Shamikh Badra gave the following speech at a public meeting hosted by the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine on April 13. He spoke alongside Honorary Associate Professor Peter Slezak.
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As the violence in Gaza continues to devastate Palestinian lives, conversations around resistance, justice and human rights become more urgent — and more distorted. One of the most dangerous is the false equation of Palestinian resistance with antisemitism.
This false conflation not only misrepresents the Palestinian struggle, but it actively undermines global solidarity against injustice.
To understand the resistance of Palestinians, we must centre history, theory and truth. The heart of the Palestinian cause is not hatred; it is a struggle for freedom, dignity and liberation from a settler-colonial system.
To accuse Palestinians of antisemitism for resisting oppression is not only inaccurate, it is a manipulation that obscures the reality on the ground and shields colonial violence from accountability.
To understand the roots of the conflict, we must first recognise that what is unfolding in Palestine is a settler-colonial project — not a religious dispute or a civil war.
Unlike classical colonialism, which seeks to exploit land and labour, settler colonialism seeks to eliminate Indigenous people and replace them with a settler society. Scholar Patrick Wolfe described this as “a structure, not an event” — an ongoing process of erasure.
In Palestine, this is evident in the policies of forced displacement, land confiscation, home demolitions, military checkpoints, ethnic cleansing and the suffocating siege on Gaza.
These are not isolated incidents; they are structural. They reflect the logic of elimination.
And resistance to this structure — whether through protest, international law or armed struggle — is not antisemitism. It is self-defence.
From the early years of Zionist colonisation (1882–1914), this structure has taken shape. Zionist settlers did not aim to coexist with Palestinians; they aimed to replace them.
A 1913 article in a Palestinian newspaper documented how peaceful coexistence with Jewish communities was undermined by the Zionist movement, which openly refused integration and boycotted Arab life.
This shift marked a clear departure from historical coexistence toward settler domination.
The words of Zionist leaders speak volumes. Theodor Herzl wrote: “If I wish to substitute a new building for an old one, I must demolish before I construct.”
David Ben-Gurion declared: “We must expel Arabs and take their places.”
Golda Meir went even further, stating: “There were no such thing as Palestinians.”
These are not misunderstandings. These are declarations of a settler-colonial agenda.
Real meaning of antisemitism
Antisemitism refers to prejudice or hatred directed at Jewish people because of their Jewish identity. Historically, antisemitism has led to horrifying consequences, from medieval expulsions and pogroms to the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany.
Antisemitism is vile, dangerous and must be opposed — always.
But to weaponise the term “antisemitism” against those who challenge colonialism is a moral failure.
Palestinians, themselves Semitic people, are not motivated by hatred of Jews. Their struggle is against oppression, displacement and apartheid — not against a religion or ethnicity.
Throughout history, Palestinian resistance has been grounded in justice, not hate. During the First Aliyah (1882–1903), a major wave of immigration, Jewish immigrants escaping persecution in Europe were initially received with hospitality by many Palestinians. It was only when the Zionist movement began to assert its goal of establishing a Jewish state at the expense of the local population that tensions rose.
In 1919, Arab and Jewish workers formed a joint Socialist Workers Party and, later, an anti-imperialist alliance, to oppose British colonialism and Zionism. These alliances demonstrate that resistance was not about antisemitism, but about a shared rejection of colonisation and domination.
Today, however, Western media and political institutions too often ignore this historical truth. Instead, they frame Palestinian resistance as terrorism or antisemitism, erasing decades of Indigenous struggle.
This narrative does not just mislead, it actively harms, silencing those who speak out and justifying the continued violence of occupation.
Decolonial lens needed
To understand Palestine, we must understand its colonisation rather than view it through the lens of ethnicity or religion.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a “clash of civilisations”. It is a struggle between a settler-colonial regime and an Indigenous people fighting for their right to exist.
Palestinians are part of a global Indigenous movement resisting colonisation. Their cause aligns with the struggles of First Nations, Black liberation movements and anti-apartheid activists. Framing Palestine as a decolonial struggle helps dismantle harmful narratives and connects it to broader global fights for justice.
Labelling pro-Palestinian activists as antisemitic has become a tool of political suppression. Careers have been destroyed. Reputations have been smeared. Even when investigations clear individuals, the damage often lingers.
To push back, we must:
1. Adopt accurate definitions of antisemitism — like the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which clearly distinguishes criticism of Israel from antisemitic hate.
2. Provide legal support for activists facing false accusations.
3. Pursue counter-legal action in cases of deliberate defamation.
4. Build strong coalitions with Jewish, Indigenous and other marginalised communities to resist division and strengthen solidarity.
To equate Palestinian resistance with antisemitism is not only intellectually dishonest — it is an erasure of lived experience and a denial of basic rights. Our struggle is not against Jews. It is against a brutal colonial system that seeks to erase our people and rewrite our history.
And yet, we remain.
Our resistance continues.
Our hope endures.
I want to end with the words of Edward Said: “Why Palestine? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights.”
Let those words be our compass. As long as injustice remains, the call for justice in Palestine will echo louder and clearer each day. With clarity, courage and the unshakable belief in the righteousness of our cause — we will continue.
Justice will prevail.
[Shamikh Badra is a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong, specialising in Palestinian Diplomatic Resistance.]