Falsely Equating 'Intifada' with Terrorism:

The malicious characterisation of the Palestinian Intifadas as acts of "terrorism" and "genocide" represents an insidious attempt to delegitimise and demonise the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and liberation from Israeli occupation. The Intifadas represented grassroots Palestinian rebellion against decades of Israeli occupation and were characterised by nonviolent demonstrations and civil disobedience centred around boycotts, tax strikes, protests, and other measures focused against the occupation.

It was only after intense oppression from Israeli forces that resulted in the brutal massacre of approximately 1,100 innocent Palestinians, many of them women and children, that protestors adopted more violent tactics, still limiting themselves to throwing stones and molotov cocktails in the face of intense military aggression and force. Similarly, 3,350 Palestinians would also later be slaughtered by Israelis during the second intifada, with tens of thousands more gravely injured, once again showing the violent and oppressive response innocent Palestinian civilians faced when protesting for their basic human rights and liberties.

It is important, however, to remember that according to the UN charter of 1948, UN General Assembly Resolution 2625 from 1970, Protocol 1, an amendment to the 1949 Geneva Convention, UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 from 1982, and UN General Assembly Resolution 38/17 from 1983, the people of Palestine have the legal right to resist apartheid, occupation, and genocide using any and all means at their disposal, including violent armed resistance. Under the same laws and statutes, Israel has no legal right to "self-defence."

Therefore, the malicious characterisation of the Palestinian Intifadas as acts of "terrorism" and "genocide" represents an insidious attempt to delegitimise and demonise the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and liberation from Israeli occupation. To equate these cries for emancipation with "terrorism" or “genocide” is a purposeful act of dehumanisation that seeks to disparage and silence the Palestinian cause and render the victims of occupation and institutionalised racism as the aggressors, whilst sanctifying and absolving the state that has systematically stripped them of their homeland, rights and dignity through unrelenting violence, subjugation and displacement.

This documented pattern of falsely equating the Intifada with terrorism sustains the structures of settler-colonialism by inverting the roles of oppressor and oppressed and manufacturing consent for the ongoing genocide across Palestine.

Visited Israel or Supported 'Birthright' Trips:

By visiting Israel, individuals actively endorse and support a regime built on systemic oppression and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians through settler colonial terrorism. These visitors are complicit in legitimizing and normalizing a brutal apartheid system recognized and condemned by numerous international bodies, including the United Nations, the ICJ, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. [1] [2] [3]

Visitors to Israel tacitly approve severe restrictions on Palestinian movement, land confiscations, home demolitions, and the devastating blockade on Gaza, which has created catastrophic humanitarian conditions. These are not mere allegations but documented realities. The apartheid system privileges Israeli settlers while subjecting Palestinians to systemic discrimination and violence, with segregated roads, military checkpoints, and a separation barrier that fragments Palestinian communities and restricts their freedom. [4] [5] [6]

Tourism economically supports the state, indirectly funding the military occupation and the infrastructure of apartheid, including illegal settlements and state violence. Without acknowledging or engaging with the Palestinian experience, visitors normalize and legitimize these oppressive practices. [7] The financial impact of tourism cannot be understated. [8] Visitors who spend money in Israel bolster the systems of oppression that deny Palestinians their basic human rights. This financial support funds the Israeli military and infrastructure supporting illegal settlements. [9]

Programs like Birthright trips further legitimize the subjugation of Palestinians by promoting a one-sided narrative that erases the realities of occupation and apartheid, falsely presenting Israel as a safe and welcoming homeland for Jews while ignoring Palestinian suffering and dispossession. [10] [11] [12]

Visitors to Israel without a critical perspective are complicit in the violence and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. They lend credibility to a regime widely condemned for its discriminatory practices and human rights violations. By choosing to visit Israel, these individuals endorse a state that systematically violates international law and human rights, contributing to the ongoing suffering and dispossession of the Palestinian people.

Further reading:

• Tourism in Service of Israeli Occupation and Annexation
• Ethical Travel to Palestine & Challenging Apartheid Tourism
• Boycott Birthright & other free trips to Israel!