Can You Be Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel Too?

Any time there is a war between Israel and Gaza, a common knee-jerk reaction is to bash Israel and side with Gaza. Most people’s responses to the recent Israel-Gaza War were the same, although the war ignited as a result of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. While most of the world is  typically against Israel and for the Palestinians of Gaza, the war greatly intensified this sentiment.

Now, it is a good thing to be pro-Palestinian. But it is also good to be pro-Israel. I myself have close friends on both sides of this conflict, which is probably what makes me both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian. Is that really possible? Yes, it is. It is absolutely possible to be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.

What does pro-Israel mean? What does pro-Palestinian mean?

There is no one official or agreed-upon definition of the terms pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian. Some people say that pro-Israel means that you believe Israel belongs only to the Jews and no one else should be allowed to live there. Some say that to be pro-Palestine means that there is no Israel, it does not exist, and only the Palestinians should be allowed to live on the land. Those are very extreme positions. 

A more balanced definition is this: Pro-Palestinian means that you are for the Palestinians. Pro-Israel means that you are for the Israelis. You support the people without bringing their governments or their leaders into the equation.

Neither pro-Palestinian nor pro-Israel means that you are for their governments or that you agree with their actions. These terms don’t mean that you’re in favor of war or terrorism. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian mean that you care about the people. You care about their humanity. You want Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live where and how they want to live without hate or fear or terror or war. By this definition, pretty much everyone should be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.

Related: Why is the Middle East always at war?

The Arab world will never be pro-Israel

Now, the people native to the Middle East are an exception to this. They are never going to be pro-Israel. In all of the time I’ve spent in the region, no one except for Israelis have told me that they are pro-Israel. Quite the opposite. Middle Easterners, that is to say the people of the Arab world, are strongly pro-Palestinian. 

Arab world perspectives are very different from the perspectives of people elsewhere around the world. Palestinians are Arabs, as are most of the rest of the people of the Middle East. As such, the Arab connection to the Palestinian people is very strong. “These are my brothers and my sisters,” they say about the Palestinians. That sentiment grows even stronger when there is an uptick in the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

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All of the Middle East, aside from Israel, is connected to the Palestinians culturally, historically and geographically. Their media is pro-Palestinian. Their governments are pro-Palestinian. Religion – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – also plays a role. Most Palestinians, like most Arabs, are Muslim. A small percentage of Arabs, including Palestinians, are Christian. None, or virtually none, are Jewish. Middle Easterners are not going to be pro-Israel. As long as the Israel-Palestinian conflict exists, they are certainly always going to be pro-Palestinian. 

That is, except for Israelis. Most are, logically, pro-Israel. There are some Israelis, though, who support a two-state solution. A Gallup poll taken after the start of the war showed that approximately 25% of Israelis were in favor of a two-state solution, although that number is half as many as a decade earlier.

 

Both sides suffered in the war

The Palestinians who live in Gaza suffered horrifically, as all the world could see. Gazans are still suffering.  Over 71,000 were killed in the war. Many more were injured or lost someone they love. It will be very a long time before Gaza will be rebuilt. Poor healthcare, lack of adequate food and continued danger are their reality.

What the world couldn’t see, because the media rarely showed it, is that the war caused Israelis to suffer greatly too. The Israel-Gaza war was the longest war in Israel’s history. Hamas just recently released the last of the living hostages and has yet to release all of the remains of the deceased hostages. The suffering of the hostages and their families has been immense. They may never fully recover. Dozens of soldiers as well as survivors of the Nova Festival have committed suicide. Their loved ones will ones will never be the same. 

The media also rarely mentions that approximately 2 million Palestinians live in Israel. They suffered the effects of this war right alongside the Jewish Israelis. You will usually hear the term Israeli Arabs used to describe these Palestinians. This is because they have Israeli citizenship. Ask them whether they consider themselves to be Israeli or Palestinian, though, and they’ll likely say Palestinian. The West Bank is home to an additional 3 million Palestinians. The war caused them a great deal of suffering and loss too. Israel placed restrictions on who could come from the West Bank to work in Israel proper, causing great economic suffering for the West Bank Palestinians. Some West Bank residents depend on tourism for income. Obviously, the war effectively ended tourism. So the Israel-Gaza War impacted not only the Palestinians of Gaza and the Jews of Israel. It impacted everyone who lives there.

Yes, the power of Israel’s war machinery is far greater than that of Gaza. The number of Israeli casualties was far fewer than the number of Gaza casualties. That is always the case. Everyone who pays attention to this region knows that every time Gaza sends a barrage of rockets into Israel, Israel responds immediately and forcefully, inflicting far more damage on Gaza than they inflicted on Israel. “Israel will have war tonight!” I said when I learned of the October 7 attack. Hamas too certainly knew that they would immediately have a massive war on their hands if they carried out a major terror attack. They knew how their people would suffer. Yet they still did it.

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The hate must stop

Israel tends to have a lot of hate coming at it, even in the best of times. Upon the onset of the war, many people ramped up that hate. The months-long anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests that took place at college campuses vividly illustrated how many people felt. Polls confirmed that young Americans began looking at Israel in a less-favorable light due to the war. A Gallup World Affairs survey revealed a 26% drop in Americans aged 18-34 who are in favor of Israel. It also revealed an 11% drop in Israel favorability of adults aged 35 to 54. In addition, Jewish people worldwide have been and continue to be attacked. Social media is brimming with anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.

It is certainly reasonable and fine to be against the actions of the government of Israel. It is not reasonable or fine, though, to be against the people. Hate should never be directed at the people of Israel or the Jewish people in general. In the United States, by the way, it is typically the political right who are pro-Israel and the political left who are pro-Palestinian.

The war was never the fault of the Israeli people. It was not the fault of the Palestinian people. It was their governments and their leaders that created the war, and it was only them who made it continue for two years. The people were and are innocent. Many didn’t even agree with what their governments or leaders were doing. 

Maybe you care passionately about Israel. Maybe you care passionately about Palestine. Or maybe you know nothing whatsoever about the region and really don’t care at all. Whatever may be your thoughts, whatever may be your feelings, it is not hard to understand that the people are really what is important here. All of them.

When you’re pro-Palestinian, it doesn’t mean you’re in favor of Hamas and all that they do. Nor does being pro-Israel mean you’re in favor of the Israeli government and their actions. To be pro-Palestine, to be pro-Israel, means to be pro-people. This means to set aside all hate. It means to realize that everyone who lives in Gaza and Israel suffered during the war and are continuing to be affected even now that the war is over. It means to realize that the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict adversely impacts everyone. We need to care not only about one side but both sides.  

(This updated post was originally published on January 19, 2024.)