Since October 7 and the subsequent wave of student protests over Gaza, college administrators and politicians have spent a lot of time talking about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. But there is another form of discrimination that is often left out of this conversation: anti-Palestinian racism.
The university’s harsh response to campus protests — where the administration called the police on students over vague concerns about safety — is a recent example of how schools can engage in anti-Palestinian racism. for this the students And there are advocacy organizations Filed a complaint and by suing universities, including Columbia UniversityAccusations of anti-Palestinian discrimination.
So what is anti-Palestinian racism and why is it important to recognize it as a unique form of bigotry?
How anti-Palestinian racism differs from Islamophobia
Although it is often combined with Islamophobia, the two forms of discrimination are distinct: Islamophobia targets people for being Muslim and their religious beliefs, while the other targets people because of their Palestinian identity or because they support Palestinian rights. Anti-Palestinian racism focuses specifically on Palestinian culture, traditions, and their movement for liberation, often expressed through rhetoric and activism related to the Palestinian cause.
To be clear, there is anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia similar roots And there can be a vicious feedback loop. The dehumanization of Palestinians as savages, primitives, or terrorists, for example, perpetuates racist tropes not only about Arabs but also about Muslims more broadly. And portraying Islam as an inherently violent religion—one that is incompatible with the West—feeds the idea that Palestinians, who are predominantly Muslim, are incapable of pursuing peace.
But they are not always the same.
For example, effort per keffiyeh is prohibited, the traditional Palestinian scarf which is a cultural but not a religious garment, aimed specifically at Palestinians. Actively Avoid using jargon which describes the Palestinian experience, including the word “Palestine”. In many media outlets, this is a form of discrimination against Palestinians, not Muslims.
yet many people They are still keen to use the term Islamophobia as a proxy for anti-Palestinian racism. This is at best misleading – although most Palestinians are Muslim, not all of them – and at worst actively perpetuates pernicious, pernicious discrimination against Palestinians.
So, what is anti-Palestinian racism?
As with other forms of discrimination, anti-Palestinian racism does not have a single neat definition because it manifests in many different ways. According to a Report According to the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, an advocacy organization that focuses on anti-Arab racism, “Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. “
The insidious nature of anti-Palestinian discrimination goes beyond racist stereotypes: it has a chilling effect on talk about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and creates an environment in which Palestinians are discouraged from expressing their own identity. For decades, Palestinians and their allies around the world have faced serious consequences for supporting the Palestinian cause, including Retaliation at work, Government surveillanceAnd hate crimes.
And it has gotten worse since the Gaza war began. Although there is no complete national database for incidents of anti-Palestinian discrimination, in the three months since October 7, Palestine Legal, an organization that provides legal aid to individuals facing backlash for speaking out for Palestinian rights, Received over 1,000 requests For legal aid – more than four times all requests in 2022.
Anti-Palestinian racism is also a constant in American politics, rising whenever tensions between Israelis and Palestinians rise and attract international attention. But the erasure of that racism is so pervasive that even when it manifests itself in horrific and violent forms, it is not always recognized as a cause of violence.
After a 17-year-old Palestinian American boy in October was fatally stabbed In Illinois, President Biden’s statement failed to clearly acknowledge anti-Palestinian racism Possible motivating factors, focused solely on the alleged killer’s anti-Muslim sentiment. “As Americans, we must unite and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred,” Biden said. But the accused’s wife Notified law enforcement agencies He feared that his victims were going to “call Palestinian friends and harm him”, and he specifically confronted the boy’s mother, who survived the attack. what was he doing “To stop the war.”
In January, when three keffiyeh-wearing Palestinian students were shot in Vermont, the president again did not mention racism, instead Condemnation of violence and widely hated.
How Anti-Palestinian Racism Is Institutionalized
Anti-Palestinian racism is not limited to incidents such as hate crimes. In many cases, it is institutional. This includes governments Observing the Palestinians And Pro-Palestinian organizationAnd institutions like universities have cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests in recent months, incl Student commencement speakers are prohibited.
In order for such discrimination to not occur, first, people and more importantly institutions must reject the euphemism and conflation with Islamophobia and recognize anti-Palestinian racism as its own form of bigotry.
“I think it’s really important that university leaders, administrators and officials name the harm that is being done that targets Palestinians and is anti-Palestinian racism. Because to ignore it is to engage in anti-Palestinian racism and erasure itself,” said Radhika Sainath, Senior Counsel of the Palestine League. “What does it mean when you don’t say the word ‘Palestinian’? That means you’re not identifying people who are harmed by violence or censorship.”
Anti-Palestinian racism does not only affect Palestinians. “It’s something that can affect both Palestinians and non-Palestinians who share or try to amplify our narratives,” said Dania Majid, president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association and author of the report on anti-Palestinian racism.
In January 2023, for example, Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch, initially Denied fellowship at Harvard University After donors raised concerns about hiring him. Roth and others at the school complained that donors took issue with his statements specifically criticizing Israel.
In 2020, the University of Toronto Withdrawal of an offer A Canadian judge and university donor to an academic to head its international human rights program after raising concerns about his scholarship on Israel and Palestine.
Both these events were a larger part and Well documented pattern Universities denying tenure or promotion to scholars who are strongly critical of Israel or pro-Palestinian advocacy.
As a result of the broader assault on the Palestinian narrative, Palestinians are sometimes unable to express their own identity or cultural heritage without facing backlash. Hessen Jabar, a Palestinian American nurse at NYU Langone Health, for example, recently He was fired from his job In a short acceptance speech she gave after receiving an award for her work, she praised the nurses and health care workers in Palestine and lamented the suffering of the Palestinians. “It pains me to see the women of my country going through unimaginable losses during the current massacre in Gaza,” Jaber said.
NYU Langone said it asked him “not to bring his views to work on this divisive and charged issue.” But this is an example of how terrible anti-Palestinian discrimination can be: Palestinians are routinely expected to remain silent about their plight and the pain they feel about their homeland.
Another way anti-Palestinian racism manifests itself is under the guise of anti-Semitism. The US House, for example, Pass a bill It attempts to define anti-Semitism, but it essentially conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitic bigotry. Civil Liberties Group Warn if enacted, broad definitions can chill Palestinian discourse, making it more difficult for Palestinians to express themselves. “This means that Palestinian students cannot speak about their own experiences, they cannot criticize their human rights violations,” Sainath said. “No other student is forced to do this.”
Why naming anti-Palestinian racism is important
As long as anti-Palestinian racism is not mentioned by name, it will obscure our understanding of the discrimination many people face, allowing incidents of bigotry to go unpunished.
An honest conversation about anti-Palestinian racism would go a long way toward helping explain why the police response to recent pro-Palestinian campus protests was so swift and aggressive. As I wrote in May, protests are common at universities, which means administrators should have been able to handle the recent encampments. But the choice to call in the police to arrest student protesters, who were overwhelmingly peaceful, should be recognized as part of a long history of colleges and universities suppressing pro-Palestinian speech and activism.
Anti-Palestinian sentiment has also led some pro-Israel protesters not only to engage in anti-Palestinian racism but also to spread hatred towards others, including insulting Muslims, black manAnd Jewish people Those who participate in advocacy for Palestinian rights.
“Like many other forms of hatred, there can be intersectionality, and that’s true when our allies are speaking up for Palestinian human rights,” Majid said. “If it’s a black ally, we’ll see black anti-racism. If it is an indigenous ally, we will see anti-indigenous racism. [If it’s] Queer allies, trans allies, we will look at homophobic and anti-queer rhetoric.”
Finally, if anti-Palestinian racism continues to be ignored, it will continue to go unchecked. “Anti-Palestinian racism is not invisible,” Majid said. “It is, at this point, still an accepted form of racism.” And that can only change if more people start naming it.
