Gaza has been Palestined

What does global support for Hamas’ rejection of Trump’s terms for a ceasefire tell us about the fate of the Palestinians?

Climate activist Greta Thunberg with other activists from a human rights organization meets with journalists in Catania, Italy, ahead of their departure for the Mideast, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

(First published on the Times of Israel)

The terrible suffering in Gaza due to Israel’s war to end Hamas and return the hostages is well documented. Thousands of innocent children have been killed, tens of thousands have been irreparably harmed. Suffering at this scale is not unique – look south, north, or east to see suffering at an even vaster scale in these same days and times – but that doesn’t excuse it. Despite the justice of Israel’s objectives, the extent of the damage is terrible, tragic, and must be reckoned with.

Yet, it was not inevitable. While I and others in Israel hold the government largely responsible for the impact of its failed strategy in Gaza, and I and other Israelis continue to protest to pressure the government to make a deal to end the war, no one with a moral and objective brain should ignore that Hamas could have, at any moment in time, ended the war by returning the hostages and laying down its arms. No one should ignore that they continue to delay their agreement to the terms laid out by Donald J. Trump and accepted by Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who flew to the US thinking the deal was near done.

If international elites believed Israel is perpetuating a genocidal campaign, wouldn’t they demand a swift end to the war by securing the return of hostages and Hamas’ military surrender? But they haven’t, and they won’t. Since global elites and the institutions they lead aren’t calling on Hamas to surrender its arms and return the hostages, what does that mean?

I believe the best way to understand elite attitudes towards the Palestinians in Gaza is through the lens of what has happened to the many other social movements that have been eclipsed by the Palestinian cause in recent decades. By first observing how those movements have been pushed out of our consciousness, I believe we can see the reason why Hamas’ responsibility in this current conflict is ignored – and the implications for the Palestinian and Israeli people.

For example, when I was younger, I had a favorite t-shirt with the Eyes of the Buddha, a symbol of the Tibetan struggle for independence. Decades have passed, and Tibet is still under Chinese occupation, and today’s activists can’t seem to drum up interest among the global elites despite millions of Tibetans killed, exiled, and oppressed by Chinese imperialism. Tibet has been Palestined.

In college, I met Simon Deng, an escaped slave from Sudan, who shared his first-hand experience with Islamic imperialism and the genocide of Africans by government-directed Islamist forces. Millions have been killed across Sudan, many more exiled, raped, and mutilated. Add to that the ongoing violence West of Sudan in the Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso. Even as you read these lines the destruction continues. Yet today’s activists can’t seem to generate interest among global elites. Not one mosque in the US or Europe has been defaced in response. Africa has been Palestined.

Or more recently, even while the Syrian civil war caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of migrants, tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya were murdered and hundreds of thousands exiled by Myanmar’s Buddhist government, a campaign that continues today. Only now they have nowhere to go, since Muslim Bangladesh has closed its borders to Rohingya refugees. No Buddhist shrine or Bangladeshi restaurant has had Free the Rohingya painted across it in red paint. The Rohingya have been Palestined.

And finally, I remember when Greta Thunberg was known for her climate activism, and the impending climate collapse commanded headlines. There was near consensus that global heating, already killing hundreds of thousands and forcing millions to migrate from equatorial regions, was the most pressing issue. Activists would march united against the dominance of oil. Climate has been Palestined.

One could view each of these as distinct events. Perhaps Black lives don’t matter if they’re African, perhaps Islamophobic attacks don’t matter if they’re attacked by Buddhists. Perhaps the climate isn’t a big deal. Or one could look at the underlying pattern: there are parties who have a lot to lose if these injustices remain in the headlines. Namely, the Oil Kingdoms and their main client, China. Attention to their support for the conflicts mentioned would be bad for business.

Because China and the Oil Kingdoms benefit from the current international system: oil keeps pumping, factories keep churning, elites keep buying. The one conflict that doesn’t affect that cycle, the one with sufficient emotional resonance to distract the elites, is that between the Jews and the Arabs in the Holy Land. That’s why we aren’t hearing calls for Hamas to accept Trump’s deal as Israel has, to return the hostages and lay down their arms. That’s why elites are willing to sacrifice the people of Gaza to keep their money flowing. That’s why Gaza has been Palestined.

Recognizing the impact of power and capital on intellectual movements is critical. Recognizing the financial sources driving the anti-Zionist movement and its implications on Israel and the Palestinians is key. Imagining those interests can be defeated with a well-honed argument is folly. Ignoring the dependency of international institutions on those same financial sources is ignorance. Mistaking UN or Amnesty statements for truthtelling when those organizations depend on the financial and political support of the Oil Kingdoms and China is naivety.

Those of us who care about the suffering of all human beings, who believe that the path to security requires the resolution of our civil war in our twice promised land, need to recognize that the Palestined global elites are not our allies. Nor are they the allies of the Palestinians.