Newsweek reported on February 27 that social justice activist Shaun King drew a moral equivalence between the plight of the Ukrainian people under attack by Russia and Palestinians attacking Israelis:
I just wanna be clear on something…
It appears it’s now publicly acceptable to take up arms, make & use Molotov cocktails, and take any measure possible to defend your literal home & homeland from violent occupying forces & invaders.
Right? OK.
(Notes to self for Palestine)
— Shaun King (@shaunking) February 26, 2022
To its credit, Newsweek included a few online responses to King’s tweet, such as:
This example paints the Middle East conflict as simple as what’s happening in Ukraine. And it isn’t helpful in this sea of misinformation. The Hamas terror organization is the leading force behind the Palestinians heartbreaking suffering – not Israel.”
King’s parallel between the Middle East’s only democracy and Russia, which is reportedly attempting to remove Ukraine’s democratically elected government, is bizarre.
It’s also baseless.
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Russian Invasion vs. Israel’s Defense of Its Citizens
King claims a moral equivalence by asserting that Palestinians are defending their “literal home[s] & homeland” when they “take any measure possible” against Israel.
According to most members of the United Nations Security Council, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter that requires member states to refrain from the “use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” Notably, Ukraine did not commit or threaten to commit an armed attack against Russia or any other UN member state prior to Moscow’s military action.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem’s policies and actions are in direct response to Palestinian terror groups looking to inflict harm on all Israeli citizens — Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Moreover, while King may wish it were so, there is no independent ‘Palestine,’ as the Palestinians currently don’t meet the criteria for statehood as defined in international law. However, there is a path to Palestinian self-governance. The Oslo Accords, forged in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority the following year. The agreement was based on a promise by the Palestinian leadership to renounce terrorism and resolve all outstanding issues with Israel via bilateral negotiations.
To date, the Palestinian leadership has failed to live up to its obligations.
Unfortunately, in an otherwise well-written piece, Newsweek makes a similar mistake:
Palestinians had much of their homeland stripped from them following World War II, and they have fought to not only maintain what they say is theirs, but from Israeli attacks as well.”
In fact, it was the 1917 Balfour Declaration — supported by local Arabs living in British Mandatory Palestine who wanted to coexist peacefully with the Jewish population — that would have led to the creation of a viable Arab state. Unfortunately, for peace-seeking Jews and Arabs alike, the Arab leadership refused to drop its rejectionists positions and negotiate with its Jewish counterpart, and instead embarked on a path of violence.
Despite this reality, successive Israeli governments have repeatedly attempted to forge a path towards a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Related Reading: Even If You Will It, It Still Remains A Dream: New York Times, There Is No ‘Palestine’
Cloaking Anti-Israel Sentiments in Anti-oppression Values
Shaun King is an activist who uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. He has a massive online following, with one million followers on Twitter and over 2.5 million friends on Facebook.
The goal of the Black Lives Matter movement couldn’t be nobler: to eradicate racism. By doing so, the lives of black people in the United States and around the world will dramatically improve. Unfortunately, King is a public figure who is promoting hatred towards and violence against Israel under the guise of anti-oppression values.
Related Reading: ‘Apartheid’ Myth’s Improper Use of False and Misleading Claims Regarding Israel
In May 2021, as Israel was defending itself against thousands of rockets that were launched from Hamas-ruled Gaza by Palestinian terrorist groups, King penned a piece, titled, “The United States Is Writing the Checks for the Israeli Apartheid of Palestine,” which grossly misrepresents the actual legal and practical state of affairs within the Jewish state: one where rights and protections are extended to all citizens — Jews and non-Jews alike. Israel is a country where Arabs serve as Supreme Court Justices, fighter pilots, Members of Knesset, artists and athletes.
Everything that Jewish Israelis do, Arab Israelis can too.
Also, King has openly defended Louis Farrakhan, someone who has cynically manipulated the cause of social justice to push an antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda.
In addition, King is using the Russian attack on Ukraine — and his misplaced parallel to the Israel-Palestinian conflict — to promote an agenda that seeks to isolate and demean the world’s only Jewish state. In a February 27 tweet, he called for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel:
It’s WILD to see how quickly the world has rallied around Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Russia.
I see prominent people now advocating for BDS that said supporting BDS on behalf of Palestine should be made illegal and cause you to be put on blacklists.
— Shaun King (@shaunking) February 27, 2022
By equating a country’s ongoing battle against terrorism with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Shaun King diminishes Israel’s experiment in democratic governance that guarantees equal rights to all, while effectively normalizing the use of violence against citizens of the Jewish state.
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Featured Image: Tanks in Ukraine via ANATOLII STEPANOV; Palestinian throwing stone via Anadolu Agency
