Solo Episode: The Horrors of Genocide

Disclaimer: This episode discusses subjects that may be inappropriate for little children. Listener discretion is advised. 

Shehla: Hi, everyone. May peace be on you all. It's a few days before Halloween, and as tradition would have it, past almost for years, I've been doing a Halloween episode. But this year things are a little different. 

First of all, especially with what's going on in the world, got me thinking, why do we love a good spooky story so much? And don't get me wrong, I love a good spooky story as well. But giving it a little more thought, I sort of came into a very stark conclusion that I think when we look for monsters and ghosts and ghouls and all these manner of evil things from outside of ourselves, I think humanity sort of collectively throws all the demons and ghouls under the bus that there's something out there that has to be far more evil than us. 

I come from Muslim background, we do have our beliefs in certain supernatural entities. We call them, we refer to them as jinn, and they can be either good or evil. But the fact of the matter remains that, even when you look at them in comparison, you could take any spooky, supernatural lore entity, literally anything at all. But I was hard pressed to really find anything that is as capable of widespread evil than humanity itself and has become very apparent, especially with what's going on in Palestine, especially in Gaza.

We as the world has really turned a blind eye to immense amount of atrocities that are happening to the people of Palestine. And unfortunately, it isn't new, and that's the really tragic part about this, that the people of Palestine have been suffering since 1948 from colonization, from an external entity that with the aid of the world has taken over land that belonged to the Palestinians for literally eons. They had lived and grown up there for generations, and in an instant, they lost everything, their land, their homes, everything was displaced. Thousands upon thousands killed in that process. And people would be like, “Yeah, but when you look at the Palestinian side, we have the organization Hamas, and they have caused this kind of devastation on the Israeli people.”

But now we can see especially with alternative sources of news and information and social media, thank God for social media that the devastation that is occurring in Palestine is a lot of indiscriminate killing. 

I don't advocate killing of anyone, no matter where it's coming from. But we do have to take everything into consideration when you look at the micro lens of the plight of the Palestinian people. And let's be real about this, Hamas has not always been there, Hamas existed after 1987. The people of Palestine have been suffering from colonization and the encroachment upon their land where whatever they owned is now in a really, really small strip of land when the entirety of the nation of Palestine would belong to the Palestinian people. 

And it's not just a Muslim issue. Palestinians are not just Muslims. Muslims, Jewish people and Christian people have existed in Palestine since forever. They existed as neighbors, they existed as one. 

And people are quick to point fingers and say, “If you speak out against Israel, it's like speaking out against the Jewish people,” and that is not correct. And as we saw in the capital, even thousands upon thousands of Jewish people, they came together in support of Palestine because they understand that what Israel is doing has nothing to do with faith at all. It is about establishing a state by force. And we in the United States have allowed it to happen for 75 years, where billions of dollars in aid every year goes to Israel. And not just like for the development of Israel, but for the military defense of Israel, a nation which has one of the most powerful military industries. And the US has backed Israel for a very long time, and we are seeing the result of that, where yes, Hamas caused so many fatalities and casualties, but what was the reply? The reply was that there was indiscriminate carpet bombing on innocent civilians. 

Places that forever have always been protected, even in times of war. They've bombed places like hospitals, churches, mosques. These places are places of sanctuary up until now, and this has been going on for the past two weeks. Almost over 3000 Palestinians have been killed, and half of those are children. So, with one action from the side of Hamas, Israel decided that it was all right to kill Palestinian people indiscriminately, all in the name of trying to find Hamas, but really, the actions, things like using chemical warfare, dropping sulfur bombs, these things have been unheard of on civilians and that's the thing. When we look at ourselves collectively, these actions make us more monsters than any monsters that we can possibly dream up of in our imaginations. And I think it's a poor excuse for us to really feel better about ourselves. 

I think the world can now see from an alternative lens, and I'm so glad that that alternative lens of social media exists, because the mainstream media has the same narrative where Hamas is equivalent to Palestine, and that dehumanizes the Palestinians, where people are turning a blind eye to carpet bombing, people are turning a blind eye to the imagery of suffering. They're going like, "Oh, there's a lot of horrific images that are coming out of Gaza, you know, it's bad for your mental health, maybe you should switch off the TV for a while." I can think of no other species that would even react that way other than people to the blatant suffering of their own. 

This issue is not about one side or the other. I would even venture on to say it's not about the Jewish people and the people of Palestine, that's not it. It's about our collective effort and our collective responsibility to put an end to something that has started 75 years ago, where millions and millions of Palestinian people were displaced, were thrown out of their home, where their homes were forcefully taken away, it has to stop. And we, the people in the US, have a responsibility because we are one of the major funders of Israel. We, the people of the US, need to really stand up and say, “That's enough.” There is a genocide happening of the people of Palestine where they are herded into a place, that's literally smaller than a lot of inner cities. Two million people herded into smaller and smaller spaces while they are being carpet bombed. This is no solution. And we the people of the US need to do something about it. 

It brings me some relief that there are widespread protests, but we need to do more. We need to call our representatives to make all of this madness stop. We need, firstly, a ceasefire, but secondly, a recognition that all of this land belongs to the Palestinian people and they have a right to return, no matter where they are. Because there's many Palestinian people who had to flee Palestine but can never return. But they should be given right of entry, right of citizenship that has been taken away from an apartheid state, where walls have been built, where so much high security surveillance exists, where children are put into prison for minor offenses, people are picked up off the streets and you never hear from them again. This has to stop. And we need to raise our voices louder. Our representatives, our politicians, need to hear our voices, that we need to stand with Palestine, that they deserve freedom. And if we do not, then their blood is on our hands. But as they say, what goes around, comes around. 

We, even in the US, live on stolen land that belong to an indigenous people and they deserve a right to their land. And if we don't, then I do sincerely believe the land will no longer keep cooperating with us. The land will retaliate because our greed knows no bound and we can see it now, where we destroy acres and acres and acres of land, all in the name of greed, same way in Palestine. The apartheid forces dig deeper and deeper into the land of Palestine and on the name of greed and nationalism, but that land will no longer cooperate with them. 

What we are trying to prevent is that the people are not driven out completely. So, the land can forgive the oppressors and the people can return in peace and maybe repair and rebuild what connections have been lost, what humanity has been lost. It is something that we must begin here as well. But we also need to facilitate over there, because it is our money, our taxpayer dollars, that creates divisions, war and genocide in Palestine. We need to do better and we need to do more. Please raise your voices. Call your representatives. We can't fund this genocide. Their blood is on our hands. Free Palestine. 

Thank you so much for tuning in to I'm A Muslim And That's Okay. And if you wish to follow my social media for more updates, you can follow me on Instagram, on Facebook and on YouTube. All the links to those are in the show notes. And if you are on Apple or on Spotify, on Podchaser, please do give my podcast a five-star rating. It really does help get me in the public eye. And if you wish to donate to support the podcast, you can do so through the PayPal link in my show notes as well. Take care.