Many pro-Palestine individuals and groups accuse centrist and/or pro-Israel groups of censoring the Palestinian Narrative. As ACF is a site that prohibits anti-Zionism, we should give an overview of which common narratives/partial narratives are forbidden. Do note that it is preposterous to claim that there is a single Palestinian narrative, but that there are many common themes of each of Israeli narratives and Palestinian narratives that are gross distortions of the realities. The most common ways of disinformation on this topic are stating outright falsehoods, telling lies of omissions, and trying to emphasize minor points while avoiding the bigger overarching issues.
General forbidden narratives on the Israel/Palestine conflict:
"Israel is a White/European/Western colony." Israel is not the colony of any other country or group of countries. Israel was formed as part of the subdivision of the Ottoman Empire, and has the same legitimacy as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Jordan, and other countries.
"Zionism is about Jews subjugating Arabs." Zionism is about granting the Jews of Israel the same right to self-determination that various Arab ethnicities were granted with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Arabs in Israel have full citizenship, and while there are significant civil rights issues, attempting to make those issues the focus of the conflict is dishonest.
"Palestinians have tried to achieve justice peacefully, but the Israelis wouldn't listen." This is most commonly used by people trying to claim that justice involves full return of any Arabs who had any ancestors on November 29, 1947 who lived within the boundaries of modern-day Israel. The people arguing for this conveniently ignore that it is only Arabs who wish to live peacefully in a Jewish country who are supposed to return according to UN resolution 194 on the issue, that the majority of Palestinians in Palestine have been raised in a culture that delegitimizes Israel, and that no country would allow the immigration of so many people who want to see that country overthrown. At no point has the Palestinian leadership pursued a legitimately peaceful resolution to the conflict (including recognition of Israel's legitimacy and cracking down on all terrorism efforts from within its borders, and seeking appropriate monetary compensation for displaced Arabs of 1948 rather than mass return.)
"Palestine used to be an Arab country. Look at this map of Palestine from the 1920's, and this coin from the 1920's that says 'Palestine' on it. It was an Arab country before and should be restored that way, without Israel." The British mandate of Palestine from 1918 to 1948 was not the same polity as the Arab country of Palestine that declared independence in 1988. The Palestine of 1918-1948 was essentially "Region whose future governance will be decided later," and what made it unique was its high Jewish population. The word "Palestine" at the time actually bore Jewish connotations, much like the word "Israel" currently does. Any attempt to delegitimize Israel is forbidden.
"When people are occupied, resistance is justified. Palestinian militias have the right to violently strike Israelis until they no longer have any control over Palestinians." Palestinian militias have been stockpiling weapons, firing at any Israelis they can reach. The Palestinian leadership has a responsibility to prevent this from happening. Instead, they have been enabling and encouraging it. Israel has every right to enforce those rules that Palestine has been ignoring. Israel has made it clear that the occupation will end when the threat of violence ends. That was the arrangement in Oslo in 1993, which the Palestinian leadership followed up with the second intifada, and that was the arrangement with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza n 2005, which the Palestinian leadership followed up with rocket attacks on Israel.
"The inciting incident to this conflict was the Nakhba, an unprovoked act of aggression." Let's clarify some timing. The Nakhba did not begin until after December 2, 1947, when the Arab High Council (the entity that was slated to become the government of the Arab State of Palestine had the partition plan been enacted) essentially declared war in response to the decision to establish a Jewish State. That war included a siege of many Jewish neighborhoods and some major cities. The displacement of Arabs from Arab villages was to prevent a similar number of Jews from being massacred, and was thus a legitimate necessary military action. What is a problem is Israel's continued refusal to compensate the displaced Arabs for the damages they received during the war. The Nakhba was neither unprovoked nor the inciting incident.
"Israel is trying to force all Palestinian Arabs from their homes and take it over for themselves." Ever since withdrawing from Gaza in 2005, Israel has never tried to build Jewish settlements in Gaza, and ever since the 1993 Oslo agreement where each neighborhood of the West Bank was classified as part of area A, B, or C, (with the latter being largely open area as opposed to the urban centers of areas A and B) Israel has never attempted to expand a settlement into areas A or B. Israel has stuck to its part of the Oslo agreement (meant to be a first phase of the peace process) but Palestinian leadership did not do its part to prevent terrorism.
"Israel has some major civil rights problems, therefore Arab resistance is justified." First of all, Israel's racial civil rights problems pale in comparison to Palestine's. Second of all, civil rights violations are not grounds for changing which ethnicity is in charge of a country.
"Israel has the right to permanent governance of the West Bank and Gaza because Jews are the indigenous people of that land." No amount of indigeneity or grants Israel the right to deny Arab self-governance of the land that belongs to them in accordance with UN resolutions 194 and 242.
"Israel is the only country that the global community will not allow to conquer land after winning a war." Outside the Cold War, the global community has been consistent in denying the right of conquest. (Consider the responses to Russia annexing Crimea in 2014 and other parts of Ukraine since 2022.)
"There are no innocent Palestinians, the thousands of Palestinian civilian casualties are a plus, not a minus." Collective capital punishment is never okay. While you can argue that the civilian casualties are a cost that is outweighed by the benefit of working toward overthrowing Hamas, you must acknowledge the civilian death toll as a cost.
Forbidden narratives on the October 7th attacks and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war:
"Israel is committing genocide in Gaza." To be classified as a genocide, an operation must have the goal and/or effect of significantly reducing the population in question. Israel has been taking precautions to direct civilians out of harm's way, and the civilian/combatant ratio is among the best in modern urban warfare.
"Israel's military campaign is a war crime." As mentioned, Israel has been taking precautions to direct civilians out of harm's way, and the civilian/combatant ratio is among the best in modern urban warfare.
"Here are some documented cases of soldiers/battalions abusing their power and committing war crimes. Israel is the bad guy here." Just because a few soldiers are committing war crimes, that does not mean the entire operation should cease. Looking at the top-line numbers, Israel's military campaign is well within the range of what is to be expected in standard urban warfare.
"Israel is trying to starve Gazans." That is not true. All aid entering Gaza needs to be inspected to make sure donors are not smuggling in weapons or the materials to make them. Despite this, a recent UN report found no evidence of famine, that all estimates indicate that more than enough food in entering Gaza, and that while the fog of war makes it difficult to tell specifically what is happening, this also means that any organization that claims to have specific data that indicate a clear famine is likely fabricating those data, or at a minimum using flimsy assumptions.
"Israel's goal is not to eliminate terrorism from Gaza, it's trying to conquer Gaza." There has been no attempt to build Israeli settlements in Gaza during this war (excluding that one time when dozens of Israeli citizens ran across the border illegally, tried to erect illegal temporary homes, and the Israeli army and police removed them all within a few hours.) On the contrary, the Israeli government has been trying to work with Arab countries to try to establish an Arab leadership force in Gaza capable of keeping Hamas at bay.
"Israel should resettle Gaza, settlements bring security." Military presence brings security. Settlements are a blatant violation of the fourth Geneva convention, which, among other things, prohibits transferring your own population into a country you're occupying.
Posts and statements made on ACF which promote the above forbidden ideologies, including ones which give cherry-picked facts that would realistically lead readers to agree with those ideologies, will be removed.
