Since the start of Ramadan, the Islamic Holy Month that commenced on April 13, nightly clashes between the Palestinian and ultra-Orthodox Jewish community residing in Jerusalem has escalated into violent clashes, leaving around 100 Palestinians injured and several others arrested.
Video footage has recently surfaced showing far-right Israelis chanting “death to Arabs” and “the people demand Arabs on fire.” Soon after, protests and clashes with police broke outside the Old City walls. The Israeli military, deployed in riot gear, dispersed the widespread protests, claiming that Palestinians were “throwing rocks and burning tires.”
Not long after the clashes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 213-page report on the Israeli’s regime’s ‘apartheid’ tactics used to subjugate the Palestinian people. The conclusions echo the findings of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, which found that Israel and its control over Palestinian territories constitute “a single apartheid government.”
Palestinians and their supporters were quick to share B’Tselem’s findings across social media platforms as a means of validating and exhibiting the plight of Palestinians. However, Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of the independent research website Jadaliyya, notes that those claims have already been sufficiently substantiated by years of activists’, scholars’, and citizens’ ceaseless bid for justice.
The events in East Jerusalem unravel old wounds for anti-Zionists who have repeatedly stated that Zionism, as both an ideology and the premise of the Israeli nation-state, was predicated on racism towards Palestinian Arabs and their gradual expulsion from their land. However, the lines between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are so often blurred in the digital age due to misarticulated expressions of support towards Palestinians or the splintering of the International Left.
This often ensues a battle of moral and political righteousness between far-right Israeli Israelis and far-removed Palestinian supporters. Additionally, it has allowed for the dismissal of the valid claims presented by Palestinians and activists alike in favour of discussions that do not address the problem at hand: the Palestinian people’s ongoing fight for justice, liberation, and self-determination.
At the time of writing, no further information about the dozens of Palestinians arrested has been shared by the Israeli military. The many Instagram posts and Twitter threads that have been shared as a result of the violence in East Jerusalem beg us to re-evaluate and innovate how those living in the digital age must reckon with the current Israeli regime and its proponents. This requires creativity and persistence from those who advocate for a Free Palestine. Sharing traumatic video footage of Palestinians bludgeoned by Israeli officers does not inform the wider public of what they do not already know.
A nuanced analysis of the situation and ideas for resolutions do not suffice when shared on a Twitter thread. Social media may act as an incomparable tool for raising awareness and inviting others to mobilize for a cause, but it falls short in its ability to protect Palestinians in real-time.
The question at hand is: what can those with limited resources and tools do when trying to stand up to a regime supported both politically and financially by the United States? This is the dilemma that Generation Z and millennials must wriggle themselves out of by standing on the shoulders of giants whilst also wielding power through the ever-advancing and ever-changing tools of the 21st century.