{"id":100985,"date":"2026-07-23T13:07:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/100985\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:07:26","slug":"europe-must-not-abandon-palestinians-speaking-for-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/100985\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe must not abandon Palestinians speaking for peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the world speaks about Gaza, it usually focuses on war, humanitarian suffering, and diplomacy. Far less attention is given to another reality: what happens to Palestinians who publicly reject extremism and openly call for peace with Israel.<\/p>\n

Recently, Israeli journalist Ohad Hemo<\/a> aired a report on Israel\u2019s Channel 12 featuring young Palestinians from Beit Lahiya, Rafah, Khan Yunis, and Gaza City. Their message was neither political nor ideological. It was profoundly human: They wanted peace, security, and a future free from endless war.<\/p>\n

I coordinated the interviews and prepared the participants while intentionally remaining behind the scenes. My goal was simple: to allow ordinary Gazans to speak in their own voices.<\/p>\n

The response was immediate.<\/p>\n

Public social media accounts launched campaigns accusing the participants of treason, collaboration, and betrayal. According to what I observed, many of these posts encouraged public intimidation against individuals whose only \u201ccrime\u201d was expressing hope for coexistence. Instead of encouraging open debate, these campaigns attempted to silence it through fear.<\/p>\n

\"PalestiniansPalestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/Ramadan Abed)The risks of dissent<\/p>\n

For many Palestinians, this reaction was not surprising.<\/p>\n

Inside Gaza, criticizing Hamas or advocating peaceful coexistence has long carried personal risks<\/a>. Many residents choose silence because they fear social consequences, intimidation, or worse. When Palestinians finally decide to speak publicly, they should not become targets simply because their opinions challenge dominant narratives.<\/p>\n

Europe should take this seriously.<\/p>\n

Across European cities, thousands of demonstrations have been organized in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Millions of euros have been raised through humanitarian campaigns intended to help civilians suffering in Gaza. Genuine humanitarian assistance is essential and should continue.<\/p>\n

But solidarity also requires accountability.<\/p>\n

Many Gazans continue asking a simple question: Where has all the money gone?<\/p>\n

This is not an argument against humanitarian aid. It is an argument for transparency. European governments have invested significant resources in preventing terrorist financing and protecting the integrity of charitable organizations.<\/p>\n

Whenever credible evidence suggests that charitable or commercial structures may be abused by individuals linked to designated terrorist organizations, such concerns deserve careful investigation under the rule of law rather than political indifference.<\/p>\n

Defending civil liberties and public security<\/p>\n

Equally concerning is the online environment.<\/p>\n

If individuals living in democratic European societies use those freedoms to intimidate Palestinians who advocate peace<\/a>, authorities should examine whether such conduct crosses legal boundaries relating to threats, harassment, or unlawful incitement. Freedom of expression protects disagreement; it does not protect criminal intimidation.<\/p>\n

Europe has already demonstrated that democracies can defend both civil liberties and public security. Countries such as Germany have shown that governments can investigate extremist activity while preserving democratic freedoms. Those principles should be applied consistently, regardless of ideology or political affiliation.<\/p>\n

Supporting Palestinians should never mean ignoring Palestinians who oppose Hamas.<\/p>\n

Protecting humanitarian aid should never mean abandoning financial transparency.<\/p>\n

Defending freedom of expression should include defending Palestinians whose message is coexistence rather than violence.<\/p>\n

The young men who appeared in Hemo\u2019s report did not call for revenge. They did not celebrate war. They simply expressed a desire for peace. For that, they became targets.<\/p>\n

If Europe genuinely wishes to stand with the Palestinian people, it must also stand with Palestinians courageous enough to reject extremism, speak honestly about conditions inside Gaza, and advocate a different future.<\/p>\n

Peace cannot survive if those who speak for it are left to stand alone.<\/p>\n

The writer is a Palestinian peace activist from Gaza who advocates for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and amplifying the voices of Palestinians who reject violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the world speaks about Gaza, it usually focuses on war, humanitarian suffering, and diplomacy. Far less attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,574,51982,6871,170,7188],"class_list":["post-100985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-europe","tag-europe","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-protests","tag-hamas","tag-palestinians","tag-peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}