yassin in 1948, Abu Shusha Village in 1948, Al-Tantora in 1948, Qibya in 1953, Qalqilya in 1956, Kafr Qasem in 1956, Khan Yunis in 1956 and still banging again. The latest expulsion of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem since 2021.
If the offense of gross human rights violations and war crimes can bring former German President Karl Donitz, former Japanese PM Hideki Tojo, and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to court, then Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres, Netanyahu should and other Jewish figures could also be sentenced for the same crimes they committed against the Palestinian people.
Our Brothers and Sisters of Palestinians
Lately, when there is an Israeli aggression against Palestine, there are some parties who say, “Palestine is none of our business”, “Hamas is guilty”, “Israel is not wrong”, “Israel is defending itself”, and various other expressions. It often appears on social media hashtags.
In fact, anyone knows that before the Hamas movement in Gaza, the Zionist Israel had carried out terror and seized the land of the Palestinian people. Hamas was only formed on December 10, 1987 with the aim of self-defense, while Zionist Israel has carried out a terror movement since 1948.
There is also an expression that states, “In our own country there are still many problems and difficulties, why go far to take care of Palestine”. That sentence is used to attack people who defend Palestine. Several social media accounts promoting the defense of Israel currently have thousands of followers in Indonesia.
As a nation that does not forget history, of course Indonesia has a debt of service to the Palestinian people. At the beginning of the journey of Indonesian independence, our nation was assisted by two Palestinian figures, namely; Sheikh Muhammad Amin Al-Husaini, the Grand Mufti of Palestine who took the initiative to spread news about Indonesia’s independence through Arabic-language radio broadcasts throughout the world, and M Ali Taher, a media magnate and West Bank merchant who donated all of his savings to help the struggle of the Indonesian people.
Palestinians who dared to put up a body at the United Nations by expressing their support for Indonesia’s independence in 1945. As per the regulations at the United Nations, after proclaiming independence, Indonesia must obtain recognition from a minimum of 10 member countries.
The courage of the Palestinians who raised their hands at the UN session to recognize Indonesia’s independence, made countries in the Arab League, such as Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others, move to express their support for Indonesia.
For this reason, Agus Salim and Abdurrahman Baswedan who became the Indonesian delegation, several times went abroad, were sent by President Soekarno to take care of the document signing the support of the Middle Eastern countries.
The preamble to the 1945 Constitution states, “Indeed independence is the right of all nations, and because of that, colonialism in the world must be abolished, because it is not in accordance with the principles of humanity and justice”. That sentence clearly shows how our attitude towards a nation that is still colonized is.
Our country’s Founding Father, Ir. Soekarno stated, “As long as the independence of the Palestinian people has not been handed over to the Palestinians, then the Indonesian people will stand up to challenge the Israeli occupation”. That means, the occupation of the Palestinian people is our business, the Indonesian people.
President Joko Widodo also emphasized his support for the Palestinian independence struggle in front of 91 heads of state who attended the commemoration of the Asian-African Conference (KAA) in Bandung in 2015. This support was reaffirmed in his speech at the 75th UN General Assembly in 2020.
So, is it wrong for the Palestinian people to use weapons to get back their lands that have been seized by the occupiers? The struggle of the Palestinian people is the same as what the Indonesian people did in their struggle to regain their own homeland against the Dutch colonialists.
So, as a civilized nation, the Indonesian people should not support the barbaric actions of the Zionist Israel.
In closing this paper, the author cites the statement of a Palestinian pastor, Steven Choury who stated that the hope of peace in Palestine remains.
“Peace in Palestine starts from the heart, through mutual trust between groups in society and not based on politics,” he said.
Choury has high hopes for Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world, which has consistently helped the struggle of the Palestinian people, promoted world peace and opposed all forms of colonialism. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
