Even prior to the atrocities undertaken on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent response, the Israel Palestinian issue always received disproportionate media coverage when compared to any other global conflicts. The BBC’s online and text services for the last nine years have been reporting at least two items dedicated to this particular subject and moreover, each report had a negative anti-Jewish State slant. Similarly, CNN since time immemorial have had at least several minutes of dedicated news coverage on this geography whilst ignoring other conflicts and similarly to the BBC, their anti-Jewish state bias is readily apparent. Indeed, both have teams of reporters and offices based in Israel which in itself seems to expose their agenda and bias vis a vis other geography.
Those millions of people affected by wars and famine in Syria, the Sahel, the genocide on African Christians by Islamists have faded into oblivion giving way to saturation reporting on Gaza.
There is something familiarly sinister however about the Palestinian conflict that is frightening for all Jewish people and parallels events culminating in the Holocaust. Fueled by biased media and intolerant far left and Islamic extremism the street has been galvanized into protest which morphs into antisemitism and where Jewish communities in western cities are being attacked, threatened and unprotected. Antisemitic incidents are at record levels and the pro-Palestinian mob are behaving reflecting 1930 ‘s Nazi Germany. University campuses and academia provide comfort to the mob and the world of culture and entertainment, both usually safe havens fighting antisemitism, are knowingly compliant. Left and progressive politicians feeding off the frenzy are willing collaborators and the media is knowingly facilitating the mad dog frenzy.
It seems that Jews are being targeted because of the military action of Israel’s leaders. No other race, ethnicity, nationality nor religion would be similarly impacted. For example, Muslims are not targeted as a result of the slaughter of Syrians by Assad nor are Christians targeted because of Putin’s action in Ukraine. Jews however are treated very differently and synagogues, individuals, Jewish owned businesses and shops have been subjected to attacks not witnessed since the rise of Hitler in Germany.
Irrespective of the truth the mob continues on its violent courses of action and voices of reason are drowned in a sea of hatred and intellectual imbecility. The mob believe that not only are Israel’s actions bordering on genocide but that Jews stole and illegally occupy the land of the indigenous Palestinian. Allow me to debunk the mythology regarding stolen land and illegal occupation. I shall ignore the genocide claims as simply being preposterous given the events of October 7.
The Arab leadership testified under oath to the Peel Commission 1937 that all land in the geography known today as Israel, formerly Palestine had been legally purchased. The buyers were individuals, Jewish and Zionist organizations. Both this report and the previous Hope Simpson report of 1930 identified land categories and purchases thereof.
There were only five classes of land Mulk, Miri, Waqf, Metruke or Mewat. Mulk was freehold, Miri leasehold. Waqf was land under the protection of religious authorities, Metruke and Mewat was state land and wasteland and only owned by the state. These two categories accounted for about 80 percent of the total geography and desert, forest, swamps highways, byways and roads were all part of these categories designated under international legally binding agreements to form part of the Jewish Homeland under the League of Nations Mandate 1922.
Mulk or freehold accounted for a total of just three percent of land ownership and all Mulk land was acquired legally. Miri or leasehold formed approximately 17 percent of the total land area and in order to retain title the fellahin, peasant farmers had to prove three consecutive years of agricultural production and pay land taxes. As a result of malaria and drought, the fellahin could not achieve the productivity levels required nor could they afford the punitive taxes. Moreover, Arab ruling Arab, Bedouin family’s rand clans, realizing the land price rises as a result of Zionist demand drove the fellahin from their short-hold tenancy leased farms. Millions of dunams of Miri land was legally acquired from Syrian, Lebanese and Ottoman ruling families and clans and all documented.
One of the reasons for the mass Arab immigration into the geography during this period of land purchasing was simply non-resident Arabs leveraging up on the economic benefits and improved living standards created by the Zionists skill in agricultural development. Sir Winston Churchill made several references to this in Parliament as did numerous Arab politicians. The Encyclopedia of Britannica even recorded this mass Arab immigration in 1911.
The Lebanese Sarsaq, El – Salam families and Anthony and Michel El – Tynan from Syria are examples of those who sold millions of dunams to Jewish buyers. The Fellahin owned no land according to land registry records and thus proof that no ‘Palestinian’ land was stolen.
Another accusation from the mob is that Israel illegally occupies Palestinian land but both Gaza and the West Bank are within Israeli sovereign territory. The legally defined sovereign territory of Israel includes and has always included Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Golan is not included but occupied, which Israel under international law has a right to do because Syria is officially still at war with Israel. Until such time as Syria reverses this decision Israel under international law can still occupy the Golan.
Anyone using the description of illegal occupation when referring to either Gaza or the West Bank is promoting a false narrative. The arrangements of Israel leaving Gaza and dividing the West Bank into Palestinian controlled areas are purely political and not based on the defined immutability of international law.
The League of Nations Mandate 1922 (includes the San Remo Treaty) ratified and endorsed by the 1945 UN Charter Article 80 and the legally binding principles of Acquired Rights and Estoppel (both codified in the 1969 Vienna Convention Law of Treaties Article 70(1)(b)) confirm Israel’s sovereign territory to include the West Bank and Gaza. The last international ruling upholding this was the ruling of the Third Chamber Court of Versailles 2013. That is the immutable legal situation.
No UN Resolution has the power to amend nor create other precedent as per the UN Charter and the courts under UN jurisdiction are similarly restricted although both can make non-binding Resolutions and Judgements.
Irrespective of the truth, mythology reigns supreme and is used as the most recent weapon to promote antisemitism globally. Th world’s oldest hatred is alive and kicking and there are very few with the courage to raise their heads above the parapet and challenge the lies.
