With every perceived injustice that occurs to anyone, particularly in the West, not far behind are the anti-Israel activists standing by, ready to hijack any and every cause to make it about themselves. From May Day to the Women’s March, Palestinian activists are seemingly incapable of actually standing in genuine solidarity with anyone, but rather twist any and every cause to turn the spotlight back on themselves.
The last week proved no different with the trial and acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, an American teen who was responsible for the death of two (white) men and the injuring of another (white) man in the midst of the Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The court ruled that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense on all counts, and the jury found him not guilty. Those who disagreed with the verdict took to the streets, and to social media, to claim that this was racial injustice because he’s a white kid, and that a black kid in the same situation would not have gotten off in the same circumstances.
Setting aside the hypothetical nature of this assumption (especially when there actually are concrete examples of racial injustice), it certainly has nothing to do with Palestine. Yet that didn’t stop left-wing writers like Mairav Zonszein from immediately spewing ridiculous nonsense with a tweet reading: “It’s Kyle Rittenhouse verdict pretty much everyday over here in Israel-Palestine.”
It’s Kyle Rittenhouse verdict pretty much everyday over here in Israel-Palestine.
— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) November 19, 2021
As of yet, it is unclear what she was referring to, given the fact that many Palestinians don’t even have criminal trials with a presumption of innocence in places like the Gaza Strip when they’re accused of crimes far less severe, such as “collaboration with Israel.” Instead, Hamas executes them.
Things aren’t much different in Ramallah under the Palestinian Authority where government critics like Nizar Banat are beaten to death instead of given a fair trial with a jury of their peers, like Kyle Rittenhouse received.
Perhaps Zonszein was referring to Israel, which actually convicted one of their own soldiers for killing a Palestinian terrorist at the scene of the attack when the terrorist was already neutralized. The soldier then served time in prison for his act.
No matter how you look at it, the Rittenhouse case isn’t applicable. But anti-Israel activists aren’t concerned with reality when it comes to hijacking a cause.
In the protests following the Rittenhouse verdict, pro-Palestinian activists were filmed chanting for the destruction of the State of Israel and explicitly calling for an intifada.
This is the same phenomenon we have seen in literally every single protest, every single global issue, and every single example of racial injustice. Somehow, Jews or Israel are always incorporated in the most absurd ways.
Several weeks ago at the climate change conference, protesters in Glasgow raised Palestinian flags. Protesters held signs claiming that Palestine is a climate change issue.
Last month, anti-Israel activists supposedly concerned with LGBTQ rights, harassed filmmakers over participating in the Tel Aviv LGBTQ film festival, which featured both Israeli and Palestinian films, without a care in the world for the fact that Palestinians cannot even hold an LGBTQ film festival in the Palestinian territories.
Graffiti was spotted following protests for Britney Spears over her controversial conservatorship stating “Free Britney + Palestine.” In the Scotland-Israel football game, protesters held signs calling to cancel the match because of “Israeli Apartheid” – never mind the fact nearly half the team is Arab. Fans at the match were even fined by FIFA for booing the Israeli national anthem.
Throughout the last month, anti-Israel activists have turned the Miss Universe pageant into an Israel-Palestine debate by harassing and bullying Miss South Africa and calling on her to not take part because the pageant is being held in Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing to do with the Women’s March, nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, nothing to do with climate change, with police brutality, with hate crimes against Asians, with Miss Universe, with Britney Spears, or with the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.
The cynical attempts to hijack causes and make them about Palestinians is simply tragedy tourism on the part of anti-Israel activists, not to mention it is disrespectful to the causes they are hijacking. There’s a difference between showing solidarity and using the publicity of another cause to promote your own propaganda.
These anti-Israel activists should not be welcomed in spaces where they cannot show genuine solidarity; these cynical hijackings show their true colors.
The writer is the CEO of Social Lite Creative.