Many Arabs have suffered far worse than the “Palestinians” in Gaza, yet are given far less attention, precisely because Jews are not part of the story. Hussain Abdul-Hussain of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies discussed this several months ago here.
For non-Palestinian Arabs who have been suffering from war, there is a sense of unfairness that Palestinians have been monopolizing global headlines for the past century.
Here I disagree with the author. I don’ think that Palestinian Arabs have been “monopolizing global headlines for the past century.” The “Palestinian people” were only invented in the mid-1960s, on the advice of the KGB, as a way to refashion the Arab gang-up on tiny Israel, which would from now on be seen as a war between two peoples — Jews and Palestinians — with the former denying the right of the latter to a state of their own. I would say that the “Palestinian cause” only took off in the 1970s, a decade after the Six-Day War, when Israel, thanks to Arab propaganda, began to be seen as the Goliath to the Palestinians’ David.
Palestinians even get their own UN agencies, such as UNRWA, dedicated exclusively to the affairs of 5.9 million Palestinian “refugees” — when 12 million displaced Syrians, 8.1 million Sudanese, 4.5 million Yemenis, and 1.1 million Iraqis are all tucked under UNHCR and receive a fraction of the global resources and attention….
Why should it be, that among the hundreds of millions of refugees created after World War II, only one group — the Palestinian Arabs — have a UN agency dedicated solely to their care and feeding, that is UNRWA, with 30,000 employees? All other refugees must make do with one overseer, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR.
Only the Palestinians, and no others, are allowed to pass on their refugee status to their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on, apparently forever; the status of “Palestinian refugee” is treated as an inheritable trait. No other refugees in the world receive such treatment. Henry Kissinger was a German Jewish refugee. His son David, born in New York City, is not. Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian refugee; his son Dmitri, born in Berlin, was not. But the Palestinian great-grandson of someone who left Israel in 1948, after hearing an Arab broadcast that advised him “to get out for now so that the Arab armies can get in,” someone whose family may for three generations have been living in Marseille, or Manchester, or in New York City, is still to be described as a “Palestinian refugee.”
And yet, in their rallies and in the statements of their leadership — whether the Palestinian Authority or Hamas — Palestinians have praised Hussein, Assad and Nasrallah, and have shown disinterest in the tragedy of other Arabs, claiming exclusive victimhood.
The Palestinians support any Arab leader, no matter how murderous that leader may be, as long as he presents himself as a paladin of the Palestinian cause. Thus neither Mahmoud Abbas nor the Hamas leaders, have ever criticized such monstrous creatures as Saddam Hussein. The Palestinians in Kuwait, disloyal to a fault, supported Saddam’s invasion of the country that had taken them in; after Iraqi forces were pushed out of Kuwait, 287,000 Palestinians were expelled from the country. Bashar Assad, who murdered 300,000 Syrians, also caused six million to be internally displaced, and made five million others flee from Syria. None of that mattered; he was a “friend to the Palestinians.” And Hassan Nasralllah, head of Hezbollah, in 2006 dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel that no Lebanese wanted, save, of course, members of Hezbollah. That war caused billions in damage to Lebanese infrastructure. Hezbollah was also responsible for the colossal destruction caused by its careless storage of ammonium nitrates at the Port of Beirut that exploded on August 3, 2020. That “blast in Beirut” caused more than 260 deaths, 6500 wounded, 300,000 left homeless, and more than $15 billion in property damage.. The Lebanese have not forgiven Hezbollah either for the 2006 war, or for the August 4, 2020 explosion.
The other Arabs — in Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon — who have suffered at least as much, and often far more, death and destruction than the Palestinians — get far less attention in the Western media. Millions of them, not 39,000 (the current number of Gazans, both civilians and Hamas terrorists, killed so far) have been killed by murderous despots determined to stay in power (Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad. Omar al-Bashir), or by other kinds of civil wars that still have not ended (as in Yemen, Iraq, and Libya). But few care. For in all these examples of internecine warfare within Arab states, there are no Jews to blame, to whip up hatred against, to murder. The Arabs want to keep us firmly fixed on the real enemy, the Yehudim. And so far those Arabs are doing, alas, a fairly good job.
Mike says
Excellent article! However, don’t you know, that the Jews are to blame for everything bad that happens in the world?? (sarc!)
abu taleb says
If not the Jews, then the rest of kufars are to blame. Allah has promised that muslims will be wealthy, and yet, many muslims are poor. So who else to blame but the kufars (including the Jews), certainly muslims can not blame Allah for not keeping his word. Just ask any devoted muslim why muslims in Bangladesh Pakistan, Afghanistan etc are poor. LOL
rick says
The Nazi Big Lie continues in our time from the1930’s and its chief propagandist are the Palestinians. Only this time most of the world that fought Nazism now takes the side of the “poor” Palestinians. Do they know they are following pure Nazi propaganda? Do they care? Or do they simply still hate Jews as their parents and grandparents did. As Israel is the focal point for the Jewish people today, it has taken the place of all of the Jews in the Diaspora as the focal point for Jewish Hatred. Before the “enemy” was Poland’s Jews, French Jews, Italian Jews, Russian Jews, etc. Now it’s Israel. When an Israeli soccer team played in Europe just a few years ago, the chant in the stadium was “To the Ovens!” The past is always with us as horrible as that is.
carpediadem says
The “palestinians” ARE the Big Lie.
Patrick says
Mike said it all! Excellent article!
dumbledoresarmy says
Hugh: I have been reading your articles at Jihadwatch since the outset. Thank you. Thank you for persevering, for constantly countering falsehood with facts, and doing so in lapidary prose.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Seconded!
Good to see you again, DDA
carpediadem says
Agree heartily.
DDA, glad you’ve popped up again!
Have been wondering where you are!! Hope you comment more frequently, it is always a delight to read your thoughts!
gravenimage says
Hear, hear, DDA, re Hugh Fitzgerald. And I second Infidel and carpediadem in being glad to see you commenting here again!
JS says
I say to Hugh that this man could be using this complaint as a way to get the US to give aid or allow in refugees from another warring Islamic nation. Let’s face it, the only time that Muslims are fighting and dying – is from other Islamic nations. Reminder that the US is the largest funder of Syrian aid, and has untold number of their refugees in the US!
Burnaby Lad says
ashura in Oman
https://menafn.com/1108463044/Omani-Brothers-Behind-Mosque-Attack-That-Killed-Six-Police
gravenimage says
More violence celebrating Islamic holidays. Note that Christmas and Easter–and Passover and Holi–are not celebrated in such ways.
rick says
Palestinians are one of the Almighty’s curses on the world just like cancer is. They do nothing positive ; make no contributions that help anyone and devote themselves to the pursuit of terrorism. They live on handouts mostly from the West as well as some Arab states. That money is largely stolen by Palestinians to fatten their own bank accounts. They depend on the UN and other charitable organizations to build anything in Gaza that can be considered something people can benefit from. When they spend hard cash it is for terrorism. If they are given concrete to rebuild housing, it is used instead to build their tunnel system which Hamas has openly said is not for the use of the people of Gaza. Only for Hamas’ use. It is a horrible society and they should be integrated into another Arab state which should be Jordan. If they achieved a state it would be the worse mistake possible. It would exist solely for the destruction of Israel and the enrichment of certain political people’s personal enrichment. It would be a welfare state and only a welfare state.
carpediadem says
Rick, while you’re right in what you say, the West is only too pleased to give billions to the Palis to act as hitmen against the Jews.
rick says
Boko Harem and other Muslim terrorist entities are doing to Christians in Nigeria what Palestinians did to Jews on Oct. 7th in Israel. Attacking Christian villages. Killing as many of them as possible. Burning down churches and businesses – the latter after they rob everything of value. And taking hostages – mainly women and children both for sex , as slaves and using the children to join their Muslim war. Boko Harem and Hamas- birds of a feather.
William E Combs says
And yet the large and vocal black Christians in America are completely silent about the atrocities.
gravenimage says
It is not just Black Christians, but many Christians of all ethnicities.
Mick says
The MSM are not sending their Frederick Forsyths and John Simpson’s to danger zones.
A trip to Israel is cushy for Tristan and he knows plenty of Abdis over the fence with cameras.
Mick says
Frederick Forsyth quit the BBC when they disembowelled his reports on the Biafran genocide. So he stayed put, went freelance and shamed the government of Wilson and Stewart, and the civil service, inc Sir David Hunt, High Commissioner in Lagos.
gravenimage says
+1
gravenimage says
Arabs Suffering In Areas Other Than Gaza Get No Attention, As Jews Can’t Be Blamed
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Nothing new here…