Over the past few months, the world has been subjected to horrible imagery displayed in anti-Israel demonstrations. From the streets of London to the Harvard Yard commons, Palestinians and their advocates have screamed “Kill the Jews,” “Intifada,” and called to end Israel. Protesters have held marches, blocked highways, and “occupied” college campuses.
Many in the pro-Israel community worry that these protests have influenced American and global opinion against Israel. Not only have polls shown this to not be true, these protests, and their offensive methods and messaging, have helped influence American opinion to think positively about Israel.
On a hot Friday afternoon, I was trying to cool down by relaxing and perusing headlines when I saw a horrific story about a Palestinian who flew a large swastika-Nazi flag outside his off-road truck repair shop in Jacksonville, Florida. This wasn’t the first time Palestinians had used Nazi paraphernalia in their advocacy for Palestinian causes, but the insensitivity of brazenly associating with Nazis still shocked me. There wasn’t much I could do sitting in my house in Mitzpe Yeriho (a suburb of Jerusalem and Jericho), but it wouldn’t be right to do nothing.
I searched online for the number of the store, and before I had really thought about a plan found myself calling the number. The owner, Radi Ahmed, answered the call and asked how he could help me. I was taken aback that Ahmed would answer the phone like any other business. I was sort of expecting a greeting akin to “Heil Hitler” or “Free Palestine.” Without a plan and not sure why I called, I asked Ahmed if he had flown a Nazi swastika flag outside of his store. He responded by asking if I had called to curse him or to listen to him. I don’t think we should give Swastika-Nazi flag fliers a chance to express their views, but I heard myself saying, “Sure, I’ll listen to you.”
Ahmed attempting to normalize the swastika
What Ahmed went on to say disgusted me. It didn’t surprise me; I’ve heard antisemitism and all the usual slanderous accusations of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians before Ahmed repeated them one by one as if reading off a list of Palestinian talking points. Ahmed’s complete normalization of the Nazi swastika flag and his attempts to equate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the German Nazi treatment of Jews without any sense of hesitation or shame repulsed me. As a grandchild and student of Holocaust survivors and a rabbi to survivors, listening to someone try to negate the singularity of the Holocaust sickened me.
AHMED TOLD me that the genocide being perpetrated by the Israelis in Gaza required him to go further than just protest Israeli actions but to make the point clear to everyone that Israel wasn’t legitimately carrying out a military operation but was carrying out a genocide akin to the Nazi genocide of the Jews during the Holocaust. “People need to know the truth!” Ahmed emphatically explained over the phone.
“You can’t know what it’s like to be a Palestinian under Israeli control in the West Bank, you’ve never seen it!” Ahmed continued to lecture me. “If you had ever seen what Palestinians go through on a daily basis, you’d agree that flying the Nazi swastika flag was an appropriate expression of protest to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians.” Throughout Ahmed’s lecture he mentioned checkpoints and other perceived wrongs (in Ahmed’s eyes) that Israel commits against Palestinians. I listened patiently to his rant and waited until he finished.
When Ahmed finished, I calmly explained to him that flying a Nazi swastika flag outside his store didn’t promote truth. I told him that he had every right to his views on Israel’s conduct during the war and its treatment of Palestinians. I disagree with his characterizations and know that he’s wrong. I told him that I considered his opinion slanderous, but I wasn’t going to convince him, and he wasn’t going to convince me. I did explain that I live in the region that he’s referencing and if eye-witness accounts are a determining factor – as he claimed – than my opinion should weigh more than his on these issues.
I then went on to explain the difference between the Holocaust the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews and his version of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. I explained that the Holocaust was a singularly devastating event, incomparable to anything else that has ever happened in history. The Nazis considered the Jews sub-human beings, created a plan to completely wipe out the Jewish people, and carried out the plan. Had they not been stopped by the world’s military forces, they would’ve achieved their goal.
Israel considers Palestinians as people created in the image of God and has never planned to exterminate them. Under Israeli rule Palestinians have measurably better quality of life, life expectancy, and higher population numbers. Ahmed conceded that there was no comparison between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the Nazi treatment of Jews.
I offered Ahmed advice on how to best deliver his message. I explained that when he hung a Nazi swastika flag in a major American city, his story so disgusted Americans, who still view Nazis as their enemy, that his story made national news. By hanging his Nazi flag as an act of Palestinian advocacy, Ahmed had created an association in American minds between Nazis and Palestinians.
I explained that Palestinian advocates blocking highways, interrupting social events, and town hall meetings wasn’t endearing Americans to the Palestinian cause, but was achieving the opposite. Americans are watching Palestinians chant antisemitic tropes, cause interruptions, and now hang up Nazi swastikas, as polls show, they are increasingly supporting Israel as the war continues.
I told Ahmed if he wanted Americans to empathize with Palestinians and his claims (false as they are) to resonate with Americans, he needs to change his tactics. I finished our conversation with a promise from him not to fly a Nazi swastika flag again, and my explanation that I hope he doesn’t take my advice, but if he wants to successfully “tell his truth,” he should.
Americans have a highly favorable impression of Israel, Zionism, and the Israeli people because the two nations share values. When Americans see Zionists marching down Fifth Avenue in New York City, or at a rally in Los Angeles, or in their own hometown, they see American and Israeli flags held proudly, they hear America’s national anthem being sung, and positive messages about peace being chanted. Those images and messages resonate with Americans.
The writer, a Zionist educator at institutions around the world, recently published a new book, Zionism Today.