Syrian Journalist: Supporting Terrorist Organizations In The Name Of Solidarity With The Palestinian Cause Endangers The Middle East

In a column headlined "Hizbullah in Princeton" in the Saudi magazine Al Majalla, Syrian journalist Alia Mansour came out against the displays of support for terrorist organizations that have been evident in student protests at U.S. universities – such as the waving of Hizbullah flags at Princeton University – and against expressions of support for Al-Qaeda, which has killed thousands of American civilians, from Americans on social media. Mansour argued that it is ignorance about the Middle East that causes Western protesters who sympathize with the Palestinian cause to express solidarity with  terrorist organizations like Hizbullah and Al-Qaeda. Warning that expressing solidarity with these organizations endangers the Middle East, she called on the protesting students to use slogans such as "No to Occupation, No to Terror" instead of supporting terror.

Hizbullah flags at Princeton (Source: Twitter.com/MylesJMcKnight, April 26, 2024)

The following are translated excerpts from her article:

"In 2003, a few weeks before the fall of Baghdad, when I was a student at the American University of Beirut, I took part in student protests held in the city under the slogan 'No to War, No to Dictatorship.' Although we were opposed to the dictatorship of the Sadam Hussein regime, we  also opposed its overthrow by force and the arrival of foreign armies to save the Iraqis from the dictator. Naturally, our demonstrations didn't change a thing and Baghdad fell within a few weeks…

"'No to War, No to Dictatorship' is a romantic slogan full of revolutionary idealism. But years later we discovered – or a significant portion of us discovered – that this slogan we uttered is probably impossible to implement, since there is no room for romance in the decisions of the superpowers. Later, some even wrote that this slogan actually serves the interests of the dictatorships, whether  those who mouth it know it or not. [This is] because some regimes, no matter how much you oppose them by peaceful means and demand to change them by means of democratic political frameworks, the only way to overthrow them is by using greater force than they use to oppress and kill their [own] people. We later experienced this in Libya and especially in Syria, where the wars did not end and the dictatorships did not fall. Moreover, even the overthrow of the Iraqi regime has not provided the Iraqis with either democracy or prosperity, even 21 years after the fact. Nevertheless, the importance of this slogan, or of this experience, is that it allows one to look for a third option.

"Today, six months after [the outbreak] of the war on Gaza, student protests and demonstrations have spread across many American universities, demanding to stop the war being waged there. The students at European universities have also started to stage protests and sit-ins demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause…

"What caught my attention was the fact that some of the protesters at the American universities did not find themselves a slogan like 'No to War, No to Dictatorship,' and do not understand what is happening in the region. They not only oppose Israel's war in Gaza but declare their support for terrorist organizations, and thus the flag of the Hizbullah militia can be seen flying at the American Princeton University. Are those who wave this flag aware that they are supporting a criminal terrorist [organization] that is fighting against another criminal? How did we get from waving a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh to waving the flag of a terrorist militia? Do those who wave that yellow flag know how many children Hizbullah has killed, how many hospitals it has destroyed, how many women and elderly people it has besieged and how many young people it has tortured?

"A few weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the name of Al-Qaeda's former leader, Osama bin Laden, started trending on social media, when American [social media] activists reposted the 'Letter to the American People' he published more than two decades ago.[1] Some Americans started sharing posts and videos in which they expressed support for the claims made by Bin Laden – who threatened to avenge the Palestinians [and did so] by murdering thousands of American civilians – and expressed understanding for what he did.

"Some [now] rejoice that there is a new generation in the U.S. that has started to understand the truth about what goes on in the Middle East. However, the most dangerous thing that can happen to the Middle East and to the Arab and Islamic world is that this new generation in the West should think that we are like Bin Laden and Hassan Nasrallah and that the only way to safeguard our just causes is to become terrorists.

"Perhaps the slogan we should be chanting today is 'No to Occupation, No to Terror,' because [today] this slogan is not romantic but extremely realistic and is the only way to salvation. Terrorism should not be lauded in the name of our causes. Our efforts should focus on establishing a Palestinian state, not on waving the flags and echoing the messages of a handful of terrorists."[2]