If you support the Palestinian people’s right to freedom and self-determination, please stop talking about “globalizing the Intifada” – I lived through the Second Intifada in Gaza, and I swear it was deadly, violent, painful, scary and I, along with many others, almost lost our lives because of it many times. Please don’t praise Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades; please don’t advocate for violence against Israelis or Jews, including those with whom you strongly disagree; please never tolerate antisemitism and be aware of how anti-Zionism can easily slide into antisemitism, though they’re not the same and I, of course, don’t believe any criticism of Israeli actions and policies is automatically antisemitic.
Please remember that Palestinians want a state of their own, and as such, you should promote the Two State Solution regardless of how seemingly impossible it is with the settlements in the West Bank – calls for the ending of Israel and the creation of a single state are impractical, wrong, unhelpful and won’t get us anywhere. Please seek alliances with mainstream Israeli and Jewish audiences, and don’t be deluded into thinking that by exclusively working with anti-Zionist Jews, you’ll be able to accomplish anything. Please encourage and permit for a healthy diversity within the pro-Palestine movement to allow for a whole variety of opinions, views, takes, positions, beliefs, and strategies – forced conformity never ends well.
Please adopt pragmatism as a necessary approach/ethos for actually getting things done instead of wasting time with slogan-driven and maximalist activism that does nothing. Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are going anywhere. I’m under no illusion that figuring out how the two coexist will be easy; still, I beg all pro-Palestine activists and young people who are getting involved with this issue to please not be driven by pure emotion or ignorance. Use your Western privilege to actually help the Palestinian people and promote a pragmatic path forward by engaging Israeli and Jewish audiences.