Osman Softic || 27 March 2025

Tomorrow, the last Friday of Ramadan 1446, we commemorate International Al-Quds Day. The uniquely important Day of Solidarity of the Muslim Ummah around the world with Al-Quds, the Holy Land of Palestine, and by extension with the just cause and struggle of the Palestinian people for justice, freedom, dignity and right to self-determination and the homeland (the state of their own) which had been denied to them since 1948.

Palestinian people had been subjected to Al Nakba (Catastrophe) since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the only such state in the world which was created by the deliberate act of international community, the United Nations, under the conditions that the Palestinian state is also allowed to exist with full sovereign rights of its people next to it, in the same geographical space of historic Palestine.

This was the outcome and a good gesture on the part of the post-World War II order, to grant the European Jews who were persecuted victims of the Holocaust by the Nazi Germany in Hitler’s Third Reich. No one can deny that the Jewish people had suffered throughout centuries by Christian European rulers and societies but they had never suffered similar discrimination or abuse in the Muslim world. On the contrary, they enjoyed freedom, dignity and were allowed to contribute immensely to the Muslim world throughout centuries and to excel in science, medicine, technology, the arts, finances, trade and other fields of endeavor. This continues today especially in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Morocco where Jewish communities decided to remain.

Jewish people had always been part and parcel of the pluralistic mosaic of the Muslim world. Just as renowned historian Avi Shlaim recently noted in his memoirs when he wrote: “We were Arab Jews, our culture was Arab culture, we listened to Arabic music at home and we were equal members of the Iraqi society”. Shlaim moved to Israel when he was 5 years old. He belongs to a group of Israeli Jewish historians known as revisionist historians, due to their courage and objectivity to challenge the prevailing false historical narratives imposed by Israeli regimes of all colors and persuasions, which did all they possibly could to cover up the Zionist crimes against the Palestinians while presenting ethnic cleansing and occupation as an unfortunate outcome of war and defeat and even as the Palestinian and the Arab faults or inventions.

An-Nakba

When the Arab inhabitants of the historic Palestine, both Muslims and Christians alike, were expelled from their ancestral homes, towns and villages by the Zionist settlers and their militias and gangs known as Irgun, Haganah, Palmach, Stern gang and others, who hailed from Europe, America, Russia and other parts of the world, they were forced out of Palestine to neighboring Arab countries, while vast majority of them were pushed to concentration camps such as Gaza and numerous refugee camps such as Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

After each Israeli-Arab war which Arab armies lost, the Palestinian land was reduced and occupied by the Jewish Israeli settlers in what Ilan Pappe, another acclaimed Jewish historian, calls perpetual Nakba (Al-Nakba Al-Mustamirrah), the Gaza strip being the biggest Open-air prison in the world which the world had never seen before Israeli brutal occupation of Palestine.

It goes without saying that our hearts and minds are on this day, as always, with the people of Palestine in these difficult moments in human history, and especially in Palestinian modern history, when Israeli state wages horrific genocide against the innocent women and children, elders and civilian populations of Gaza in Palestine. This was with full support of the United States and European Union major countries despite flagrant violation of international law and genocide conventions by Israeli regime.

We all know the statistics, how many people were killed, Gaza is in ruins and two international courts ICC and ICJ have voiced their opinions and verdicts that Israelis are committing genocide in Gaza. Before that three major international human rights organizations: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and even Israeli B’Tselem documented crimes and discrimination against Palestinians naming Israel an apartheid state.

Arab and Muslim states and the “collective West” had been peculiarly silent about the plight of the Palestinians despite the ongoing televised genocide in Gaza. Besides the Islamic Republic of Iran, the only organized movements that are actively trying to prevent genocide in Gaza, in line of the western own generated doctrine of the responsibility to protect, which western countries use selectively when it so suits their own interests. They were members of the so-called Axis of Resistance, a conglomerate of pro-Palestinian non state predominantly Shia Muslim, but also Sunni groups in Palestine and Lebanon, which embody a profound sense of dignity against all forms of Israeli oppression.

More than 15 months following the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, the flame of the resistance is still burning bright with the fervent belief in the righteousness of the Palestinian cause by the heroic operations carried out by resistance groups in the support fronts. This momentous day, International Quds Day, is an annual event held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to express support for Palestine.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Al-Khomeini

Let me remind you my dear Malaysians, that in July 1979, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Ruhollah Al-Khomeini, announced International Al-Quds Day, voicing a complete support to the Palestinian cause against the Zionist occupation of Palestine, specifically emphasizing sanctity of Jerusalem and its holy sites Masjid Al Aqsa and adjacent precincts for the Muslims all over the world, noting its significance as the third Qiblah of Muslims, after the Makkah and Madinah in Arabia.

Although this Day is marked annually every last Friday of the month of Ramadan, Imam Khomeini has deliberately given it an international attribute in order for this day to be commemorated as the day of all the oppressed people worldwide, the downtrodden or the Wretched of the earth, as famous Caribbean and French doctor, scholar, and anti-colonial participant in Algeria Ibrahim Franz Fanon used to call it Al Mustad’afīn as it is known in Arabic and Persian languages.

One of the most disturbing phenomena of the last decade has been identification of anti-Zionism and even a mild and fair criticism of Israeli regimes with antisemitism. The identification of criticism of Israeli policies of occupation and subjugation of Palestinians and anti-Zionism as a settler colonial ideology with antisemitism, is unfounded and cannot be substantiated by evidence and basic logic.

Let me remind you, my dear fellow Malaysians and Muslims wherever you come from, that some of the most principled critics and opponents of Zionism and Israeli genocide, oppression, occupation, expansionism and oppression of the Palestinians were Jews themselves. They are the shining light in the age of darkness.

Many of you may recall the names of Ilan Pappe, Gideon Levy, Aroon Mate, Max Blumenthal, Jeffrey Sachs, Antony Loewenstein and hundreds and thousands of other Jewish pro-Palestinian activists who are very vocal in criticizing Israeli genocide and apartheid regime. They protest together with Palestinian activists and students on western university campuses.

They are the living proves that the struggle for Palestine and its freedom and justice is not antisemitism as Israeli Hasbarah – regime propaganda machinery would want the world to think and to believe. 

Anti-semitism

As soon as Zionism appeared on the stage of history, at the end of the 19th century, opposition to it emerged within the Jewish world. The Ultra-Orthodox Jews opposed it, Reform movements within Jewish community opposed it, Jewish liberals and communists, as well as Jewish Socialist movements in Eastern Europe opposed it. This opposition to Zionism within the Jewish world is today quite small, but still exists. Nobody can deny that Jewish anti-Zionist legacy is still persistent.

Arab and especially Palestinian opposition to Zionism is not antisemitic, rather it is political in nature. From its inception. Certainly after the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Zionism was perceived and understood as a colonial movement designed to take over the land from its indigenous inhabitants, the Palestinians, in order to establish a political entity with a Jewish majority. This required dispossession of the original inhabitants of Palestine.

This problem had always been the root cause of the Palestinian and the Arab resistance, first to Zionism as a settler colonial ideology and project, and later to Israel itself as a product of this Zionist ideology.

This plan was clearly understood by the early Zionist leaders. For example, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who is regarded as the father of revisionist right wing Zionism we today recognize in the Likud party and other more extreme parties, He was the most infamous leader of Zionism in the early 20th century. Jabotinsky wrote an article in 1923. titled “The Iron Wall”. Where he admitted that Arab opposition to Zionist settlement is no different to resistance of other people in Africa, Asia, South America, and other native populations’ resistance to colonial occupiers:

Some left-wing political groups in the west oppose Zionism and Israeli policies and occupation in principle. They hold an emancipatory view of the world which opposes any form of colonialism in general, and especially the version we call settler colonialism. This position is founded on democratic values of national, political and civil equality for all mankind.

Israel and Zionism are severely criticized in a similar way as South Africa was during the apartheid era, or France during the Algerian war of independence; to the US during the war in Vietnam. These are small but positive international factors which Palestinians must utilize to advance their rightful position.

Major Challenges to ‘New Antisemitism’

Israel uses the weapon of antisemitism to discredit any opposition to its policies. This has become like a taboo in all Western countries. Israel achieved this with relative success.

In the late 1960s Israeli scholars and researchers began to develop the new concept which they called a “new antisemitism”. This is how they explained it. According to this strategy an old anti-Jewish sentiment had changed its form over the centuries and evolved. What used to be antisemitism is now directed, first and foremost, against the Jewish political enterprise of Zionism and Israel. In the last decade this position became dominant. An influential political coalition is advancing this position.

Why are they using this strategy? Because Israel cannot justify its occupation, expansion of Jewish settlements and its oppressive colonization policies, especially particularly in the Occupied West Bank, Jerusalem and particularly its ongoing genocide in Gaza, by invoking any available democratic and liberal discourse.  The only way to disguise its oppression is to use the weapon of antisemitism and manipulate this phenomenon which had never been present in any Muslim countries. Sadly, and tragically, this strategy has become successful in most western countries.

Let me give you one example. The ultra-populist and extremist right-wing party in Germany, AfD party and many Trump supporters and inner circle of the Republican Party in the U.S. are supporters of white supremacy. They also self-identify with Israeli racist colonial policies by supporting it and identifying antisemitism with anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism.

AFD convinced the German parliament to declare the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as a form of antisemitism. In reality, this legislation was designed by Richard Spencer, one of the leaders of the American racist and antisemitic white supremacy movement. Spencer praised the Israeli racist “nation-state law” and he claims that Israel is a role model for an ethnic nation-state.

Israel’s Redefinition of Jewish Identity

In recent decades, Israel has become a central part of Jewish identity around the world. As a consequence of this reinterpretation any moral critique of Israel and its national ideology, Zionism, are viewed as an attack on Jewish identity and are perceived as antisemitic. The transformation of the Holocaust into a central component of the West’s identity and its special sensitivity to antisemitism beyond the sensitivity to other forms of racism and bigotry e.g. Islamophobia).

Moral obligation in Europe to encourage the flourishing of Jewish existence after the Holocaust. Both liberal and conservative European identity today is based (among other things) on the conception of a so-called “Judeo-Christian heritage”. This European discourse requires a strong Jewish existence in Europe. This is the reason why all major currents in European politics adopted the position of mainstream Jewish organizations on this issue.

Populists, the far right, white supremacists, liberals, even progressives who are Israel and Zionist supporters, want to strengthen Jewish existence in Israel and Jewish existence in Europe. They are delegitimizing the Palestinian national narrative which views Zionism as a racist colonial enterprise that has established a model regime of negating rights of the indigenous people.

They participate in radically transforming the image of the Palestinian national movement from an emancipatory liberation movement whose basic demands are legitimate and just, to a racist and antisemitic movement, radically changing the political discourse on Palestine-Israel from one that requires Israel to be accountable for its occupation, settlement and colonization in the West Bank, Jerusalem, within Israel, and the siege on Gaza; to a discourse that proclaims every discussion about Zionism as antisemitic.

Resistance to Israel and Western Imperialism Presented as “The ‘Shia Cause’

Arabs and Muslim are firmly opposed to western imperialism and Israel. This is why some Arab Sunni rulers, especially those countries which normalized relations with Israel by joining the so-called Abraham Accords, have as of recently began calling all resistance to Israel as the ‘Shia Project.’

In 2004. King Abdullah II of Jordan, fearing a growing influence of Iran among Iraq’s Shia majority and their regional coreligionists, coined the phrase “Shia Crescent.” This was wrong and misleading, but deliberate to divide Muslims. This approach treats the Shia as a monolith and exaggerates the extent of control or influence Iran has over the region.

We are aware that state and non-state actors who assist Iran with its regional strategic depth – and significant influence are Sunnis, Druze, Christians, Alawis, Zaidis, and other non-Shia populations. This alliance is more commonly and accurately known as the Axis of Resistance and its major objective is opposition to both Western imperialism and the Zionist expansionist project. It supports Palestinian liberation and sovereignty of other Arab and Muslim countries.

Sunni Palestinian resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad are also considered to be a part of the axis. An armed affiliate of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Resistance Brigades (also known as Saraya), is composed of Sunnis, Maronite Christians, and Druze. At the state level, they are mostly Zaidi, Ansarullah-led, de facto government of Yemen while Sunni-majority Syria since HTS former jihadists came to power in Damascus with the blessing of Western countries and Turkey, has done nothing to prove its pro-Palestinian credentials.

On the contrary, new rulers in Damascus have already embarked upon dismantling the structures of the Palestinian liberation movement by denying it space, freedom of operation in camps and legitimacy by confiscating their assets, while privileging some and destroying others to please Israel, despite Israeli occupation of additional Syrian lands. They are also joining Lebanese Israel-friendly forces to weaken the resistance to Israeli occupation.

Sunni-majority Algeria has also consistently opposed Zionism and could strengthen its ties with Palestinians especially in light of growing tensions with neighboring Morocco which France supports, whose government has recently aligned with Israel.

Traditional western-aligned Sunni Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have all expressed their own concerns about this Shia-majority, ‘Iran-led’ axis, and along with Israel have opposed the Resistance Axis and are delighted by war in Lebanon and genocide in Gaza as it resolves some of their own fears which Palestinian liberation movement presents to them, especially they are eager to see Hamas resistance destroyed and eliminated.

Israel is advocating to create the so-called “Sunni-Jewish (Israeli) alliance”. This is the major ideological and political goal of Arab normalization with Israel). Sadly, many Muslims, including some in our own region are not aware of these developments and dynamics as they are deeply steeped in their Salafi-dominated exclusivist sectarian world view which Israel had invested a lot of time, energy, money and patience to produce as a weapon to undermine the Muslim unity which Palestinian cause and the sanctity of the Al Quds al Muqaddas present to the Muslim Ummah. Therefore, this day is a stark reminder for all of us to reflect on these phenomena and use our brains and logic to understand what is at stake for Muslims.

This new so-called “Sunni Arab – Jewish Alliance” alliance materialized in 2020 with the signing of the Abraham Accords and the normalization of ties between Israel and the UAE, Sudan, Morocco and Bahrain (the latter is a Shia majority nation ruled by a Sunni royal family). The Accord ended years of speculation that there were covert ties between Tel Aviv and some of the most significant and wealthiest Arab states.

It is important to differentiate between the policies of these governments and the popular sentiments among their citizens. According to an opinion poll carried out between 2019-2020 by the Qatar-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), the majority of the Arab world (88 percent) opposes any normalization with Israel. This includes the Persian Gulf: “Refusal to recognize Israel is proportionally the highest in the Gulf region,” the report found.

Palestinian cause was essentially abandoned by the Sunni Arab leadership, only to be championed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its regional allies. Symbolically, the first statesman to visit revolutionary Iran was Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat who was given keys to what was once the Israeli diplomatic mission-turned Palestinian embassy, as it remains to this day. “We shall liberate the land of Palestine under the leadership of Imam Khomeini,” Arafat declared during his historic visit.

Conclusion

Well before the Abraham Accords, there were signs that a regional narrative was being developed to aid Arab autocrats in breaking with the popular cause of the Arab/Muslim world, namely resistance to Zionism and Western imperialism. We have now reached an epoch, whereby vocal or material support for a plethora of resistance efforts in West Asia is seen as being ‘Shia’ or even ‘Persian’ rather than Arab or Muslim cause. These include the central issue of Palestine, as after all at the crux of it – that is to say armed struggle – it is only the Resistance Axis that now provides support where it materially matters.

The common denominator for these conflicts is that there is an opposing force to the Axis of Normalization and its US backer. Arab and Muslim populations everywhere would otherwise likely support operations to purge Western military interventionism and Israel’s aggressions from West Asia. But say ‘Iran,’ ‘Persia’ or ‘Shia’; the Arab Sunni elite manage to confuse and quash mass popular resentment of their own malign behaviors. Normalization and disregard for Palestine by Arab regimes emboldened the regime in Tel Aviv. To challenge this, a coordinated foreign policy of the Muslim world is needed.

Osman Softić is a Research Fellow at the Islamic Renaissance Front. He holds a BA degree in Islamic Studies from the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo and has a Master degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He contributed commentaries on Middle Eastern and Islamic Affairs for the web portal Al Jazeera Balkans, Online Opinion, Engage and Open Democracy. Osman holds dual Bosnian and Australian citizenship.