Elias Rodriguez could have yelled words like “genocide” and “apartheid” after he murdered two young Israelis in Washington last week. Instead, he uttered the “Free, free Palestine” chant that has inundated college campuses and city streets since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
Why did he go for “free Palestine” rather than more lethal accusations? After all, if he was hoping to justify his monstrous act, shouldn’t he try to make Israel look like a genocidal monster?
“Free Palestine” does none of that, but it may be more lethal.
We can use facts to debunk libelous claims like “genocide” and “apartheid.” Debunking “free Palestine,” however, is more difficult because it’s emotional and sounds reasonable. Who doesn’t deserve freedom?
“Free Palestine” gives a patina of nobility to a movement driven not by liberating Palestinians but by annihilating the Jewish state. That’s precisely why if we must debunk anything in the defense of Israel, “free Palestine” should be on top of the list.
The anti-Israel DNA among Israel’s neighbors has been around for a long time. Years before anyone heard of an occupation, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin had this to say in a 1947 speech:
“For the Jews, the principle was the creation of a sovereign Jewish state. For the Arabs, the principle was to resist, to the last, the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine.”
Few authors have understood this agenda better than author Einat Wilf, a former peace activist who was involved in multiple rounds of peace negotiations. She noted something consistent during those negotiations: every time Palestinian leaders were offered statehood, they said no. After one such rejection, Arafat launched an intifada.
Others noted the chronic rejectionism, but Wilf was among those who took it very seriously, even if that made peace a pipe dream. The rejectionism was a hard truth that demanded recognition.
In recent years, Wilf has written several books and coined the phrase “Palestinianism” to denote the number one obstacle to peace.
As she describes it, “[Palestinianism] is not primarily about creating a better future for Palestinians. It is a rejectionist ideology defined by its opposition to Israel. Palestinianism is not about borders or rights — it is about erasing Jewish sovereignty.
“It teaches victimhood and martyrdom. It glorifies death. It has infiltrated Western discourse, weaponized human rights language, and united the far left and far right in a strange alliance of hate.”
This makes the chants of “free Palestine” not just misleading but a hoax. Indeed, the rage against Israel we’ve seen since Oct. 7 has had nothing to do with helping Palestinians and everything to do with eradicating a Jewish presence from “the river to the sea.”
If protesters were serious about “freeing” Palestinians, they would go after those who hold them captive— their own leaders who have sold them a bill of goods about destroying Israel, who have rejected every peace offer and who hide behind civilians after provoking wars against Israel.
Israel is far from perfect and makes plenty of mistakes, but here’s one mistake it has not made: It didn’t start the war against Hamas, nor did it start the war against Hezbollah or the Houthis or Iran or any of the terror entities sworn to extinguish the Jewish state.
Here’s another mistake Israel has not made: It didn’t indoctrinate Palestinian society with genocidal Jew-hatred in schools, mosques, camps and media. That sin was all on the shoulders of corrupt Palestinian leaders who have put their fat Swiss bank accounts ahead of the welfare of their own people.
There’s only one honest chant for those who pretend to care about the welfare of Palestinians in Gaza:
“Free Palestine from Hamas.”
Which brings me to a third mistake Israel has not made: It didn’t spend billions of international aid on building a network of terror tunnels and weapon factories throughout Gaza, including tunnels under homes, schools and hospitals. Israel has fought fiercely, some may say too fiercely, but the ultimate responsibility for the tragedy of the Palestinians lies squarely with terrorist leaders who couldn’t care less about their people.
None of these truths are self-evident when raging protesters on college campuses yell “free, free Palestine” like parrots performing social justice.
Last week, with the eyes of the world on him after he murdered two Israelis in cold blood, Rodriguez was one of those parrots. He blurted out “Free, free Palestine” perhaps assuming it was one of those chants no one could argue with. He may be right.
Because it sounds so harmless but is so misleading, “free Palestine” is the most dangerous chant of all, and for anyone interested in defending Israel and the truth, it requires maximum attention. The quicker we can unravel it, the better it will be not just for the Jews but for the “free free” Palestinians.
