Foreword from Iznogood:
The term "Arab" used by Israel and the media to refer to the Palestinians is demeaning and hides agendas. By referring to the Palestinians as "Arabs", Zionist propaganda aims to dilute the specific identity of the people of Palestine and make their "transfer" (i.e. their ethnic cleansing) to other Arab countries more palatable: "They're Arabs, so they can go live in any other 'Arab' country", the terrorist Zionists argue.
Moreover, "Arab" is a linguisitic group, and is neither an ethnicity, nor is it a religion; the construct of an "Arab world" is a western colonial fallacy as it groups together a variety of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups that happen to speak the Arabic language that was imposed on them by the Muslim colonial conquest (Al-Fatah Al-Islami) of the 7th-9th centuries. Would you refer to the Irish, Scots, Welsh, Australians, Canadians, Americans, Jamaicans etc. as "Englishmen" because they all speak English and were all formerly colonized by the English crooks? Would you refer to the Swiss, Austrians, Alsatians, Dutch, Luxembourgers, Sudeten Czechs and other German-speaking people in Europe as Germans? Hitler did!
On the other hand, "Jewish" is a religion and not an ethnicity either. There are blond blue-eyed Caucasian Jews, Indian Jews from Indian subcontinent, Black African Jews, Iranian and Arab Jews... How can all these diverse people be called an ethnic group? The "Jewish people" is a fallacy invented by the European colonial Zionist invaders of Palestine to bring together a variery of different ethnic groups on the basis of their religion.
I took the liberty of replacing all "Arab" referent terms in the piece below by "Palestinian" to emphasize the unique Palestinian identity of the people who lived, and continue to live in historic Palestine, despite continuous attempts by foreign Zionist settlers to ethnically cleanse them out of their native country.
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Israel's top Palestinian MP says his people 'hunted' over Gaza support
Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian MP in Israel's parliament, speaks during an interview in his office (MENAHEM KAHANA)
In the office of one of Israel's most recognisable Palestinian politicians, framed pictures show him posing with famous figures like Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In front of Ahmad Tibi's desk is the Arabic slogan, "The more beautiful days are those we did not yet live," which the parliamentarian says is a poignant reminder for his people as they face increased scrutiny after Hamas's October 7 attack.
The attack resulted in the death of 1,195 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 37,765 Palestinians, also mostly civilian women and children, according to data from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
This has put pressure on Israel's Palestinian minority, who make up about 20 percent of the population and say they face escalating hate crimes and unjust police action.
"After October 7, hundreds of Palestinian citizens were hunted down, chased by the Israeli police for writing a post or a story empathising with the children of Gaza or saying no to the war," Tibi, the 65-year-old leader of a Palestinian-majority party, told AFP.
"It was, and still is, tough days for Palestinian citizens of Israel."
Adalah, an organisation advocating for Palestinian minority rights in Israel, said community members who expressed sympathy for Gazan civilians have been unfairly punished.
Between October 7 and March 27, Israeli police arrested 401 people, the majority Palestinians, for speech-related offences it says were tantamount to "incitement to terrorism", its figures showed.
In the same period, there was a total of 667 suspects for speech-related offences -- with only 13 Jewish Israeli citizens compared with 590 Palestinians.
"The crackdown on freedom of speech has created a situation in which Palestinian citizens... can neither protest nor freely voice their opinions," it said in a report after October 7.
- Anti-Palestinian rhetoric -
But Tibi says he and other Palestinian citizens of Israel were against the October 7 civilian deaths.
"We said here and everywhere that we are against targeting civilians... in the south of Israel -- any child, any woman," he said.
"Meanwhile, we are talking about more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza."
Yet in some schools Jewish students have called for the removal of Palestinian classmates who faced disciplinary procedures, even if some were acquitted.
At one central Israel dormitory protest following October 7, students shouted "Death to Palestinians!" and tried to break down doors.
In November, right-wing Israelis protested against a Jerusalem shop employing Palestinians.
But the lawmaker -- who says he has lost 13 Gaza relatives to Israeli bombings -- believes anti-Palestinian rhetoric is not getting the same reaction.
"All those on the Jewish side who called to deport Palestinian citizens, to kill all Palestinians, to destroy all of Gaza... no one was arrested," Tibi said.
Israel's government points to Palestinian roles in courts, hospitals and parliament as a sign of their acceptance in society.
But in 2018 Israel angered Palestinians by adopting a law defining the country as the "nation-state of the Jewish people", and Tibi only sees inequality getting worse.
"After October 7, it was ethnocracy, only for Jews," he said.
- 'We will remain' -
Tibi himself faced the ire of Jewish Israelis after October 7.
"I received not tens, but hundreds of threats by ordinary Israelis. When there is a war... everyone is considered to be a legitimate target."
Asked if he fears being attacked, he replied: "No, but I am cautious."
The one-time adviser to former Palestinian leader Arafat criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right ally National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for the worsening treatment of Palestinians.
"He's a terrorist, according to the Israeli law," he said of Ben Gvir, a settler convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation over his ties to a banned Jewish extremist group.
Ben Gvir has in turn called Tibi a terrorist and for his removal from parliament over his pro-Palestinian statements.
"The general atmosphere in Israel... it's almost fascist," said Tibi.
But, between dramatic hand gestures, Tibi says he still has hope Jews and Palestinians can rebuild bridges.
"I am realistic, but I am optimistic always, because I am on the right side of history," he said.
If the Gaza war ends, he says "democracy is the only way" to solve the crisis, with a Palestinian state that offers full rights.
"It is a natural right for Palestinians," he said.
Switching to Arabic, Tibi had a combative message for his people and their opponents.
"We face attempts at intimidation. We have withstood in the past, and we will withstand this wave of fascism and racism," he said.
"We were here, and we will remain here."
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