But Withholding Funds Because We Glorify Terrorists Is Suppression Of Our Culture!

By Mustafa Massiqr

Culture forms a fundamental part of a person’s identity. The ethos he absorbs becomes a part of who he is, to the point that any challenge to that culture constitutes an assault on his sense of self, and he will resist that assault. Is it any wonder, then, that we Palestinians oppose any attempt to restrict the honor we accord those who try to kill Jews? Such attempts are nothing less than a denial of our unique culture, and will meet uncompromising resistance.

The ostensibly enlightened, liberal West has for years acknowledged this truism, leaving us to glorify our terrorists. We habitually use international aid funds to dedicate facilities in honor of those who committed massacres, to pay lifetime pensions to the perpetrators of such acts, and to support the families of those who were killed or captured in the attempt. Palestinian culture is all but defined by our devotion to uncompromising opposition to Israel, and that finds it most quotidian expression in the allocation of funds to those heroes and their families for purposes of glorifying their acts. Demands from Norway, the US, the EU, and now maybe even the UN (!) to restrict the accordance of such honor are demands to undermine the basis of our culture, and the institutions or individuals who issue those demands will face unwavering, possibly violent, resistance. You cannot define our culture for us!

Just give us your money and leave us alone to define our values for ourselves. Who are you to judge? Your weakness in failing to fully embrace the extermination of the Jews of Europe played a direct role in the establishment of Israel, leaving us no choice but to assume for ourselves the mantle of genocidal Jew-hatred that you cast down in such a blase fashion. Now that we have internalized that value and made it the entire focus of our national identity (as we lack any other distinctive elements of identity beyond the happenstance of geography), it represents the height of hypocrisy to demand that we abandon the pursuit you so heartily adopted for a few years not so long ago. We Palestinians do not demand that you drop your antisemitism, and you may not demand that we drop our unique brand of it. Imperialists.

This is hardly the first time the problematic dynamic of you cultural imperialists suppressing our indigenous culture. the authentic, robust expression of our culture already faces suppression in the form of Zionist limitations and prevention of honor killings – you should all know better than to contribute to further such endeavors.

Killing Jews is an ancient element of our culture, and the one thing we should be able to agree on. Pity.

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