Standing With Palestine: A Poem

Standing With Palestine

All out for Blue and Yellow, 

fully behind Blue and White 

Jingoes bolster every war, 

reinforce every fight

 

With hollow words and status quo, 

reassures President Joe

Futile thoughts and worthless prayers, 

from Canada, sends Trudeau

 

Pardon France, it’s under attack 

from hijabs and bedbugs

Spineless, most of EU 

sends virtual hugs

 

Rushing to his side

for a prompt morale boost

Rishi stands with BiBi, 

to calm an ego freshly bruised

 

Modi’s RSS makes light 

of brutal subjugation

Already forgot British aggressions

against their own population?

 

Turkey flexes some muscle, 

Iran shows some exasperation 

Hezbollah, pundits claim, 

adds to the growing detestation

 

Ireland and Colombia, 

South Africa and Maldives

possess the moral compass, 

the audacity to say, Stop! Please!

 

If Egypt, Jordan, UAE, 

Morocco and Bahrain

Recognize Israel, 

they can’t all be insane

 

The Arabs are not impotent, 

their hands are just tied

Understand their predicament, 

committed to truth they are, deep inside

 

Investments at home, 

pressures from outside

Tourism is booming, 

why have a dog in someone else’s fight

 

They are trying their best, 

it’s not courage they lack

Sensitive issues involved, 

please cut them some slack

 

Saudis were weighing in 

to join the big game

When all hell broke loose, 

what a shame

Rulers don’t care

if masses protest and resist

Knowing full well, 

IDF’s transgressions they dismiss

 

It takes so much effort, 

manufacturing this consent

On destroying their narrative, 

why are you so hell-bent?

 

Don’t shift the paradigm, 

try to disturb the zeitgeist

‘Tis no way to fix Bilad ash-Shaam, 

they nonchalantly sliced and diced 

 

Patience Palestinians, 

America wants a just solution

It’s no easy task, 

vetoing every UN resolution 

 

Missiles and torpedoes

and warplanes for Israel

It’s war crimes they hide, 

it’s injustices they conceal

 

Few are fortunate to experience 

Levant’s only ‘democracy’

Supported and abetted 

by Western hypocrisy 

 

But a free Jewish homeland 

just had to be built

To outsource the ‘problem’ 

to soothe European guilt

 

Hey shamed witnesses 

of the appalling Holocaust,

You promised “Never again!”, 

Boy! That didn’t last 

 

Those who denied the Jews 

dignity and equal rights

In their hatred of Palestine

have reached newer heights

 

Those who once claimed 

that Blacks had no souls,

Are fabricating new stories 

riddled with holes 

 

Amazing how brazenly 

they all let it slide

To all objective minds, 

what is clearly apartheid

 

While Gaza is annihilated 

through a calculated plot,

Analysts still debate 

if it’s Genocide or not

 

Restrict their movement, bomb them, 

lock them up in a cage,

Guess Israel is still the only victim, 

if the oppressed display any rage

 

They don’t spare anyone, 

the Hawks at ADL

Dare speak truth to power, 

and they’ll raise up serious hell

 

But Neturei Karta, 

those Guardians of the Gates 

Cry out against injustice, 

God’s covenant as their base

 

Institutions of critical thought, 

these bastions of free speech

When confronted by students, 

they don’t practice what they preach

 

Sham podiums 

of de-colonialism

What compels you to sustain 

Israeli exceptionalism?

 

How are some heinous acts 

above all criticism?

What makes you conflate 

BDS with anti-semitism 

 

Reporters with legacy media 

engage in fake news

Ignore journalistic integrity, 

just care about more views

 

What security council?

What international laws?

All completely ineffectual 

for the Palestinian cause

You rise up for freedom,

Oh, dear Filasteen!

They crush you each time, 

these wretched shayateen 

 

They rain on you bombs 

and bring down white phosphorus

Your cries travel far, 

tears fill up the Bosphorus 

 

Too many terrorists,

amongst the civilians you hide

Use your own as shields,

claims the pro-Israeli side

 

You behead their babies, 

humiliate their women

Net and Joe have evidence 

you are animals, not men

 

Why can’t you just live 

in your camps in peace?

Quit missing your groves 

crying for your olive trees

 

Is it really that bad, 

this settler colonialism? 

My ancestors suffered fine 

through British imperialism 

 

Slow down. Why the great rush

to escape your occupation?

Help them refine Red Wolf, 

put to good use their ammunition 

 

You threaten their innocents, 

they have the ‘right to defend’

In white supremacy, 

they have a confidant and friend 

 

Your fate is decided 

in the halls of Pentagon

Noncompliance punished well 

by Lockheed and Raytheon

 

You fail to recognize 

your enemy’s illegal existence 

whine about land theft, ethnic cleansing, 

enough of this persistence 

 

Is breaking free from oppression 

worth all this trouble?

Accept the master 

and embrace your refugee bubble

 

All the destruction and death 

each resistance brings,

Is still not enough 

to pull at our heartstrings 

 

How much longer will you endure 

this terrible pain?

What if this sacrifice and suffering 

is all in vain?

 

The Zionists enjoy 

unwavering supports

Not the least bit affected 

by human rights reports

 

It’s you alone, 

against God’s chosen ones

Just your brave daughters 

and your valiant sons

 

Stop rebuking Sykes-Picot,

quit blaming Balfour

How could they possibly predict

the calamity in store 

 

Or was it their intention 

to pillage and devour all along?

To sow the seed of contention 

between Salam and Shalom 

 

The design to keep Ottoman lands 

under British mandate,

Did not overtly mention 

birth of a Jewish-only State

 

Intended to be a safe haven 

for victims of Nazi hate

In a land without people, 

for a people without a state

 

The Zionist agenda

overlooked the indigenous, 

Conjecturing they would give up 

and leave without a fuss 

 

The fact that many still 

believe lies so fabulous,

Speaks to their gullible minds, 

it’s simply incredulous

 

If you are one of those 

who go along with this nonsense

It’s time you brushed up 

on your history, no offense 

 

All those supporters 

waiting merely for Armageddon 

There is blood on your hands, 

for all the fables you have spun

 

You don’t mind if they imprison, 

kill, maim, and burn

If it helps hasten the day 

Jesus Christ shall return 

 

This is not what Eesa,

in his name, would accept 

You are doing God no favor, 

you people inept

 

If you don’t raise your voice even now, 

you are complicit

If you do, there could be serious repercussions, that’s explicit 

 

There is no time to waste,

no need to mince words

No excuse to stay neutral, 

no reason to follow the herds

Persevere! Don’t despair, 

Oh, guardians of Al Aqsa ❤️

Don’t ask for God’s wrath, 

Oh followers of Musa

 

For those who suggest 

peace is improbable in this land

The harmony of Muslim Spain, 

they don’t fully understand

 

We are all children of God, 

Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Jew

Sikh, Buddhist, Tao 

and yes Atheists too

 

Enough cruelties 

for ephemeral gain,

Way too many 

have already been slain 

 

Stop all the bloodshed, 

put an end to it now

If you really have the will, 

you’ll figure out the how

 

Let mothers smile and children grow 

Let Gaza breathe, let hope flow

Settlements in the West Bank

against the law, all need to go

 

Grant full citizenship,

with all liberties upheld 

Allow the Right of Return, 

that has been withheld 

 

Release all the prisoners,

tear down all the fences 

Fold away all the checkpoints, 

no need for defences

 

Stop sponsoring wars, 

hold the perpetrator accountable for all her offences

Feeling sorry for Gazans, after arming the other side

You deserve an Oscar for your unparalleled pretenses

 

Don’t pretend you love peace and equality, 

you find them mere annoyances

Hide all you want behind diplomacy,

We are well aware of your unholy alliances

 

Lifeless bodies, 

shattered limbs

Collapsed houses, 

broken things

 

You pretend this is new, 

forget the Nakba of 1948

What of the bottomless graveyard, 

beneath the house you create

 

Determined Path, Defensive Shield,

Autumn Clouds, Summer Rains

War is war, brutal and violent, 

doesn’t matter the fancy names 

 

Mr. Biden, your time is nearing, 

grow a backbone 

Surely you have a conscience,

or is your heart merely a stone?

 

You permit the murder of journalists, 

doctors and aid envoys

Let them shamelessly flatten hospitals, 

and target fleeing convoys 

 

Don’t brush this as a “conflict”

It’s an asymmetric war

Would David protect the helpless

Or would he side with the ‘Star’?

 

Palestinians are human too, 

not deserving of this fate

If not even this, 

tell me what would it take!?

 

For you to stand up, 

point to the Israeli State

be a man of principle, 

call a spade a spade

 

Related reading:

– Khutbah Notes: Palestine Solidarity

– Palestine: Victory Is Already Here!