Thread by @iyad_elbaghdadi

I'm a Palestinian. Not American-Palestinian, not British-Palestinian - I'm a stateless Palestinian refugee. I know very well that allies are few and far between. I know very well how entrenched and deep-pocketed the opponents of our rights are.

I also know the history of my struggle deeply. It's the history of my family after all. I know the history of our trauma. I also know that we haven't been lucky with our leaders or with our allies, and that those who led our movement have made some disastrous choices in the past.

And because I understand this context completely, I absolutely reject Assadists, far-left fascists, war crimes deniers, antisemites, and the other deplorables who may pose as friends and allies of our cause, but eventually gain more out of our cause than they benefit it.

Arab history is full of vile dictators, hatemongers, and demagogues who hid behind the Palestinian cause to commit some of the most horrific human rights abuses. Then they used Palestine as a washcloth to wipe the blood off their hands and faces.

The Palestinian cause is, on its own and by its own merit, supremely moral. Moral causes throughout history have attracted such deplorables who, aware of their own moral disadvantage, sought to leech off such causes, giving themselves a veneer of moral legitimacy.

The Palestinian cause is not in need of allies who support dictatorship, justify war crimes, engage in hate-mongering, or celebrate the crushing of other people. Our allies are those who struggle against injustice, not those who mock the victims of other injustices.

This is why the idea that I should shut up about Assadists and their ilk "so as not to split the ranks of the Palestine solidarity movement" is both ridiculous and offensive. They're a liability to the movement, and it's offensive to suggest I betray my principles for my cause.

I'm a Palestinian, and my blood isn't more red than the blood of my Syrian sisters and brothers. My life isn't worth more than the lives of the victims of tyranny and oppression elsewhere. I will *never* abandon my true comrades in the name of "politics". Never, ever.

We're not free until we're all free, and we're not safe until we're all safe.

الكلام إلك، واسمعي يا جارة