"Give me liberty, or give me death!" exclaimed Patrick Henry at the second Virginia Convention in 1775. Henry was calling for freedom from British colonial rule in America. The words of the Founding Father have since been immortalized, taught in schools nationwide. Henry is seen as a hero for demanding freedom. What he was not calling for is genocide.
I never thought I would see the day that calls for freedom or for a ceasefire would be considered controversial, let alone antisemitic. Simply put, they aren't.
Millions of pro-Palestinian protesters around the world have been chanting the famous "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" slogan. Since my own childhood, I've heard this chant at protests worldwide and not once have I interpreted it as a demand to murder all Jews in the region.
This year, however, has been different. Pro-Israeli groups have attempted to mar the slogan for liberation as being an antisemitic call for the genocide of all Jews in Israel. Freedom is never contingent on mass genocide. But it is these calls that have led to Rep. Rashida Talib, the only Palestinian in congress, to become one of only 25 members of congress to ever be censured. Talib was labelled as supported a "rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people" by 70 of her House Democratic colleagues. Similarly, in the UK, Labour Party member was suspended for using the phrase.
The river in question is the Jordan River and the sea is the Mediterranean Sea. Despite Israel's attempts to erase Palestinian identity from the region—from weaponizing museums and removing the dome and crescent from the minaret of the Jerusalem Citadel to literal mass expulsion and the building of illegal Israeli settlements—there can be no denying that Palestinians are present in the land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. Calling for their freedom should be a basic human right as chartered by the United Nations, and one that should echo globally. It does not equate to killing all Jews between the two bodies of water.
Palestinians in the West Bank have for decades lived under what human rights organizations have referred to as "apartheid" and the U.N. as an illegal occupation. Although Britain granted Jews the right to establish a state in British Mandate Palestine and enjoy self-determination, the same rights have since been denied to Palestinians in the West Bank who have farmed those lands for centuries.
Chants of freedom reverberated across the U.S. after something as basic as a face mask mandate was implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. Now imagine living under a brutal military occupation where you can be held in detention without charge, where even collecting rainwater can be deemed illegal by Israel, not to mention living under the threat of ruthless collective punishment. While Arab citizens of Israel enjoy nearly all the same rights as their Jewish counterparts, there are still areas where they are unequal, specifically when it comes to pertaining building permits.
Calling for freedom between the river and the sea, is to call for justice, equality and dignity for all Palestinians.
If you believe otherwise and that calling for the freedom of Palestinians means a call for the eradication of all Jews, it says more about you than it does about Palestinians. Let us not forget that it was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party that was founded with a charter stating inn no uncertain terms that "From the river to the sea, there will only be Israeli sovereignty," a policy which, unlike Palestinian chants for freedom, has allegedly been implemented.
Palestinian justice movements may differ about their end goal. Some support the Oslo agreement and a two-state solution, while others call for a complete dismantling of Israel to create a one state solution. Neither of these options, however, are contingent on a mass genocide of Jews.
Being present at many of the protests around the world, I myself have seen a plethora of Jews walking side by side pro-Palestinian activists calling for peace and a ceasefire in the Middle East. This is not a question of race or religion but one of life and dignity.
Never has calling for peace been a contentious issue, and when 153 nations vote in favor of a ceasefire versus 10 at the U.N. General Assembly, you have to ask whether you are truly supporting justice.
Israel is a political entity that happens to be Jewish. Just as cries of war crimes against U.S. wars are not an attack on Americans, calling for freedom and for a ceasefire is by no means antisemitic. As Nelson Mandela once said, "We aren't truly free until Palestine is free."
Ahmed Twaij is a freelance journalist and filmmaker focusing mainly on U.S. politics, social justice and the Middle East. His Twitter is @twaiji.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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