T Ash

It is with a heavy heart that I share a grim and dark assessment, which I have been hinting at for a significant amount of time, but have struggled to articulate, and even hesitated to talk about publicly: a terrifyingly large constituency within the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian-American communities have become far too extreme and radical regarding the issues of Palestine, Gaza, and hatred of the United States and all things Western. Worse, support for and endorsement of Hamas have become mainstream views and can no longer be considered “fringe,” especially within the “pro-Palestine” movement. Many Muslim and Arab-Americans and their advocacy groups have chosen to become single-issue voters and activists, making Palestine the only rallying cry to mobilize their voters, when numerous other issues and challenges face these two communities. Overt support for Islamism, as CAIR and Linda Sarsour make it clear here in this video, and the aggressive Islamization of the West, is being supercharged on the back of the suffering of the people of Gaza. I had hoped that support for Hamas among American and European-based Arabs and Muslims would begin to scale back when the war ended, creating some space and margin for introspection, self-critique, and most importantly, recognition that Hamas and violent Jihadi terrorists are not “resistance” or “martyrs” but the fuel for the annihilation of the Palestinian people. Instead, there is a stubborn unwillingness to offer even the slightest of critique to Hamas and the whole “resistance” narrative, even as Gazans suffer horribly as the group re-establishes its grip on power and control, and the extent of Hamas’s criminality becomes apparent. Worse, many of these “pro-Palestine” personalities are moving on from Gaza entirely, drunk on the recent Mamdani victory, which they view as an extension of their activism and campaigning over the past two years. It worries me immensely that in the near future, many of the young people involved in what has become the “pro-Palestine” cult in America and Europe will graduate to more violent stages of “activism,” all while worsening the isolation of Arab and Muslim diaspora communities from integrating into their countries of residence and new homelands. I also worry that the Democratic Party will be far too accommodating and tolerant of what are inherently intolerable beliefs, ideas, and actions, all in pursuit of voters who are mobilized by an extreme manifestation of identity politics that has been corrupted with radical academic theories, reckless rhetoric, and slogans. There is still time to adjust course and reject these trends. However, as long as a confluence of irresponsible Muslim and Arab-American advocacy organizations remains hijacked by extremists and pursues radical audiences for fundraising purposes instead of communal growth, safety, and transformation, there is little hope of change. Arab and Muslim-Americans are part of this great nation of ours, and many contribute immensely to our country’s success, defense, and prosperity. It is a strategic mistake to tie their fate and future to foreign conflicts, no matter how dear to them, as they adopt extremist and vile slogans and narratives, which worsen divisions and increase cross-community tension and isolation.