Bella Hadid Chanted ‘From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free’: Why This Palestinian Nationalist Slogan Is A Call For Genocide
This weekend, Bella Hadid was widely slammed for joining a pro-Palestinian march in New York.
“On Sunday, Hadid livestreamed part of the protest on her Instagram account,” reported Insider.
The State of Israel’s official Twitter account, managed by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, responded, writing “When celebrities like [Bella Hadid] advocate for throwing Jews into the sea, they are advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State.”
“This shouldn’t be an Israeli-Palestinian issue. This should be a human issue,” the tweet added. “Shame on you.”
When celebrities like @BellaHadid advocate for throwing Jews into the sea, they are advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State.
This shouldn’t be an Israeli-Palestinian issue. This should be a human issue.
Shame on you.#IsraelUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/PJQHT90cNy
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 16, 2021
Insider continued, claiming that “No footage posted to social media shows Hadid calling for any harm to Jewish people.” All that the supermodel did, defenders say, is chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Where does she say this?
— Tammi (@TLaTela) May 16, 2021
However, despite the intentionally ignorant claims of many pro-Palestinian activists, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is, by definition, a genocidal statement.
The slogan gained widespread popularity among Palestinian nationalists in the 1960s, and at its core makes the argument that the Israeli land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea is Palestinian territory. The slogan was claimed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — a terrorist organization — in 1964, and is still claimed by another terrorist organization, Hamas, who currently run the Gaza Strip. Hamas are also responsible for the recent waves of hundreds of random rocket attacks on Jewish civilians.
Given this background, there are two reasons why “from the river to the sea” is a call for genocide.
Firstly, there is the issue of historical context. After Arab nations rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan which designated independent Arab and Jewish states, the Israeli War of Independence was fought between May 1948 and March 1949 after Arab nations invaded. At the time, Arab leaders spoke of “driving Jews into the sea” and ridding the region “of the Zionist Plague.”
This rhetoric, which has been repeated in various forms for decades, leads to the second reason why “from the river to the sea” is a call for genocide: how would this “freedom” be implemented? In the brief history of Israel, the surrounding Muslim countries have attacked on multiple occasions with the expressed intention of wiping Israel — and its Jewish population — from the map. The organizations which remain — such as Hamas and Hezbollah — openly share this very objective.
Given the Jewish “claim” to the land of Israel — which predates the very existence of both Christianity and Islam — the notion that Jews will agree to leave their ancestral home is absurd. This leaves one option — Palestinian “freedom” in the form of territorial control can only be achieved by force. More specifically, the eradication of Jews in Israel.
Some who use the phrase “from the river to the sea” may not know it, but this simple and seemingly innocuous slogan has deep, and murderous, roots.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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