Can there really be peace in this Sodom and Gomorrah?: Reading the Clash of Civilisations post October 7th
Final essay
Introduction
“We will remember and work for the release of the 240 hostages, as well as for the safety of the 2.2 million Gazans also held hostage by Hamas. We will pray for the success of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] for a war Israel did not start, did not want, but a war Israel will win. Because we must.” (Messing,2023)
This was an excerpt from a speech made by actress Debra Messing at a March for Israel rally which had 200,000 attendees. She has also made all sorts of claims on social media stating that chanting from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free is antisemitic and that it is not Palestinians who are the victims of ethnic cleansing but rather it is Israelis who are the real victims for Palestinians can create a homeland in other countries but there is only one homeland for the Jewish people. Not only was Debra Messing showing her full support but roughly 404 celebrities signed the No More Hostages Deal and took to Instagram to post their full condemnation for what happened. on October 7th which was the day that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group took hostages: both Israeli and non-Israeli. However, most of these celebrities were solely voicing out their ‘condemnations’ for what happened and remained completely silent on the bombardment of Gaza.
However, after the false report in which there were claims that there were mass rapes, sexual violence, babies were beheaded and burnt and degredation as well as the mistreatment of hostages which has since been disproven, was released and of the families and the hostages impacted by the incident, both the media coverage and the strengthening of the Zionist lobby since October 7th can be seen as a Clash of Civilisations while the hatred towardsPalestinians can be seen as a Clash of Ignorance.
The thesis of a Clash of Civilizations was coined by Samuel Huntington in his book of the same name. Huntington defined a civilization as “the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have, short of that which distinguishes humans from other species (Assumpção,2020). The precis of his argument is that “culture and cultural identities, which at their broadest level are civilization identities, are influencing the patterns of cohesion, disintegration, and conflict (Huntington,1996, p. 25). In a post-Cold War world and with the rising threat of Iran, he wrote that wars will be fought between religions and cultures, not nations (Huntington,1996 p31). Huntington will contend that the conflict between Israel and Palestine stems from the clash between Judeo-Christian and Muslims, and that its war against the Palestinians is justified in order to uphold Western values.
However, this inherently creates a clash of ignorance. This correlation was derived by Edward Said. Edward Said wrote this in a paper of the same title in which he called Huntington’s work an example of ‘pure and invidious racism’ and an example of pure hitlerian science (Said,2001). He wrote that Huntington was reductive and ignorant to the cultural dynamics and transnational interactions between cultures, ergo clashes being redundant since cultures are not monolithic. He writes that with the increasing complexities of the global world order, it is important for one to not divide it based on civilisations but rather based on who has more power and who does not. He quotes Eqbal Ahmed in saying that such tribalistic divisions are “very reassuring to the men and women who are stranded in the middle of the ford, between the deep waters of tradition and modernity” (Ahmed in Said,2001).
This essay aims to examine the correlation between the Clash of Civilizations, the Clash of Ignorance and Orientalism through the examination of the events that transpired in Israel and Palestine subsequent to October 7th. Initially, I shall scrutinize the Western media coverage, mainly American news outlets of the events that have transpired since October 7th as well as Israeli television and social media channels and examine their impact on the clash of civilizations, and how this conflict is being utilized to bolster the Zionist lobby by weaponising antisemitism and victimhood. Subsequently, I shall examine the well-known hate crimes committed against Palestinians, in the United States in light of the recent news coverage on October 7th and subsequent coverage in Gaza due to the clash of ignorance and Orientalist claims.
The Media and its role on covering October 7th and beyond
American media is known to have an Israel problem with most media outlets being more sympathetic to Israel. In order for the support of Israel to be maintained in the public sphere, there are several narratives that need to be promoted. One of the notions that has been frequently perpetuated in the media is that an attack on Israel is an attack on the West. The media framed the whole crisis within the context of Islam, of cultural conflicts, and of Western civilization threatened by the Other (Abrahamian,2010). Huntington has also written that the conflict between the West and Islam has lasted for 1,300 years (Huntington,1996, p31).
The argument that Israel is the Western backed ‘man on the ground’ against barbarism and jihadism (Hammer,2023) further perpetuates the notion that the attacks on October 7th were an attack, not on just on Judaism but on Western civilisation as well. This is a legacy from September 11th, terrorism that is from the Arab World is seen as a threat to the way of life and are a threat to us (Said, 1981, p. xi in Powell,2011). With the October 7th attacks, this is proven to be even more accurate with the selection of footage of Hamas fighters with Israeli hostages and the perceptions that follow after that.
In conservative media outlets like Fox News, this rhetoric is more blatant. Since October 7th, the misinformation of mass rapes and sexual violence taking place has spread around . With phrases such as how Pro Palestinian movements are an anti-Western civilisation movement and how the violence that was carried out by Hamas was the ‘biggest crime against the Western world’. Jesse Waters from Fox News also called for the United States to deploy troops to Israel. Representative Max Miller also appeared on Fox News to slander Representative Rashdia Tlaib, a Palestinian-American representative for putting a Palestinian flag outside her office. He even called for Gaza to ‘be flattened and converted to a carpark’.
However, CNN and other liberal news networks’s agenda being covert, the narrative is still being perpetuated regardless. This can be seen with how even liberal news networks talk of the Palestinians. The Lead, a CNN programme brought on where he mentioned that Israel “has no way of coexisting or finding some diplomatic off-ramp with these savages” (AJ+ and Saeed, 2023). This was all due to the rampant misinformation like the rumor that was spread by Sara Sidner on the 40 burnt bodies of beheaded babies which has no evidence. There was also the news of Israeli pregnant mothers being cut open and having the foetus removed and babies being baked in an oven (Cook,2023). This was what happened to Palestinian women in the massacre of Sabra and Shatila where Palestinians were slaughtered in a Lebanese refugee camp by Israel and fascist Lebanese Phallangist forces (Staff, 2022)
Not only that, the sole priority being the release of the hostages like with the interview with Husom Zomlot, the British ambassador to Palestine and Richard Quest amidst the mass carpet bombing of Gaza perpetuates this narrative further by implicitly saying that the lives of those in the Western world matter more than those in Palestine. The number of Palestinian men, women and children that have been killed by the state of Israel has risen to 20,000.
Despite journalists like Motaz Aziza and Plestia Alaqad reporting on the situation in Gaza, many still fall prey to the clash of civilisations narrative, mostly due to willful and pernicious ignorance. With Plestia saying “I’m not just covering the news, I’m living it” , it is clear that the realities of Palestinians is different compared to Israelis. All of these lies were believed by members of congress like Joe Biden and Secretary Anthony Blinken as an indulgence of sympathy for their ally . In a statement, Secretary Blinken mentioned that what is different about the US, Israel and other democracies is their respect for international law (AJ+ and Saeed, 2023). This news coverage shaped the response for the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the strengthening of the Zionist lobby. This shows that the humanisation of Israelis comes at the cost of the dehumanization of Palestinians.
There was also a recent Christmas advertisement by the American streaming platform, Hulu where Santa was reading out Christmas letters from the children of Israel and how traumatised they were from the attacks on October 7th. This is not the first incident of adverstisments like this. There were also advertisements targeted at children by the Israeli government which featured graphic images and was animated like a children’s cartoon to gain sympathy from both parents and children on the plight of the hostages, some of which were children. This is evidence to show that the issue of children being taken hostage is an issue worth sympathising for, which it is but there is a complete disconnect with the Zionist lobby when it comes to advocating for the loss of Palestinian life.
Despite the eventual confirmation that the attacks on October 7th were premeditated, and despite the media’s awareness of the propaganda of Israel, the United States continues to exhibit a strong support for Israel, with very little doubt on the part of Israeli officials. This is due to how strong the ZIonist lobby is and the Zionist lobby has gotten stronger since the events on October 7th.
Strengthening of the Zionist Lobby
The Zionist lobby has always been strong in the United States but after the events of October 7th, this lobby became stronger. While the weaponization of Jewish trauma has been done in synagogues and is a staple in the childhood of every Jewish American home. However, since October 7th, the Zionist lobby has spread to even those who did not have an opinion on the issue previously albeit to there being an increase in support for Palestine amongst young people. Since the attacks on October 7th, mainstream American media has declared to be one of the biggest threats to Jewish people since the Holocaust. The usage of the Holocaust as a means to take up the cudgel against anyform of criticism against the policies of Israel is the precise purpose of the usage of the word: Holocaust to begin with. Since the events of October 7th, the Zionist Jewish community has been using the weaponisation of victimhood and the weaponisation of antisemitism to deflect from any criticism.
The weaponization of victimhood is one of the ways that this is done. Victimhood is defined as “the condition of having been hurt, damaged, or made to suffer, especially when you want people to feel sorry for you because of this or use it as an excuse for something” (Cambridge,2023).On Tiktok, Jewish- American influencers like Ellie Zieler and Talia Lichtstein have been calling pro-Palestine supporters antisemitic for not acknowledging Jewish grief and suffering. There has also been a recent campaign on X called ‘Would You Hide Me’ which is nod to the plight of Jewish people during the Holocaust where Jewish people would be sent to concentration camps and people would hide them at the risk of the regime. The phrase אין לי ארץ אחרת En Li Eretz Acheret or I have no other land . While Jewish grief is something that should be acknowledged but weaponising victimhood is a form of evading valid criticism of Israel, especially when Israel weaponises Judaism is a clash of civilisations in itself. Using the thesis of the clash of civilisations, the weaponisation of dualisms: Judaism and Islam and painting Islam as the enemy of Judaism, despite history pointing to the connections between the two. Zionism and its support led to the lack of shared values, which is in favour of the West (Assumpção,2019).
There has also been the weaponisation of victimhood amongst feminists and the queer community in the West and the non-Muslim Iranian diaspora. Since the dissemination of the fake reports of mass sexual violence and mass rapes, Western feminists have been at the forefront of the Bring Them Home Now movement. Female celebrities have weaponised the Me Too movement by calling out those who did not speak up for the Israeli women who were ‘sexually assaulted by Hamas’. In Israel, there was a mass yoga event in Tel Aviv with the photos of the hostages on yoga mats. However, these feminists have been completely silent when it comes to Palestinians being the victims of mass rapes like a 13 year old Palestinian girl who was raped by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian men and boys who were detained and stripped in Gaza. While Arab countries are not progressive in regards to gender equality, the stereotype that all Palestinians, especially Hamas militants who are not Islamic terrorists are rapists is false. As aforementioned, the hostages were treated very well by Hamas and
Amongst the Iranian diaspora in the United States, mainly the non-Muslim diaspora, the Zionist lobby has also grown stronger. Since the death of Mahsa Amini has united them, the genocide in Gaza has divided them. These Zionist-Iranians have weaponised the Life, Woman and Freedom movement in Iran by stating that the Iranian goverment are backing Hamas and that “anything they support you just automatically hate without understanding that it’s not black and white” (A Farooq, 2023).
Similarly, many people in the queer community have also been using their queer identity as an excuse for supporting Israel. This is known as pinkwashing which is the exploitation of the LGBTQIA2S+ community to paint a progressive image while concealing the misdeeds of a nation. In the case of Israel and Palestine, Palestine is portrayed as a homophobic nation that will throw gay people off the roof and that you could be beheaded by the Sharia for being gay. While LGBTQ+ rights are non-existent in the Middle East, the fact that Israel uses its progressive values albeit to Israel not recognising same-sex marriage is used to justify the demonisation of Palestinians (Bernstein,2023).
Zionist content creators promote this clash of civilisations narrative by mocking liberal and left-leaning people who support Palestine. A famous Israeli comedy show called ארץ נהדרת Eretz Nehederet What a Wonderful Country did a comedy skit called Columbia Untisemity which is a satirical target at the students of Columbia University. The skit featured many stereotypes such as saying that Hamas will throw gay people off the roof, We will come, first we finish with Israel and America is next. ( ארץ נהדרת, har lev and Bar, 2023). This is similar to the portrayals of Israel and Palestine. Hence, when one notices how Israel is portrayed as a progressive nation while Palestine is a savage and backwards one. In a video done by Noa Tishby and Chelsea Handler, they proclaimed that “progressives should love Israel” and “if Israel is going down, do you know who is going down next?”
Not only that, Jewish celebrities who are Zionists have also been using their Jewish identity as an excuse to support the violent state of Israel. Celebrities such as Noa Tishby who is an Israeli-American actress has been vocal about Israel for a long time since she was the Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel. She also wrote a book which is titled Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. Since October 7th, she has been the biggest Zionist voice in America. She has made media appearances like being interviewed by New York Times with an article titled: An ‘Israel Explainer’ Makes Her Country’s Case in America and has done videos with other famous actors such as Debra Messing and Eli Roth. Noa Tishby also collaborated with Mayim Bialik, an actress from Blossom and The Big Bang Theory and the host of Jeopardy. The video is a component of a TikTok video series titled “You Might Be Antisemitic if…” wherein the two individuals have frequently employed falsehoods and previously discredited information regarding Jewish people in the Middle East and the notion that Israel is Judea.
There is also the weaponization of antisemitism which is a crucial agent in the strengthening of the Zionist lobby. Antisemitism is a recurring problem even prior to the events on October 7th. There has been a rise of protests on college campuses against the genocide in Gaza. This has led to condemnations against pro Palestine protests by saying that it is antisemitic. For example, in Harvard University, students faced backlash for saying that Israel was entirely responsible for the Hamas attack (Harvard Crimson, Hill and Orakue, 2023). These protests feature phrases such as from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free and Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide. However, these statements can get you removed from congress, fired from CNN or worse, be labelled as antisemitic both by Jewish zionists and non-Jewish Zionists. There is also a website called Canary Mission which targets students, professionals and academics who support Palestine. The group aims to target those who promote ‘hatred of the United States, Israel and Jewish people’.
Meanwhile, those same Zionists can say from the river to the sea, Israel is all you will see, which is an explicit call for genocide of the Palestinians. Zionists like these can keep their jobs and not be held accountable and even if so, it is the bare minimum for accountability. .For example, Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp posted stickers around a restaurant in New York. The stickers had the words Hamas is ISIS and Zionism is sexy on it. This was after his stance on the whole situation on October 7th with him saying that as a Jewish person in America, I feel unsafe. By stating that “the boycotts against companies like Starbucks and Mcdonalds simply because they support Israel’s right to exist IS Antisemitism” (Tishby,2023). This is promoting a clash of civilisations narrative by arguing that how can people who support progress and freedom, support Palestine, a country that does not have any of those things.
Another example of this double standards is the release of the song חרבו דרבו Charbu Darbu Raining Hell by Israeli rappers Nesia Levy and Dor Soroker or known as Ness ve Stilla. The title itself is appropriated from Syrian Arabic slang in which the title translated to Swords and Strikes. The song was described by the Times of Israel as how it (the song) “promises to rain fire on Israel’s enemies, capturing the righteous indignation felt by Israeli youth during the Israel-Hamas war” (). The song includes lyrics such as a bunch of fucking mice coming out from the tunnels and referring to Palestinians as children of Amalek, like Benjamin Netanyahu did . Amalek is an ancient tribe of people that was described in the Torah to be the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people (Middle East Eye, 2023). By comparing Palestinians to the children of Amalek, this inherently promotes a clash of civilisations narrative by promoting the narrative that non-Western civilisations are inherently against the West and that there is hostility, conflict and competition between the West and the Middle East (Assumpção,2019). The song also says ‘every dog’s day will come’ to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as celebrities like Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa who support Palestine. The phrase every dog’s day will come . Not only that but the rappers also appropriated a drill beat which is known to be from black culture, specifically Black American culture.
Meanwhile the song Dammi Falasteni My Blood is Palestinian and the song Free Palestine by Lowkey were removed from Spotify for antisemitism.Both the singers are of Arab descent which shows that this clash of civilisations comes from the deligitimisation of any kind of criticism of Israel by the claims that it does not come from far-right anti semitism but from Muslims and Arabs themselves (Islamic Human Rights Commission,2023).
While there are Jewish people who openly call for the liberation of Palestine like Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP), historian Zachary Foster and many Jewish American celebrities, these groups of Jewish people have openly been called ‘traitors to the Jewish people’. For instance, Matt Bernstein who is gay and Jewish received comments like ‘ain’t no way you’re supporting the literal genocide of our people.. what the f*ck are you on?” and “you are a self hating Jew”. While the trauma of genocide and suffering follows Jewish people everywhere, the state of Israel does not protect Jewish people and was never for the Jewish people (Bernstein,2023).
The recent March for Israel on November 14th was the biggest display of the clash of civilisations. The rally had 290,000 attendees including the Jewish Defense League (JDL) which is a Zionist terrorist organisation in both Israel and the United States and celebrities, politicians and lawmakers such as Chuck Schumer, Debra Messing and Van Johnson. Several counter-protestors and one of them being an elderly woman named Medea Benjamin was targeted by an onslaught of threats such as “I wish they would rape you alive, they will film you” and “Why don’t you get kidnapped by them in Gaza… because we should have a ceasefire and negotiate with terrorists” (Benjamin,2023). The rally openly cheered for not having a ceasefire and the eradication of the Palestinians because they are ‘Hamas terrorists’.
It is important to note that most Zionists are not Jewish but are Evangelical Christians. Many Evangelicals believe that “God gave Israel the land to the Jews” which is an excerpt from the Biblical verse Genesis 12:3 (Takturi and AJ+, 2022). This is an example of the clash of civilisations as Evangelical Christians believe that the war between Islam and the West as a religious war and a constant battle between God and Satan which is similar to how Huntington views the relationship between Islam and the West (Durbin,2023). One of the biggest defenders of Israel is Pastor John Hagee. John Hagee is the founder of Christians United For Israel (CUFI) and a famous televangelist. He was known for saying that the Hitler, who was the hunter of the Jewish people. He claimed that the Holocaust happened in order to drive the Jewish people to the state of Israel and is a well known anti-semite (Ibid). He also spoke at the March for Israel rally saying that Israel is the ‘apple of God’s eye’ and ‘the shining beacon on the hill’ (Hagee,2023).
The same applies for many Republican politicians like Majorie Taylor Greene who put out a censure against Palestinian-American representative, Rashida Tlaib. There was also the recent incident of Charlie Kirk, the owner of Turning Point USA talking to former representative of Minnesota, Michele Bachmann on not negotiating with terrorists (Seder,2023). This can be seen as a clash of civilisations as there is the rhetoric of us versus them that is being echoed through these sentiments. While republican politicians like Majorie Taylor-Greene who is well known for her antisemitism by preaching the Jewish Space Lasers Conspiracy theory and is insistent on removing the Judeo from Judeo-Christian. These people can get away with being funded by the American Israel Public Fund Commitee (AIPAC). This comes from the desire to protect the colonizer from any form of accountability is the exact reason for the clash of civilizations: a desire to join a particular tribe that suits an agenda. Neoconservatives such as American republicans and Evangelical Christians who are well known to be antisemitic to have been weaponizing antisemitism to defend their supposed tribe from outsiders.
Hatred against Palestinians and pro-Palestine supporters
Both the media coverage of Palestine and the strengthening of the Zionist lobby. As mentioned previously, this weaponisation of victimhood and the weaponisation of antisemitism is crucial for the strengthening of the Zionist lobby. Both of these things have created dualisms that protect Zionists from accountability and has defended the right for them to protect their tribes. However, this desire to protect their respective tribes has led to a clash of ignorance and the people affected by these clashes of ignorance are Palestinians and pro-Palestine supporters, mainly supporters who are people of colour.
As mentioned at the start of the essay, Said explains this by arguing that Huntington ignores the need for dialogue due to tribalistic dualisms. According to Said (2001), identities and civilizations are not closed-off entities that have been cleansed of the numerous currents and counter currents that underpin human history. Rather, they have been able to endure centuries of exchange, cross-fertilization, and sharing, enabling them to not only contain wars of religion and imperial conquest, but also to be a history of exchange, cross-fertilization, and sharing.
However, in the case of hate crimes , this clash of civilisations which argues for identities to be segregated which creates a clash of ignorance due to this dualism between the Western civilisation and the Other which ignores this need for exchange, cross-fertilization and sharing. In a post 9/11 world, the threats and ignorance towards Arabs and brown people is due to this lack of understanding; with the first target being a Sikh man, all because he was wearing a turban.
Since October 7th, hate crimes towards Arabs, particularly Palestinians have risen due to the media coverage of the issue and with the strengthening of the already strong Zionist lobby in the United States. One of those hate crimes is the death of Wadea Al-Fayoume, 7 days after the events of October 7th. He was a six year old Palestinian-American boy who lived in Plainfield Township, Illinois. Wadea was stabbed 26 times by a man he knew all his life, his landlord Joseph Czub who is 71 years old. His mother, on the other hand, was in critical condition. While Joseph was stabbing Wadea, he mentioned that “all Muslims must die’’ (Luscombe,2023). Authorities mentioned that Joseph was driven by rage over what was happening in Israel and Palestine. While Wadea’s parents came from Palestine, Wadea was seen as an all- American boy. Oday Al-Fayoume who was Wadea’s father said this in a vigil held in his home: “With Wadea gone, I don’t think there’s room for me to speak English any more.” (Ibid).
During the funeral, classmates of Wadea of all races and family friends: both Muslim and non-Muslim came together to mourn for him. The mother of Wadea’s best friend Derek said that: “This is about two boys who will never get to play together again. They will never, ever get to sit next to each other in class again. They will never get to ride the bus together again.’’We need to learn from these two sweet, sweet little kids.” (Ibid). This is the dialogue and cross cultural interaction that Said talks about which disputes the narratives that Huntington has on the interactions with Islam and the West which is one of hostility and constant conflict.
One of the most recent hate crime was the shooting of three boys, Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed in Burlington, Vermont on their way home from a bowling outing. The three of them have been friends since the first grade. These boys were shot for wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic by Jason Eaton, whose mother claimed mental illness. According to Elizabeth Price, who is Hisham Awartani’s mother, Hisham was an incredibly gifted child who was studying Mathematics and Archeology and is fluent in 6 languages. Kinnan AbdelHamid was a pre-med student and Tahseen was a Mathematics and IT student. After Hisham was discharged from the hospital, he mentioned that “ I am but one casualty in a much wider conflict” (Awartani,2023).
There were other several notable incidents of keffiyeh’s being ripped off. For instance, Asish Prashar and his 18- month old son were assaulted in Edmonds Playground in Brooklyn, New York where hot coffee was thrown on them by a woman. Slurs also followed such as ‘your people burn babies and I hope your baby burns in an oven’(MUSLIM and Prashar, A ,2023). A man was also followed in his residential area by a woman for wearing the keffiyeh. In a video, it showed that he was followed and the woman was calling it a ‘terrorist scarf’ and that ‘she felt unsafe with the scarf being worn’.
There was also a middle school teacher also threatened to behead a Muslim elementary school student who questioned the reason the Israeli flag was placed in the classroom. The teacher said to the student “You motherf****ing piece of s**t! I’ll kick your a**! I should cut your motherf****ing head off! for disrespecting my Jewish flag” (MUSLIM,2023). He claimed that the students were disrespecting his flag. He was also aggressive as he kicked the door stopper in an aggressive manner (Ibid). Said (2001) writes that it this narrative of clash of civilisations makes it easier to make bellicose statements and writes that these reductions make it simpler to mobilise collective passions rather than to actually reflect and examine what is the lived realities and the nuances that lie with minority communities.
This comes to show that these attacks which are based on the premise of clash of civilisations has created this pernicious ignorance based on stereotypes of Arabs, which strengthens the premise of the clash of civilisations which is the superiority of the Western civilisation against the weak and inferior civilisation. All of these hate crimes can be attributed to the clash of ignorance not only caused by the clash of civilizations but also by Orientalist claims of Palestinians being backwards and regressive against the progressive and modern Israel. Orientalism is defined as the cultural expression and ideological representation of the Orient by the imperialist powers, who create these self-serving portrayals by viewing the Orient through the Western lens of the East. The hegemonic status of Western imperialist powers is asserted in depicting certain narratives about the East, according to Said.
Under this orientalist lens, stereotypes of Palestinians as backwards and dangerous make them deserving of these hate crimes. Stereotypes of Palestinians as terrorists and barbarians have been proven to be untrue when we look at the genocide unfolding in the Gaza Strip. There was even an interview with a Palestinian freedom fighter from Jenin saying that all he wants to live is a normal life and to go out and enjoy himself” and “that he will do whatever he wants and all that he has desired¨ (Al Jazeera,2023). He was compelled to fight because of the death of his friend under Israeli occupation in 2013 (Ibid).
The events of October 7th have traumatised communities all across the US but mainly Jewish and Muslim communities. This trauma and hurt from both sides has clearly led to tensions on both sides. Said posits that in light of the complexities of the global environment, particularly in light of traumatic events such as 9/11 and now with the current events of October 7th, relying on dualisms such as West and East does not yield any tangible solutions. Instead, one should “think in terms of powerful and powerless communities, secular politics of reason and ignorance, and universal principles of justice and injustice,” rather than “straying off in search of abstract concepts that may give a brief thrill but lack deep understanding or a thorough analysis.” (Said,2001).
Conclusion
This essay has highlighted the dynamic between the arguments proposed by Samuel Huntington and Edward Said in their respective works, especially with the events that transpired after October 7th which divided between the coloniser and the colonised. The Clash of Civilisations narrative has promoted the idea that Israel, a representative of Western society is under attack by those who oppose the values of Western civilisation by both the media and the strengthening of the Zionist lobby. However, this has led to the clash of ignorance that has led to hate crimes against Palestinians in the United States due to the lack of dialogue and cross-cultural interactions, therefore the only viable response was violence and aggression. With all of this, we can really start to ask the question: Can there really be peace in this Sodom and Gommorah.
