Guests on talk shows, including public figures and politicians, often feel uncomfortable when asked about their stance on Israel’s right to exist. The answer is usually yes, especially in influential Western countries. A different answer could lead to accusations of antisemitism and a denial of the Jewish people’s right to life.
One of the most notable responses to this question was provided by British-American commentator and interviewer Mehdi Hasan, who is known for his sharp interviewing style and insightful interviews. Mehdi was born in 1979 in Swindon and has worked for major media organizations such as Al-Jazeera, MSNBC, and Zeteo News.
Mehdi Hasan and Tariq Ramadan (grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) were among the leading Muslim commentators in Europe. Mehdi Hasan’s answer is provided in greater detail in his widely read book “Win Every Argument”, published in 2023. Hasan poses three questions that constitute the answer to the question raised above.
1. What geographical area does the question refer to? Israel is the only country in the world that refuses to clearly define its borders or acknowledge where they begin and end. Is it pre-1967 Israel or post- 1967 Israel? What about the West Bank, Jerusalem, Mount Hermon, and the Golan Heights? These are considered occupied territories, and Israel’s claim to them is not internationally recognized, although Israel considers them part of its territory.
2. What does “the right of a state to exist” mean? He says it is a flawed concept. States do not possess such a right; rather, it is people who have rights. States change their borders, names, and structures; they disappear and re-emerge in different forms. This happens constantly. The Soviet Union, once the second superpower after the United States for seventy years, disintegrated into Russia and fourteen other independent republics. The same thing happened with Yugoslavia, which split into several states. The same occurred with Czechoslovakia, Sudan, and others. What became of the Soviet Union’s right to exist? Does the United Kingdom have the right to exist? If the answer is yes, then Scotland, for example, would have no right to vote for independence from the United Kingdom, and there have already been two attempts to leave the Union. Therefore, no one has the right to question the United Kingdom’s right to exist. The concept is meaningless, both now and in the future. Meanwhile, why did Palestine not have the right to exist, despite its name appearing in hundreds of thousands of Arab, British, and other documents? And why were the name, borders, and geography of the land itself changed to become Israel in 1948?
3. If we assume that a state has a right to exist, as some argue, then why does the question not include the right of countries such as Canada, Norway, or India to exist? This is out of the question, so why should we give anyone the right to question Israel’s right to exist? Those who raise such a question aim not only to justify the actions of the Zionist state in the West Bank and Gaza, its wars in Lebanon, its racism, and its insistence on the extermination and displacement of Palestinians and the people of southern Lebanon, as well as its brutal actions, but also to obtain a certificate of innocence for the crimes, massacres, and ethnic cleansing that Israel has been accused of committing since 1936 and before and after. This is precisely what Israel, or those who pose this question, seek.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
