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There are many racist tropes that are sadly far too prevalent but rarely receive the sort of condemnation they deserve in the mainstream because of the extent to which this racism has been normalized....
Part of this is due to a lack of education around these issues. There is a far greater general understanding of what constitutes antisemitism than, say, anti-Palestinian racism.
It is a good thing that people are educated about antisemitism, and more education is needed, and much credit must go to the organized Jewish community which has emphasized the importance of this education.
Toward addressing this gap in understanding, let’s talk about some common anti-Palestinian/Islamophobic/Orientalist tropes that are quite common and must be forcefully rejected and not approximated.
Here are a few:
Here are a few:
Trope 1: We Palestinians don’t exist. - Are you reading this tweet? Then you know this is false. Yet the denial of our existence is quite common at the highest levels of US society with recent presidential candidates even saying we are not a “real” people.
An example: israelhayom.com/2017/07/23/ric…
Trope 2: Nakba denial and minimization - Denying our lived experience of catastrophic & continued dispossession in our homeland or suggesting it was self-inflicted or deserved or denials of a legitimate connection of Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
An example: jpost.com/Blogs/The-View…
Trope 3: We are dangerous by nature - This is self-explanatory and sadly very common. Its the notion that we represent a threat by virtue of our existence. Every time you here talk of the “demographic threat” posed Palestinians, you are also hearing this trope deployed.
An example: usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
Trope 4: We Palestinians seek death - To further our dehumanization and enable violence against us, this trope alleges Palestinians, unlike other humans, do not love life.
An example: fair.org/home/cbs-host-…
Trope 5: We want our kids to die cuz it looks good on TV - Yup its that disgusting and yeah, it is quite common. It is related to and supported by the trope above. When you hear Palestinian civilian deaths blamed on Palestinians “using human shields” you are hearing this deployed
An example: forward.com/news/breaking-…
Trope 6: We are not who we say we are - Since we are not to be considered human, especially if we don’t love life and seek death, you can’t trust us. We are alleged to constantly have subversive motives and are masking our identity.
Example: ynetnews.com/articles/0,734…
Trope 7: “Pallywood” this is the equivalent of the “fake news” response to facts. Dismissing proof of abuse of Palestinians as faked. This relies on the conspiratorial idea that its more plausible that Palestinians are deceptive than that Israeli soldiers might abuse them.
Example: mondoweiss.net/2014/05/killin…
These are some of the most prominent racist anti-Palestinian tropes that come immediately to mind. It is important to note that while they are commonly anti-Palestinian tropes, many are broadly Islamophobic and Orientalist as well or reinforced by those isms.
It would be great to see the day when Congressional resolutions are passed that condemn this outright bigotry against Palestinians. Sadly, today, Congressional resolutions are passed that deploy and further it instead.
We can change that. We will change that.
We can change that. We will change that.
