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India: School Principal Booked After Students Recite Iqbal’s Poem- What Makes Muhammad Iqbal a Contentious Figure in India?
School Principal booked after students recite Iqbal’s Poem- What makes Muhammad Iqbal a Contentious figure in India?
Published
5 months agoon
By
Naira Mir

After the great poet Muhammad Iqbal’s poem “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” was recited by students during the morning assembly, a video of the event went viral, leading to the arrest of the principal of a government school and a Shiksha Mitra in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The Education Department has also placed Shiksha Mitra Wazeeruddi under investigation and suspended the school’s principal, Nahid Siddiqui. “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua”, also known as “Bachche Ki Dua” (A child’s prayer), is an Urdu language dua, or prayer, in verse form authored by Muhammad Iqbal in 1902. The poem has been set to music and sung in morning school assemblies in Pakistan as well as India.
While far-right groups have been using this and similar incidents in order to demonize Iqbal for quite some time, Muhammad Iqbal has become a contentious figure in India for many more reasons. Muhammad Iqbal is also known for writing the most popular patriotic song of India “Saare Jahan se acha Hindustan humara” (Better than the entire world, is our Hindustan), which he also called “Tarana-e-Hind” (Song of India).
Also, read The Crises of Multiculturalism In Europe And The Question Of The Muslim Immigration
School Principal booked in UP
A First Information Report was filed against Siddiqui and Wazeeruddin at the Fareedpur police station in response to a complaint made by Sompal Singh Rathore, a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) official, who claimed that a “religious prayer” was recited at the public school in an effort to convert the children. He also alleged that the principal “made” the students recite the Islamic prayer with the purpose of offending Hindu sensibilities. Police have filed the FIR against the two instructors under sections 298 (deliberate intention to wound religious sentiments) and 153(provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after taking notice of the complaint.
The complaint was lodged by Sompal Singh Rathore, a local leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. According to Rathore, students should be made to recite the Indian national anthem and “Saraswati Vandana” (a Hindu mantra for goddess Saraswati that is recited for music, knowledge, and wisdom). Instead, they were forced to chant “Mere Allah Burai Se Bachana Mujhko” (O Allah, protect me from evil) by the headmaster.
Read here, The Scope of inter-religious pluralism within Islam
Controversy over Iqbal- The Second Incident in Four Years
This is not the first time that a school head has been terminated because of a prayer. This is the second time in four years that a local VHP worker filed this type of complaint. Three years ago, in October 2019 a VHP worker alleged that the headmaster of a government primary school in the Bisalpur neighborhood of Pilibhit had forced students to recite a religious prayer that is typically recited in madrasas. As a result, the headmaster was subsequently suspended. The students also recited “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” by Allama Iqbal in that instance. Later, the headmaster was reinstated but moved to a different institution.
Soon after the complaint was lodged and the incident made it to the news, BJP spokespersons took to social media to support the FIR. Anyone who called out the absurdity of the complaint started to get trolled by BJP spokespersons and supporters who called these people anti-nationalists and supporters of a communal leader like Iqbal. Right-wing groups started demonizing Iqbal by calling him a bigot and father of the two-nation theory and a staunch advocate for the creation of Pakistan.
When a popular Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai took to his Twitter handle to express his disappointment with the incident, he was severely trolled. One BJP supporter and journalist even wrote an article dedicated to “demystifying” the myth of Iqbal’s pedestalization by the Indian left and Indian Muslims.
“While the nation and especially those advocating secularism know Iqbal only for writing ‘Sare Jaha Se Accha, Hindustan Hamara’, there’s much more to him that they conveniently sweep under the rug, which includes Tarana-e-Milli and the formation of Pakistan . . . The Islamic fundamentalist nature of Muhammad Iqbal became entirely evident as he wrote, ‘Cīn o-ʿArab hamārā, Hindūstāṉ hamārā, Muslim haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai sārā jahāṉ hamārā’ ”, the article mentioned.
Who is Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) ?
Iqbal, one of the most prominent figures in Urdu literature during the first three decades of the 20th century, transitioned from writing about subjects that were specifically Indian and reflective of pluralism and multiculturalism to using worldwide realities to arouse, stimulate, and encouraging the imagination of Indian Muslims. Through his stirring poetry, he was one of the first to teach socialism and the socialist movement to young people in India. In addition, he added contemporary philosophical ideas that he had learned about while studying in Europe and greatly expanded the range of the educated Muslim intellectual discourse while keeping it bound to their essentially Islamic roots. He advocated “socialism” cloaked in Islam in his fiery rallies against the powers of capitalism and imperialism.
Poems like “Masjide-e-Qartaba” (The Mosque at Cordoba) and “O Ghafil Afghan” (O Heedless Afghan), written by a celebrated and lauded poet like Muhammad Iqbal, fueled a rising fear that a “grave disaster” was waiting to strike the Muslims of the sub-continent. Iqbal was one of the first to notice the struggles that the Indian Muslims were experiencing on account of their religion, and to include it in his poetry. The fate of his fellow Muslims in various colonized lands seemed to foretell even worse things for Muslims in India, who were a minority in a colonized Hindu majority population.
Upon the formation of Pakistan, he was honored as its national poet, as well as earning the titles ‘Mufakkir-e-Pakistan’ (thinker of Pakistan), Hakeem-ul-Ummat (sage of the Ummah), and Shayar-e-Mashriq (poet of the east).
Also, read How Practical is the Secular Democracy of India? Curbing of Religious Freedom in Kashmir
The Vilification of Muhammad Iqbal
The most well-known of Iqbal’s many works is the timeless “Saare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara,” which he wrote in 1904 and which became one of the songs that propelled Indian independence fighters against British authority. The right-wing groups vilifying Iqbal keep reinforcing that after writing “Tarana-e-Hind” (song of India) in 19004 he went on to write “Tarana-e-Milli” (song of the community) in 1910. They use this example to display the contradiction between the India-loving patriot that he is thought of instead of the Muslim bigot and the father of the two-nation theory that he turned out to be.
The Tarana-e-Hind and the Tarana-e-Milli show the progression from “Hindi hain hum watan hai Hindustan hamara” (We are the people of Hind and Hindustan is our homeland) to “Muslim hain hum watan hai sara jahan hamara” (We are Muslim the whole world is our homeland). However, it might be worthwhile to consider his body of work as a whole to try and understand the movement in his poetic thought. Iqbal’s history and poetic career can be split into three phases. The first one is his patriotic poetry dedicated to the Indian nation and patriotism from 1901 to 1905, after which he did philosophical poetry from 1905 to 1908, and eventually, his work and poetry focused on the Muslim community from 1908 to 1938.
Iqbal is considered to have given the vision for the creation of Pakistan, whereas Jinnah is considered to be the one who shaped this vision.
While Iqbal’s “Tarana-e-Milli” is a poem that talks about the notions of Islamic universalism, it has no offensive hints at the Hindu community. Therefore, using this poem to call Iqbal a Muslim bigot seems absolutely absurd.
Hindu Right Wing Group’s blind hatred for Muhammad Iqbal
Soon after his death, Iqbal (1877–1938) was denounced as the creator of the “two-nation theory,”, a follower of pan-Islamism, and a fervent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. After being hailed as Pakistan’s “national poet,” this criticism gained momentum in the years following the 1947 partition. However, people of India should pause and think about BJP’s hatred for the same poet who gave India “Saare Jahan Se Achha Hindustan hamara,” a song that, incidentally, is used as the marching theme by not just one but multiple military bands of different regiments of the Indian armed forces.
BJP’s and other Hindu right-wing groups’ tendencies to perceive India through a starkly black or white lens, has led the Indian people towards majoritarianism and vilifying any belief system that differs from their own. The mindless loathing for Iqbal and everything he stands for seems unsurprising and even inevitable given the intensely volatile and polarizing times we live in.
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A recent Indian movie- The Kerela Story has stirred a huge controversy in India. The film professes to portray the tale of Hindu and Christian women who were persuaded to join the Islamic State (IS) organisation has caused a huge uproar in India. Many opposition leaders have denounced the film The Kerala Story, which is based in the southern state of Kerala. Some have referred to it as propaganda and an effort to sabotage religious harmony of India. The Kerala Story is the most talked-about movie right now, followed by The Kashmir Files. The movie is being viewed through many different lenses; where some people want it to be banned, while others want it to be promoted across all of India.
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The Kerela Story Controversy Over Misrepresentation of Facts
The Kerela Story, which was released on May 5, has become embroiled in controversy over misinterpretation of facts. Months before it was released, The Kerala Story started to cause controversy. When the preview of the movie claimed it presented the “heart-breaking and gut-wrenching stories of 32,000 females” from Kerala who had joined the IS, some legislators from that state urged for its ban in November. This was refuted by the fact-checking website Alt News after a thorough investigation that found “no evidence” to support the claimed number.
Women who converted to Islam are the main subject of the movie. As the film’s release date approached in April, it was confronted with legal issues and growing criticism. The Kerala High Court declined to block the distribution, but the film’s producers agreed to take out the controversial 32,000 women number from the teaser. “The compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala” was added to the description of the video on YouTube. This sparked numerous complaints from online users over claimed misinterpretations. Now that these facts have been brought forth, producer Vipul Shah has responded by saying that they are irrelevant and that these figures don’t matter.
Many acts of violence, including rape culture, hand-chopping, beheading, and trauma perpetrated to defenceless women, are graphically depicted in the film in the context of the Muslim culture and promotes islamophobia.
The film, according to a number of politicians in Kerela and Muslim leaders, would jeopardise religious harmony, demonise Muslims, promote Islamophobia, and might also humiliate the southern state.
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The Kerela Story Receives Both Criticism and Praise
According to analyst Taran Adarsh, the film’s box office success has been “extraordinary” for a low-budget production without any major performers. He thinks that it has made more than 560 million rupees ($6.8 million, £5.4 million) in five days, which he describes as “a feat for any new release”. On the other hand, many mainstream critics have criticised the movie for its performances and “lack of nuance”. One of the critics said that the movie’s ideas about Islam and [religious] conversion appeared to have come from hate-filled WhatsApp groups.
Audiences of The Kerela Story have praised and criticised the film, respectively, from various social groups. The “Kerala Story” has now sparked a major political uproar throughout the nation. While some states have made the movie tax-free, others have outrightly condemned it and proposed to ban it. It appears to be a point of disagreement between the states governed by the BJP and the opposition parties. A number of political organisations and parties, including the TMC, INC, and DMK, as well as some Muslim political groups, have been condemning the release of the film.
West Bengal on The Kerela Story
West Bengal is one of the first states that has banned the controversial movie. It is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee herself that has imposed a ban on the Sudipto Sen-directed movie “The Kerala Story.” “This is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state. What is ‘The Kashmir Files?’ it is to humiliate one section. What is ‘The Kerala Story? It is a distorted story,” Banerjee said.
However, The Kerala Story is currently playing across the nation without incident, thus the Supreme Court today demanded to know why film was being banned in West Bengal.
The West Bengal government responded to the Supreme Court’s order banning the screening of the movie “The Kerala Story” in the state on Tuesday. The government defended themselves by claiming that the movie contains hate speech and is based on fabricated information, which may cause racial strife and problems with law and order in the state.
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Tamil Nadu on The Kerela Story
In the state of Tamil Nadu, The Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association decided to halt the film’s screening on Sunday as “a precautionary measure”. The action has been taken to uphold law and order and safeguard their properties against forces opposed to the movie’s subject. Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association president Tiruppur M. Subramaniam said, “The film has been taken out of almost all theatres. The film was screened only in the cities. Since it is a Hindi film and has no recognisable faces, it will not have patronage.”
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Madhya Pradesh and Kerela on The Kerela Story
On the other hand, the state of the BJP-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh has made the film tax-free. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said “The film shows how the (life of) daughters who get entangled in the trap of love jihad gets destroyed. It also exposes the design of terrorism. While we have already brought a law against (forced) conversion, the film creates awareness about the issue. This film should be watched by all and that’s why the Madhya Pradesh government is declaring the film tax-free.”
Moreover, the Kerala High Court has refused to ban the release of the movie stating that the film is “inspired by true events”.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that The Kerela Story has gained the support of senior members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave it a favourable review at a recent political rally. Additionally, some party members have held screenings and given away free tickets.
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What the Filmmakers of The Kerela Story Have to Say?
Sudipto Sen, the Kerala Story’s director, claimed that the film’s objective goes beyond the purview of traditional cinematic creativity. Additionally, he claimed that the nation had long been in denial about the long-running Kerala problem. Sen told a group of Indian American reporters during a virtual news conference that “The country was in denial of the long-existing issue in the state of Kerala. The Kerala Story is a mission which is beyond the creative boundaries of cinema, a movement that should reach the masses all over the world and raise awareness,”.
“The film’s subject was hidden from the masses and deserved to be told. We made the film to initiate deliberation worldwide,” said the producer of the film, Vipul Shah.
“This is a very bold, honest and true film which in the beginning got no support, today stands at the point of releasing worldwide with a spectacular box office success in just 6 days,” added Vipul Shah.
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The Kerela Story draws Parallels with The Kashmir Files
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Featured
Zionist hate march in Arab East-Jerusalem Reminiscent of the Skokie Nazi march- 1978



Published
2 weeks agoon
May 19, 2023

I am not particularly infatuated with holding comparisons between religious Zionism and Nazi ideology. However, When I see with my eyes and hear with my ears thousands of religious Zionists who claim to be followers of Moses (peace upon him) shout in a hate march “death to Arabs” in the streets of an Arab-Muslim town, then I must call the spade a spade.
What is more outrageous is that the Israeli political establishment tolerates and tacitly encourages this hatred which reminds us of Kristallnacht.
I know such comparisons are annoying for many Jews. But is this my fault? Should I compare this repulsive racism and hateful incitement to Mother Teresa’s charitable work in India?
Skokie-1978
In July 1978, the American Social Nationalist party (the Nazi party) announced it would organize a march of several hundred members to the small predominantly Jewish town of Skokie in the suburbs of Chicago.
The planned march was widely seen as a brazen provocation. Not the least by Skokie’s Jewish inhabitants, many of them are Holocaust survivors.
Many non-Jewish people from all over the United States voiced their solidarity with the town. Their solidarity came as vociferous demonstrations were held in Chicago and other places in protest against the despicable Nazi feat.
Despite the negative publicity and widespread opposition to the planned march, a Federal District judge allowed the march to proceed if certain conditions and restrictions were met. Moreover, the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) voiced its strong support for the march on the basis of the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US constitution.
Eventually, the US Supreme Court declined to stay the order of Federal District Judge George N. Leighton, allowing the Nazis to demonstrate at Skokie. This, coupled with other factors. The factors including imposing a hefty fee on the organizers led to the cancellation of the march in Skokie.
This really brought a sigh of relief to anti-fascism forces, not only in the US but all over the world.
Hate March in Jerusalem: “death to Arabs“
I was still a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma when the Skokie story dominated Prime-time newscasts on the three major American TV networks namely ABC, CBS and NBC.
In class discussion, I remember I expressed my complete solidarity with the people of Skokie, especially its estimated 700 Holocaust survivors. After all, the Nazis were behaving beyond Chutzpah and adding insult to injury towards these people, who had survived despite history.
“Death to Arabs” means “death to Arabs,” not “death to Martians.”
Today, we are once again being affronted by another Skokie-style hate march. Last week, an Israeli court allowed extremist Jewish fanatics to hold a provocative rally in Arab-East Jerusalem, still under the Israel military occupation since 1967.
Last year, participants in the annual so-called “Jerusalem Day,”/a hate march marking the annual anniversary of the occupation of the Arab-Islamic holy city, cursed the Prophet of Islam (may peace be upon him), shouted “mavet le Arabim” or death to the Arabs, and called for the expulsion of Muslims and Christians from Palestine.
Read More: Israel is and will always be a crime against humanity
God knows that using epithets like fanatics and extremists to describe these haters is a serious understatement and a scandalous trivialization of reality.
However, we all must understand that there are limits to the use of euphemisms to communicate an otherwise ugly reality.
The world didn’t lecture Jews on how to relate to their tormenters and grave-diggers. Likewise, we will not allow anyone to dictate to us how we should relate to our own tormentors and grave-diggers. After all, death to the Arabs means death to the Arabs, not death to Martians.
Government of settlers, for settlers, and by settlers
The Israeli government thinks twice before upsetting these fanatics/religious Zionists who adopt a decidedly toxic ideology, based on a venomous combination of racism, bigotry, hatred, violence, vindictiveness, and ethno-religious superiority against Arabs.
Many of them are graduates of Talmudic schools known as “Yeshivot” which indoctrinates them in the genocidal, racist ideology of religious Zionism.
Interestingly, these extremists/ religious-Zionist constitute the main electoral base for right-wing Israeli parties, including Yamina, the party of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet.
Hence, Bennet is very careful not to alienate them.
Read: RABBIS WHO BRING SHAME TO JUDAISM
Toxic theology
The ideology of Religious Zionism (RZ), the official ideology of Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, has been dominant in Israel ever since the Likud reached power for the first time in 1977. It is much more than just racist against non-Jews. It is actually more or less genocidal. I wouldn’t go that far if I didn’t know what I was talking about.
In May 2007, Mordechai Elyahu, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, issued an edict that would permit the Israeli army to murder hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Arabs.
“If they don’t stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand. And if they don’t stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don’t stop we must kill 100,000. Even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop.”
Also Read: Israel has killed 55 Palestinian journalists since 2000
Humane Jewish traditions
I don’t believe that this repulsive extremism represents true Judaism, the Judaism that is based on the Ten Commandments.
Jewish traditions relate the story of a heathen who came to Shammai with the request to be accepted as a convert on the condition that he was taught the whole Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai drove him away with the yard-stick he was holding. Then the man went to Hillel with the same request. Hillel told the man “what is hateful to yourself don’t do to your fellow human being. That is the whole of the Torah and the rest is commentary.”
Unfortunately, the rabbis of religious Zionism, including the so-called Chabadim who have effectively replaced the Torah with a notoriously racist manual called “Hatanya,” pay no attention to such traditions. And when they are reminded of them, they arrogantly claim that words such as “man” or “human being” refer solely and exclusively to the “Jew.”
Recalcitrance
Earlier this week, the Bennet government refused an American request to reconsider the route of the planned March. One Palestinian official commented on this matter, saying “If Israel could say “No” to its guardian-ally, on such a small and trivial matter, and with the utmost contempt, it should be absolutely futile to expect the US to pressure Israel to end the occupation and allow for the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.


Israel, the misbegotten Zionist entity, on Wednesday, May 5 celebrated the 74th anniversary of its birthday, an allusion to the usurpation by brutal military force of the Arab-Muslim land of Palestine.
In the process, Zionist gangs, armed and funded by wealthy Jews and colonialist Western powers, such as the UK, carried out a well-devised terrorist campaign of indiscriminate murder and violence against the virtually-unarmed and defenseless Palestinian community, during which dozens of hideous massacres, like Dir Yasin, were perpetrated by Zionist gangs, like the Hagana, Irgun, Stern, and others.
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The grisly atrocities forced the vast majority of Palestine’s population at that time, in 1948, to flee their villages lest they face the same fate that the people of Dir Yasin, Tantura, Dawaymeh, and many other hamlets and villages had just faced.
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when 130 Jewish terrorists from the paramilitary terror groups of Irgun and Lehi stormed Dir Yasin near Jerusalem and murdered 107 Palestinian civilians. Other sources, like New York Times, put the number of victims at 200.
Also Read: Israel having free season on Palestinian civilians including Children and Journalists
In his Memoirs, the Rvolt, Menachem Begin, the head of the Irgun terror group, who eventually became Israel’s Prime minister, described the Dir Yasin massacre as a real miracle because it cast terror in the hearts of the Palestinian populace, prompting them to leave. Even before Dir Yasin, Begin was branded by the British government as “leader of the notorious terrorist organization and banned from entering the UK.”
Since Dir Yasin 74 years ago, Zionist massacres of Palestinians have never really stopped as successive Zionist governments retained and maintained the original Zionist strategy toward the people of Palestine. This genocidal strategy was aimed at achieving three main goals: Expulsion of the bulk of Palestinians. (There are 7 million Palestinian refugees today), enslaving Palestinians as as “water carriers and wood hewers,” (apartheid), or outright physical extermination. This is not propaganda or media hypes. This is the un-official but authentic ideology of the ruling Zionist establishment, even today.
Also Read: Religious Fascism in India & Israel: Tweedledum and Tweedledee
In 1967, Israel launched the 6-days war, during which it seized the rest of mandatory Palestine, namely the West Bank which was under the Jordanian rule, and the Gaza Strip, under the Egyptian rule. Thus, Islam’s first Qibla and third holiest religious place, al-Aqsqa, fell under the Zionist occupation.
When East Jerusalem was seized from Jordan, the Israeli army’s rabbi Moshe Goren, strongly advised army generals to blow up the gold-gilded Dome of the Rock, which is part of the Aqsa Mosque. However, a prominent general refused to heed Goren’s exhortations.
Ever since that time, Israel transferred hundreds of thousands of its citizens into the West Bank to live on land that belongs to another people. The purpose of this criminal act is to re-enact the White settlements of the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa and former Rhodesia as well as the Russian demographic presence in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, pending the annexation of the territory and possible expulsion and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Also Read: Palestine-Vs. Ukraine: Stark Western hypocrisy on Palestine and Ukraine
Numerous UN resolutions were issued, ruling that the settlements were illegal and in a brazen violation of international law. Furthermore, Israel consistently refused to consider the West Bank as an occupied territory, insisting that the region was a “disputed” rather than “occupied” land. The Israeli defiance of the UN and its Security Council’s resolutions is attributed to the almost total American submission to the Zionist entity.
A few years ago during a televised debate with an Israeli official, I confronted him with the settlements problem as he claimed that it was Israel that really wanted peace and that the Palestinians were the party that displayed intransigence. I asked him rather tersely if he thought that a peace-loving country would build 300 colonies on occupied territories and transfer hundreds of thousands of its citizens to live on land that didn’t belong to them. He was dumbfounded.
Clearly, the brazen Israeli insolence and arrogance of power stem from the absolute, unlimited, and total backing the Jewish state receives from the United States due to the overwhelming influence of American Jewry on the US government, congress, and political life in America.
Also Read: “Jewish State”: A Nazi Concept Implying another final Nakba
I remember one American writer saying half-jokingly that the Palestinians will not be liberated from the Israeli occupation until America is freed from Zionist domination. The Zionist stranglehold on the American government was described amply and analyzed elaborately by the late Jewish intellectual Alfred Lilienthal in his monumental book “The Zionist Connection: What price peace.”
The Palestinians remain the ultimate reversioner
Despite its military might, economic prosperity, and international connections, Israel still lacks the legal and moral legitimacy.
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, military conquests gave conquerors sovereignty over occupied territories. However, in the modern era, sovereignty, especially de jure sovereignty, can not be acquired or gained through war. Otherwise, the occupation by Nazi Germany of 8 European states would have been perfectly legal and compatible with international law. The same thing applies to the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait nearly 30 years ago. The same thing can be said about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
So what makes the Israeli occupation of Palestine, both in 1948 and 1967, different from the Nazi occupation of Europe, the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, and the Russian occupation of Ukraine. In truth, Israel and the Zionist movement have no convincing answer for this crucial question. Instead, they indulge in legalistic sophistry, historical prevarication, and verbal juggling
Some Zionist apologists try to outsmart themselves by arguing that Israel came under attack and that the occupied territory were won in a war of self-defense.
However, international law experts make it very clear that coming under attack gives a country the right to repel the attack, but not occupy territories. Thus, the acquisition of territory by military force is absolutely illegal under the international law. This is the reason most countries don’t recognize Israeli sovereignty over both East and West Jerusalem as the city, indeed the entirety of Palestine was conquered by military force, which gave Israel only a de facto sovereignty, but no de Jure sovereign whatsoever.
Needless to say, authentic de jure sovereignty would require all the normal qualifications of sovereignty, which Israel obviously lacks.
Hence, Israel should be viewed as a belligerent occupying power, irrespective of how many countries recognize it and have diplomatic and economic relations with it.
According to Hal Draper ” At the present time Israel is a belligerent occupant of the city (Jerusalem) and is bound by the laws governing such occupation.”
Headly Cook, an international law expert believes that Israel among all countries of the world possesses not a single inch of territory which she could assuredly proclaim to be her own in perpetuity.(2)
This is why, Palestinians, and Muslims in general, are strongly advised not to ascribe any legal or moral legitimacy to Israel, an entity that has been and continues to be a crime against humanity. (end)
(1) Draper, Hal. the Status of Jerusalem, p. 163
(2)” (Cook, Headly, Israel: A blessing and Curse, London 1960, p. 168)
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