The following was also taken up in an article I sadly can't find. But anyone with common sense and a sliver of empathy will agree with me either way, source or no source.
To people looking at the Israel-Palestine situation from the outside, it's easy to believe the first thing they see in the media. A very popular theme is that of the Palestinian mothers or family members praising the suicide attack/martyrdom of a loved one or even child, and proclaiming that they hope more will follow suit.
Hearing such talk can freeze the blood in your veins, and Israel loves to use this as propaganda as it falls in tune with Golda Meir's dehumanizing quote:
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”.
Meir's quote, and unfortunately, bereaved Palestinians reinforcing it, dehumanizes them in the worst possible way: a people collectively incapable of love. Think about it! Is it truly reasonable to believe such a people exists? How can an entire nation or ethnicity lack the capacity of love?
Most Palestinians who celebrate the death-by-martyrdom of a loved one are putting on a public show. Sure, there are fanatics who mean it, but that's rarely the victim's family, but rather, people who groomed the victim into "martyrdom" in the first place and are actually seeking to inspire more poor souls, mostly kids, because kids everywhere are suggestible fools.
I feel like I'm betraying them by telling their public secret, but I also believe the outside world should know better as it's not the intended audience: they pretend to be thrilled about this FOR PUBLIC APPEARANCES. It makes perfect sense actually: all the Palestinians have left is their flag, their internal solidarity, and an unbroken spirit. By far not all killings and other acts of violence against Palestinians are acts of self-defense or petty cruelty. Many, such as home demolitions or random arrests, are designed to DEMORALIZE.
Imagine if Palestinians let Israelis see their devastation and despair whenever one of their loved ones gets killed. Some do, but collectively, they NEED to stand tall and appear inspired to keep fighting. They NEED to have Israel believe that this new loss didn't break them, on the contrary, it inspired them. This is also part of the reason why they have so many children despite unfavourable circumstances: not to have more martyrs, but to foil Israel's attempt at reducing them to numbers that can't hope to call themselves a nation.
Feigning pride in their losses and appearing unbroken to not only Israelis, but their fellow Palestinians, is their last line of defence. We see this kind of behaviour in every day life, too. Think Lil Nas X: he caused outrage lapdancing on the Devil in a video. But this is him turning his pain, and the thing the world bullies gay people over, into something to wear as armour and throw back in their faces: "Yeah, you condemned me to Hell, but I like it here and you're wasting your energy".
What do you do with this information? First, stop listening to propaganda that dehumanizes these people. If you really feel a need to generalize a whole people for sociopaths, look at the one where folks grab lawn chairs and portable barbeques to sit on hilltops and watch their sons, brothers, husbands, and friends drop bombs on civilians. Second, do not judge Palestinians for saying those chilling things, and recognize how much collective trauma, pain, desperation, but also resilience and strength it takes to put that show on in the first place. Imagine yourself in their situation. Would you break down and cry and rage? I know I would. And my enemy would cheer at the victory of breaking me, adding to my defeat.
Speaking of quotes, one that broke my heart came from a Muslim Israeli friend of mine. And I think it holds much more truth than any hasbarah from Meir or Ben Gurion. He addressed my and many other people's question why Palestinians still support Hamas, knowing full well Hamas is bad news. I sat there, as a formerly very much Zionist Israeli, next to a man this close to tears, completely clueless how to comfort him, because helplessly watching your people's genocide while you were finessed into partaking in the society that does the oppressing, is not something a hug and a tub of ice cream can fix. It's not the pain, the problem, or the trauma of one unlucky person. It's an intergenerational, 24/7, multi-layer assault on millions, with no end in sight. If you're reading this, know you're loved, you matter, and you helped me see. 10 years later, I haven't forgotten that evening.
This beautiful soul said:
"Israel isn't letting Palestinians have anything worth living for. Hamas is promising them something worth dying for."
We are all human. We have all faked a smile to some enemy, in some way, to appear unbreakable to them, to ourselves and to those behind us. Palestinians are no exception.
