What They’re Fighting For

Palestinian suffering matters. But let’s be honest about who’s causing it, and why standing with Hamas isn’t standing with the people.

Israeli Jewish and Israeli Muslim soldiers praying side-by-side

People might look at me and feel confused. On one hand, I defend Muslim asylum seekers and advocate for their right to safety and a better life. On the other, I speak out firmly against what’s happening in Palestine, often in a way that some perceive as pro-Israel. To those looking in from the outside, it might seem inconsistent. How can I support Muslims here but appear to oppose them there?

But that’s where people miss the point.

The core issue for me is not about Muslims as a group. Many of my friends are Muslims who came to this country fleeing war, extremism, and persecution. They are good people, and I will always stand by them. What I oppose is radical Islam. The violent, oppressive strain that hijacks identities, causes endless suffering, and silences dissent across the Middle East, Africa, and even in Western societies.

That is what I see when I look at Palestine today. I do not see a national movement striving for peace and coexistence. I see a cause that has been hijacked by Hamas and other fundamentalist forces. Waving a Palestinian flag right now, in the current context, often feels no different to me than waving an ISIS flag, because the leadership and ideology dominating that identity are rooted in the same authoritarian and theocratic violence.

And I want to be clear. I care deeply about the people of Gaza. I care about the children, the families, the ordinary people who are caught in the middle. But I also see who is really causing their suffering, and it is not just Israel. It is Hamas. It is the terror networks that use civilians as shields, that store weapons in homes and hospitals, that execute dissenters, kill rivals, and feed off misery. As much as people frame Israel as the aggressor against Muslims, they forget that Israel is also the protector of Muslims. Israel protects Druze, Christians, and Arab Muslims living within its borders, people who enjoy rights and freedoms they would never have under Hamas rule. But people ignore that, because they reduce Israel to being “just Jewish” and overlook the diversity it actually safeguards every day.

Take the Druze community as an example. In July 2025, over 1,100 people were killed in brutal sectarian fighting in Suwayda province, Syria. The Druze were targeted by Bedouin militias aligned with jihadist and government-linked factions. More than 128,000 people were displaced. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Infrastructure collapsed. Israel carried out airstrikes to protect the Druze. The United States brokered a ceasefire. The Syrian government only stepped in after international pressure. And yet, some still pretend this is a simple story of “resistance” against oppression.

What many do not realise is that the biggest number of victims of radical Islam are Muslims themselves. In Africa alone, over 23,000 people were killed in 2023 by Islamist militant violence. From Syria to Iraq, hundreds of thousands have died over the past two decades due to extremist groups. Since the collapse of ISIS’s caliphate in 2019, the group has still managed to kill over 4,000 people in Syria. These are not statistics on Western victims. These are Muslims. These are communities trying to live in peace, only to be slaughtered by those who claim to be defending them.

But here is the uncomfortable truth. Much of the modern left is enabling this. Often unconsciously, but still undeniably. They do not do their research. They will not look beneath the surface to understand what is really going on. Instead, they lift up events, strip away the context, and hold them beside their own political correctness to decide how they feel. They do not measure reality. They measure how it feels against what they think they are supposed to support.

They think they are standing up for the oppressed. But in doing so, they are empowering the oppressors. They mistake slogans for truth. They mistake symbols for substance. And because they are afraid of being called the wrong name or being seen on the wrong side, they either stay silent or worse, cheer for regimes and movements that would destroy every freedom they claim to believe in.

They think they are brave, but they are scared. Scared of rejection. Scared of losing friends. Scared of confrontation. In that fear, they enable this suffering. They enable the rise of ideologies that kill gay people, silence women, and target peaceful Muslims. This is not solidarity. This is surrender.

That is why I support liberal democracies. They are not perfect. No system is. But they offer more protection, more rights, and more hope for civilians than any theocracy or extremist regime ever has. That is why people flee from Syria, from Gaza, from parts of Africa. They are not coming because they hate their homes. They are coming because they are running from extremism and reaching for the light of freedom.

And that is why, for me, there is no contradiction. I will always defend the innocent. Whether they are Muslims fleeing radical violence or Israelis protecting themselves against it. Because the real enemy is not a religion, not a race, not a nation. The real enemy is tyranny. It is ideology. It is hate pretending to be justice.

That’s what they are fighting for, and maybe now you might understand what I’m fighting for. It’s not freeing Palestinians only for them to be led into a trap under Hamas. I want Hamas and others alike gone so they can truly be free. We both share empathy and love for Palestinians, but I think we both have a different view on who’s causing their suffering. How many years has attacking and blaming Israel eased their suffering? Maybe it is time to start looking at the root of it all and then tell me what they are really fighting for.