Israel-Palestine conflict: Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
July 17, 2021
As the dust from the recent Israel-Palestine skirmish settles, the new government of Israel led by Naftali Bennet seems even more hawkish in approach than its predecessor. Naftali is committed to annexing more land to make it an official part of Israel. Interestingly, this year in May, he mistook Al Shifa hospital of Gaza with Shifa Hospital Islamabad, Pakistan and called it a hub of Hamas. Such recklessness from leaders makes it evident that common people are certainly not immune to believing in and propagating fake news and conspiracies. For instance, the air of Pakistan remains filled with conspiracies regarding Jews. Israel – the only parliamentary democracy in the Middle East – is not recognised by Pakistan and has no official relations with it. As some Middle Eastern countries normalised the relations with Israel, Pakistan too tried to create an environment for the recognition of Israel in the population by having some journalists try to develop a soft corner for the Jewish state. However, the attempt failed because the general population sees Israel not through a political lens but a religious one.