Palestinian Solidarity at the World Cup

The 2022 World Cup has been incredibly significant for the Arab and Muslim world for many reasons. Shereen highlights the beautiful outpouring of support we’ve seen for the Palestinian cause during the tournament and how this has been the driving force of a renewed unity for the Arab world.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Who who, and welcome to it could happen here. My
name is Sharene and today you are stuck with me. Yes,
what a treat for all of you beautiful people out there.
I've been wanting to do an episode about the World
Cup for a while, but I felt like there was
just so much to cover, and it was also happening

(00:26):
in real time, so I wanted to wait a bit
so I could have enough stuff to pull from. I
will say I am recording this on Monday, December nineteenth.
It is the day after the weekend where France lost
to Argentina, and Argentina are now our World Cup champions.
I'm happy about that. And then Morocco did lose last

(00:49):
week to France, which was devastating to me and my
family and the rest of the Arab world because we
would have loved to see them beat their colonizers, but
they got really far, and I want to talk about
the impact that that's had. They did coming forth when
they lost to Croatia this weekend as well, so just

(01:10):
in case y'all needed to know that. But I will
say I am really happy for Argentina, and maybe it
was because Morocco lost to France, but I wasn't mad
seeing France losing, and all the celebrations I've seen from
people celebrating Argentina have been so heartwarming and yeah, but anyway,

(01:32):
I wanted to focus on something that I think has
been so unprecedented and beautiful and singular and I think
deserves more coverage, and that is this show of Palestinian
solidarity that has been happening during the World Cup. It
is so cool, and I want to talk about why
it's happening, the circumstances that could lead to this happening,

(01:55):
and what it means, because I think it's very significant
moving forward, what it comes to Palestinian rights since Palestinian support.
So let's get into it. There's a great article by
British Palestinian writer Hamzalisha titled Palestine is the biggest winner
at this year's World Cup. And this article did such

(02:15):
a good job compiling some key moments, so I'm going
to be referencing from it a lot as we continue
this episode. Okay, here we go. Despite the Western media
doing its best to ignore it, the World Cup has
seen a huge tidal wave of Palestinian solidarity and it's
united the Arab world in a really special way, and

(02:38):
also highlighted just how many people Arab and non Arab
alike support the Palestinian cause and so, not to be
too cheesy, the biggest winners of this World Cup, in
my opinion, have even had a team at all competing,
and that's the Palestinians. The World Cup has been characterized
by unforeseeable developments and dramatic quote unquote up sets, which

(03:01):
it's a word I don't even really like, even if
it's grammatically correct when it's used in fucking sports jargon.
But I don't like it because it kind of sounds
like a bad thing because it's like upset who But really,
I think surprises like this are a really good thing
because what these upsets usually mean is simply that the
underdog one, which is a narrative I will always support.

(03:22):
So these surprises really started with Argentina's lost to Saudi Arabia,
which shocked everyone. The faces in the stadium, draws on
the floor, everyone was shocked. I watched it with my mom.
It was it was incredible and it was truly a
beautiful game. I highly recommend you at least watch some
clips from it. It was fucking cool. And I don't know,

(03:45):
it came out of nowhere, was really beautiful. And after
this victory, Kingston, man of Saudi Arabia, ordered that day
that they won a public holiday. To say the least,
everyone was losing their minds and these surprises seemed to
be endless in this World Cup, mostly because, as I said,
the obvious teams were losing to the underdogs. And coming

(04:06):
out of this one of the most consistent themes has
been this overarching Palestinian solidarity that has unfolded, particularly among
fans of Arab nations. World Cup was already significant on
its own. It's held Inta, making it the first World
Cup to be held in the Arab world in the
Muslim world, and only the second held entirely in Asia

(04:30):
after the two thousand two tournaments in South Korea and Japan.
The Arab world is obsessed with soccer. An understatement to
say obsessed, I should you not. It's a huge part
of Arab culture, Middle Eastern culture, and so this was
already a huge deal to start with. And I think
these two things together, the fact that it's very cultural

(04:53):
and the fact that this is the first time it's
been on an Arab stage I think these two things
together created seed for Arabs and Middle Easterners to really
come together in a way we've never really seen. And
this first World Cup in the Arab World has captured
in this symbolic way, this reality where Western powers have

(05:14):
receded in the face of their challengers Morocco. They reached
the semifinals and they played France, their colonizers, which was
so symbolic. Saudi Arabia humiliated one of the tournament favorites, Argentina,
and then Tunisia did the same to its former colonizer
France Japan. They beat Germany and Spain. This traditional power

(05:38):
and balance in global soccer and what it means for geopolitics,
I feel like it can no longer be taken for
granted or ignored. As many as five million Moroccans live abroad,
mostly in Europe, and they've celebrated the team's victories in
huge street celebrations in France and Belgium and Spain and

(05:58):
the Netherlands, and just internationally. For Moroccans living outside of
Morocco and for so many other migrants from the Arab
world or Africa, they've been driven by decades of desperation
in their home countries to risk everything to reach Europe,
only to suffer abuse and contempt. So this achievement after

(06:20):
achievement was a huge pivotal milestone. And I think this
drive has been coupled with the show of Palestinian pride
in Clethod as well. There was no Palestinian team at
the World Cup, and yet the Palestinian flag was everywhere,
not only in the hands of celebrating Moroccan players and fans,
but also at every game and on the streets of Dacha,

(06:42):
and it was just overwhelming and so amazing to see.
And these displays they shocked some Israeli journalists, who had
been assured by their own government that the U S
broker Abraham Accords that had happened between Israel and Morocco
and other Arab states. They thought that this signaled that

(07:04):
the Arab world had relinquished any pretense of advocacy for
Palestinian rights. But as we see with a lot of sports,
soccer creates its own form of civil society, and especially
because it's a huge international game in a way that
no other sport really is, and also being played in

(07:24):
a region where civil society has largely been suppressed by authoritarians.
It's made it clear in this World Cup that the
Arab public is not willing to follow their unelected leaders
and accepting the brutality against Palestinians and what human rights
organizations have called Israel's apartheid system a k a. Israel's

(07:46):
ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, violence, brutality, murder. The list can
go on. I'm sure you've heard me on my soapbox before,
but it always bears repeating. My point is that the
Arab public and the people in these Arab nations do
not represent and do not necessarily believe in these leaders

(08:06):
that again they did not elect. It's all authoritarian dictatorships
and just corrupt government that I mean, we can get
into history another time, but the disablement of so many
of these governments have been because of the Western world,
say the least, I don't know, different episode. I'm getting distracted, sorry.

(08:27):
Even countries that did not qualify for the World Cup
are surging with this united pride and pro Palestinian sentiment.
The Palestinian cause is obviously near and dear to the
hearts of many Arabs across the world. And again, not
only is this the first time the World Cup has
been hosted in an Arab country. It's also probably the

(08:48):
first time there has been such a large gathering and
concentration of Arabs across nationalities gathered all in one place.
And again at almost every single game, there have been
fans holding the Palestinian flag or banners that say Free
Palestine in the stadium. In their matches against Australia and

(09:09):
Belgium respectively, Tunisia and Moroccan fans each unfurled a huge
Free Palestine flag in the forty eight minute, which is
very significant because this is in reference to the nineteen Necba,
which translates to the catastrophe. The Neckba deserves millions of
episodes on its own, but essentially it was the mass

(09:31):
expulsion and ethnic cleansing of at least seven hundred and
fifty thousand Palestinian refugees in ninety eight when the state
of Israel was formed. A side note that I do
want to mention here is that there's an incredible film
on Netflix right now that you should all go watch.
It's called Fara f A r h A. It's about

(09:54):
the Neckba, and there's never been a film like this before.
And the Israeli government has been doing this like smear
campaigned against it and has been calling it all sorts
of terrible things. But the other side, Palestinian supporters and Palestinians,
they've made it so successful. They've outdone the haters I
guess to say the least, and it's doing really well.

(10:15):
And it's because of these supporters that is doing so well.
So I mean, sorry to get a little bit tangential here,
but I really encourage you to watch Fudha on Netflix
right now. There's never been a film about this catastrophe
the NBA, so I highly encourage everyone to watch or
even just like put it on in the background while
you're doing something else so it counts as views. Just

(10:37):
keep supporting it. I I think this is a really
important time and it feels really significant that this is
all happening at the same time. So anyway, go watch
that film. But Tunisia and Moroccan fans each at the
forty minute, in reference to this catastrophe, they unfurled this
huge free Palestine flag, and by waving that Palestinian flag,

(10:59):
Moroccan ends and players expressed a very public descent from
the choices of their government and of the Western Powers
and as well as other Arab autocrats to abandon the
Palestinians to their fate, and as they advanced, Morocco was
able to sustain the attention on these issues, and their
players proved time and time again that they are more

(11:20):
than deserving to be playing on this world stage. Morocco
was also the first African team to make the semifinals
of the World Cup, which is also a significant achievement
and a lovely slap in the face to anyone who
doubted them. The Moroccan defense was incredible, maybe some of
the best defense I've ever seen, but due to soccer's globalization,

(11:42):
the top players in soccer have for decades all played
in Europe's elite leagues, and this was the first World
Cup in which all five African teams were coached by
African coaches rather than by European ones, and Morocco's coach
in particular appears to have made in a exceptionable difference.

(12:02):
During Tunisia's game against France, a Genesian fan ran onto
the pitch and he waved a Palestinian flag, cart wheeling
in the process. The crowd erupted into chance of Palestine
as he was dragged away by security and in a
different match at the stadium, fans chanted with spirit and blood,
we will redeem you Old Palestine. They chanted this in Arabic.

(12:25):
And this occurred on the International Day of Solidarity with
the Palestinian People November twenty nine, and it felt very poetic.
And then when Morocco knocked the former champions Spain out
of the tournament, the Moroccan team posed for the standard
celebratory team photo and instead of holding the Moroccan flag,

(12:45):
they all held a Palestinian one. A winning team holding
up the flag of another country has literally never happened before,
and the fact that it's a Palestinian flag, I don't know,
man chills. I'm upset, obsessed, but okay, I feel like
I'm going to get more rambily and distracted, So before
I do that, let's take a break. I could not

(13:07):
think of a witty segue to get there, but here
are some ads. Okay, we're back. I also wanted to
mention what, in my opinion, is the most iconic image

(13:29):
of the World Cup, and that is when Baracco's Sophia
and Buffal was dancing with his mom after his team's
brilliant upset victory over Portugal in the quarterfinals. They were
dancing and happy, and she's wearing a hijab, and it
was just this pure display of joy and um. It

(13:54):
just it felt really familiar to me, and it felt
that way to a lot of Middle Easterners and Arabs
and Moroccans. This moment, this dancing between him and his mom,
it was a statement of pride and of priorities and
a reminder that as the mother of another great football player,
Zenna Dean's Don, she once said that quote, some things

(14:15):
are bigger than football. Buffall and his mother, like the
majority of Morocco's players and coaches, they live in European cities,
and they're part of that continent's vast, marginalized and embattled
migrant underclass. Again, she wore a hijab, something that she
would be barred from doing if she was a teacher

(14:36):
or a public servant in France. Against all of that,
this moment on the field was captured in a moment
of unbridled joy. It was so pure and so human
and just reminded everyone, I hope reminded me and my
family of who we are. And again, I think this

(14:56):
is really significant when you think about the geopolitical implications
that we've seen during these games, with countries like Morocco
playing against the teams of the countries that colonize them
AKA when they played with France, it really feels like
this beautiful blossoming of culture against all odds of trying
to suppress it. So outside the stadiums, this theme remained

(15:21):
the same when it came to Palestinian solidarity. A Saudi
Arabian vendor selling flags of different countries, he went viral
after he was spotted giving customers an extra Palestinian flag
as a free gift with any purchase. And so this
uplifting message that has been repeated time and time again
during this World Cup is that Palestine can never be

(15:41):
removed from the hearts of the people. And there are
so many heartwarming videos like the one I mentioned, and
I urge everyone to follow Palestinian accounts to keep up
if you're curious. I know the World Cup is technically
over now, but these videos are so fun and joyful
to watch. I really felt so much joy watching them.

(16:03):
This outpouring of support for Palestine is reminiscent of an
earlier time in history. When the Arab world was also
united in its support for Palestine. The Palestinian cause was
once a driving force in the policy direction of the
Arab world, and it reached its zenith in the nineteen
sixties when nations like Syria, Jordan in Egypt they went

(16:23):
to war against Israel with the anti imperial objective of
regional Arab unity in Palestinian liberation. However, those aspirations were
stomped out in nineteen sixty seven when Israel quote unquote
one the Six Day War or the June War, which
is also known as the nineteen sixty seven Arab Israeli

(16:44):
War or the Third Arab Israeli War. Just a very
quick history lesson here. This war was fought between Israel
and a coalition of Arab states, and it ended after
Israeli tanks and infantry advanced on a heavily fortified region
of Syria called the Golden Heights. They successfully captured the
Goal and Heights. After this, the next day, on June

(17:06):
tenth and nine, sixty seven, a U N brokered ceasefire
took effect and the Sixth Day War came to an
abrupt end. The casualties between the two opposing sides are
basically incomparable. I'm gonna say some stats here, but despair
with me. Between seven hundred and seventy six and nine
hundred and eighty three Israelis were killed and four thousand

(17:29):
and five hundred and seventeen were wounded. Fifteen Israeli soldiers
were captured. Arab casualties were far greater. Between nine thousand
and eight hundred and fifteen thousand Egyptian soldiers were listed
as killed or missing in action. An additional four thousand,
three hundred and thirty eight Egyptian soldiers were captured. Jordanian

(17:52):
losses are estimated to be seven hundred killed in action
with another two thousand and five hundred wounded. The Syrians
were estimated to have sustained between a thousand and two thousand,
five hundred killed in action, between three hundred and sixty
seven and five Syrians were captured. It's an incomparable, an
insurmountable loss, and I might go as far to say

(18:15):
it was a massacre because it was so unbalanced. Casualties
were also suffered by the u n e F, the
United Nations Emergency Force that was stationed on the Egyptian
side of the border. In three different episodes, Israeli forces
attacked a U n e F convoy as well as
camps in which un e F personnel were concentrated, as

(18:37):
well as the un e F headquarters in Gaza, and
this resulted in one Brazilian peacekeeper and fourteen Indian officials
killed by Israeli forces, with an additional seventeen peacekeepers wounded
in both groups. That's your history lesson for today, at
least for now. But as you can't imagine that this
was a huge loss for the Arab world. In addition

(18:59):
to stealing the Olon Heights, this war led Israel to
seizing and occupying all remaining Palestinian territories, and as you
know or should know by now, Israel has maintained its
control of the land at the expense of the Palestinians,
with Arab leaders not able to do much in protest
over these years, especially after this nineteen sixty seven loss,

(19:23):
a lot of Arab leaders almost seemed indifferent. When we
fast forward to something happened that seemed like a decisive
death blow to the hopes of Palestinian solidarity in the
Abraham Accords were signed, and these were a series of
joint normalization statements between Israel and Arab countries that would

(19:45):
theoretically pave the way for increased business and diplomatic relations.
The implication was that Israel could afford to maintain it's
apartheid rule and still enjoy warm relations with the Arab
world because their politicians, too were be to willfully neglect
the Palestinians. Officials from Bhayan, the UAE, and Morocco all

(20:07):
signed the supposed quote unquote peace treaty with Israel. However,
as we've seen from this year's World Cup, the Arab
people do not agree with their politicians or their decisions. Again,
most of these decision makers are not elected by their people.
There's a lot of corruption at play, and I think

(20:27):
it's very important to always separate a government from its people,
as we're seeing, especially in Iran right now, which is
something that makes me very emotional and deserves to be
talked about more. I can't do a justice in this
one sentence, but I urge you all to keep spreading
awareness about Iran. Please. What they're doing to protesters is
inhumane and truly medieval. Recent polls indicate that the Arab

(20:52):
public widely disapproves of the Abraham Accords, strongly disagreeing with
the prospect of normalizing ties with Israel as long as
the Palestinians remain oppressed. But if there were still any
lingering doubts that these accords our bullshit had not wanted.
The experience of Israeli journalists and Clethod can be seen

(21:13):
as this decisive confirmation that the treatment of Palestinians will
actually be what dictate the trajectory of normalization. Israeli journalists
broadcasting live have been interrupted by rallies of people chanting
pro Palestinian slogans and waving Palestinian flags. An Egyptian man

(21:34):
went viral after he leaned into the camera and said,
live on Israeli television, Viva Palestine. Fans refusing to speak
to Israeli channels has also been a hilarious common occurrence.
One particular exchange included Moroccan fans posing for the camera
before swiftly walking off upon realizing it was for an

(21:55):
Israeli media outlet. The reporter's response was one of shock,
repeatedly citing that a piece agreement had been signed by Morocco,
thereby assuming that the Moroccan people themselves endorsed the notion
that Israel's crimes could be whitewashed and forgotten, and again
highly recommend you watch these videos. They have brought me

(22:18):
a joy that I haven't felt in literal years, and
it's just beautiful and most importantly hilarious to see. Highly recommend.
There are silver lining sometimes to life, and I feel
like there are enough terrible things happening where a little
joy is fine. And seeing Israeli journalists being accumulated, thank you,

(22:39):
thank you world. There's a thread on Twitter of World
Cup football fans refusing to speak to Israeli channels. I'll
try to put that in the note somewhere, but regardless,
highly recommend looking up these videos. Just again, beautiful, beautiful stuff.
And as I mentioned, Israeli journalists often seem bewildered as

(23:00):
to why they are being boycotted. An Israeli reporter told
The New York Times, I really changed my mind here.
We are not human beings for them. They want to
wipe us out from the map, which is obviously not true.
And language like this is one of many Zionist talking
points that are all stupid. And while Israeli journalists speculated

(23:22):
about being wiped out. That is, in fact, the lived
reality for Palestinians under Israeli rule. Also, there is a
video that was captured, and I'm sure there are many
more instances like this where it was not captured on video,
but the Israeli police were violently cracking down on Palestinians,
including children, who were celebrating Morocco's previous winds and occupied

(23:45):
East Jerusalem. They were celebrating Morocco becoming the first African
or air country to reach the semifinals, and they were
literally beaten up. There's no defense in this video. That's
the thing that I can't get over is the I
d F facts in a way that is so indefensible
and so obvious. And you can say that maybe the
similar things about the police here. It's mind blowing that

(24:08):
they've been able to terrorize Palestinians for basically a century now.
I also want to play this video. Well, you're gonna
hear the audio. There's a Palestinian activist online that I
really admire. He's always posting really great things, and he
sometimes post funny things which are very funny. But his

(24:29):
name is Saha and his handle is sp ei h
dot jpg and there is a video that he posted
about basically what Israel has been doing just throughout even
the past week when this World Cup is happening, and
I feel like he'll say it better than me paraphrasing it,
so here he is. Let's go through everything Israel has

(24:51):
been doing to Palestinians in the past week or so,
during all this hype of Morocco making it to the semifinals.
And these are the reasons why so many people are
carrying and waving the Palestinian flag at the World Cup
right now, including the Moroccan team after their matches. First,
we have Palestinians who are celebrating Morocco's winds being attacked
by Israeli occupation forces. They're out here waving the Morocco

(25:13):
flag trying to celebrate with them, and of course it
has to be cut short with Israeli soldiers coming and
hitting everyone. Then we have a sixteen year old child
named Jennez Kadine who was on the roof of her
house when she was shot in the face by Israeli
forces during another illegal raid of the city of Genine.
We have another sixteen year old Palestinian child, a boy
named Theei Maui, who was also killed by Israeli forces

(25:35):
in west of Romola. On top of those two, we
have four Palestinian men also killed by Israeli forces Jehad
Hamid Ladak damage and set. Israeli forces demolished another Palestinian
home in a town near Jericho, then another Palestine home
in the town of Laban. Israeli occupation forces fired tear
gas at journalists who were covering the Palestinian protests against

(25:58):
the illegal Israeli settlement X mansions in the town of
Bid Desion. You'd think that we're done, but there's more.
We have an Israeli soldier brutally beating a young Palestinian
man in Nablis. The soldier sits on top of him
and punches him in the head. And east of Hebron,
Israeli forces cut down fifty olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers.

(26:18):
And of course Israeli settlers continue to break into an
ups some moss under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.
This is why everyone's living in the Palestinian flag at
the World Cup. This is why that tun Asian man
randomly ran through the match with the Palestinian flag, or
why Israeli reporters are being ignored and shunned. These are
the reasons. Why not because anti Semitism is because Israel

(26:42):
is literally killing Palestinians. You'd rather just blame it all
on anti Semitism instead of simply holding Israel accountable for
their actions. Everything I just listed happened in the past
like ten days, putting aside everything that Israel has been
doing the Palestinians for the past almost a hundred years now,
so don't be surprised when people stand with the people

(27:02):
of Palestine. Last week marked six months since El Jazira
journalist Sharine was assassinated by Israeli forces, and while her
death did attract more coverage than as usual in part
of her being an American citizen, it was unfortunately not
an exception. Since the year two thousand fifty, Palestinian journalists

(27:24):
have been murdered many many more civilians, including children, have
been murdered. So if media representatives or journalists from an
apartheid state can't seem to understand why the reception to
their presence has been so cold, they just are better
off examining why that is and why their government is
actually the one attempting to wipe a people off the map.

(27:47):
Even in the weeks during this World Cup, Israel has
killed multiple Palestinians, has murdered multiple Palestinians. They killed a
sixteen year old girl when she was on her roof
searching for her cat. She was shot four times, twice
in the head. How can you justify that they're claiming

(28:09):
it was an accident. But it's similar to what police
say here when they shoot someone multiple times in the
back and then blame it on the person that they murdered,
in the family, that they destroyed X Y Z, etcetera, etcetera.
And just to put it in perspective, Israeli forces have
killed over two hundred and fifteen Palestinians this year, making

(28:32):
it the deadliest year and over a decade. Israel is
the one who does not see Palestinians, as has proven
time and time again by their actions as human beings.

(28:53):
Something so significant is that the public support of Palestinian
solidarity has not been confined to only fans of Arab nations.
Brazilian fans also proudly raised the Palestinian flag, and Uruguay
supporters have been spotted dotting the Kofeia, which is the
symbolic black and white scarf that has become a symbol
of Palestinian resistance. And they're also wearing pro Palestinian shirts

(29:17):
with fans insisting the Palestinian people deserve freedom. One clip
that also went viral and social media featured an English
fan who, during an interview with an Arabic channel, confessed
that as Arabic wasn't really that strong, and then he
shouted free Palestine and great Arabic and then he broke
into this free, free, free chant with everyone around him

(29:40):
again joyful, beautiful stuff. That just proves that this kind
of support works, and it grows and it spreads, and
so all of this really goes to show is that
while Arab governments have been normalizing relations with Israel, that
sentiment is not reflected in the streets, and Arabs and
non Arabs alike are more passionate than ever about the

(30:02):
Palestinian cause. Some Palestinians living in Cuthold have referred to
the World Cup as a quote golden opportunity to introduce
our cause, and this intent has been received enthusiastically, to
say the least. And yet in the face of such
an unavoidable talking point, there's been a striking, if not unsurprising,

(30:23):
radio silence from Western media. It's a huge reason why
I wanted to talk about this in an episode. I
found it so strange that my family and friends who
were tuned into the World Cup, we're constantly talking about
something that hasn't been covered at all by Western media,
at least not in a real honest way. If anything,
the World Cup has ignited a Islamophobic and orientalists tropes

(30:49):
in some Western news coverage, which I think is so shameful.
For example, I'm going to go through a little list
that Al Jazeera shared. A Dutch newspaper blished a cartoon
of Moroccan men stealing the World Cup trophy. And this image,
they're on a bike and they're grabbing this trophy from

(31:10):
a white man. They're depicted as not white, obviously, and
it just reinforces these stereotypes of young Arab men in
the Netherlands being seen as criminals. Another example is okay,
so when Muslims put up an index finger, it's what

(31:30):
we call dak weed, which is to signify the oneness
of God, because Islam there's only one God. Just like
all the Big Three as far as religions go. But
when these Muslim teams are winning, the gestures from the players,
like sometimes you'll see a player raising an index finger

(31:50):
or raising two index fingers, and so this fucking German
TV news anchor responded to Morocco success by suggesting that
these players that are raising their index fingers are showing
support for ISIS. And some fans have responded to this
with humor, but at the same time it's like you're
laughing only because it's sad and maddening. Another example is

(32:13):
a cartoon in a French newspaper. It depicted Cathos national
team as bearded caricatures that were playing soccer holding rifles
and machetes. Is such an ugly cartoon and I have
no idea why they insist on making these artistic depictions.
I think they know because it's gone people riled up

(32:34):
in the past. It's almost like they're like poking the bear.
So it's kind of annoying. That's so childish in my opinion,
but again, terrible depiction of Arabs. What's new. And then
another example is a photo caption in a British newspaper
stated that Cathodes are not used to seeing women in
Western clothing, when in reality about eight seven percent of

(32:58):
Cathos population is other countries, including Western ones, and this
caption was later removed. Another example, yes there's still more,
is that a French journalist joked about there being a
lot of Mosques in clod as if that was something
like notable to be aware of. Yeah, no ship, people

(33:19):
are sucking Muslim And then a Danish TV channel literally
compared Morocco's players who were celebrating by hugging their mothers
on the field, they compared them with monkeys. On live
television TV two news. They showed a segment in which
the anchor Sore and Lippert he held up an image

(33:40):
of monkeys embracing while talking about Morocco's national team players
hugging their mothers. And while comparing black and brown people
with monkeys is a common, unsurprising racist trope, it was
still pretty upsetting to see what happened in this year
of two whatever. I just the obvious orientalist nature of

(34:02):
Western news really um came out in full force for
some of this coverage. But yeah, I just think these
kind of depictions and coverage it reinforces stereotypes that are
harmful and shameful, and it further makes immigrants and people
of color in countries that they immigranate to just get terrorized.

(34:24):
And I just wanted to bring up some examples to
remind you that news sucks most of the time. Okay,
the World Cup and all the joy and pride that's
come from it is all my family, and I'm sure
most air families have talked about for the last month,
and I feel like it barely registers here. You have
no idea how happy I've seen my parents, and my

(34:49):
mom in particular, just text me updates, are watching a
game with me. We're all so united in a way
that I haven't felt before, and it's just really beautiful.
And I and do that borders are all made up
and in the end, we're all the same people fighting
for the same things. Notoriously, large sections of US and
British media have engaged in the practice at deceptive framing

(35:13):
and untrue coverage when it comes to covering Israel's treatment
of Palestinians. We've seen this in inaccurate headlines, the twisting
of words, and the general constant anti Palestinian and pro
Israel bias that is almost always present when Western media
talks about Palestine, and if Palestine rises in the political agenda,

(35:36):
western media is quick to disparage it. In the UK,
when a Labor Party candidate made reference to Palestine during
a campaign in one the liberal leaning New Statesman magazine
referred to it as quote unhinged and an obsession. British
Palestinian writer again Hamas Alisha writes in his article do

(35:59):
p will suffering from decades of cruelty deserve support? Apparently
not if they're Palestinian. It's characteristic of this bias that
while human rights have been a hot topic throughout the
World Cup and fans across the world are being commanded
to speak out against injustice, the outpouring of Palestinian solidarity

(36:19):
has largely been ignored. And this, unfortunately isn't surprising, but
doesn't make it any less disappointing, he continues, As it
maintains its rule, Israel has spent years, with unconditional assistance
from the Western world, cracking down and suppressing Palestinian solidarity.

(36:40):
We are under no illusions that the outpouring of support
at the World Cup will cause the occupation to grind
to a halt or prevent Palestinians from being killed. As
a British Palestinian, he says, I often see the misery
of my family who are living under occupation gets swept
under the carpet by the international community. As a result,

(37:01):
it's hard not to exist in a perpetual state of despondency.
But seeing the Palestinian flag hoisted so proudly during the
World Cup has been heartening because it provides new grounds
for hope and it shows that this is by no
means a solo struggle, and that the commitment to Palestine
liberation remains as unshakable as ever. That was the end

(37:26):
of his article, and uh, that's a great place to
end because that was fucking great and poetic, and I
hope that you also go watch the movie on Netflix.
It's really important and it all goes hand in hand
with supporting the Palestinian people and continuing to raise awareness
because that's a huge reason why we've gotten this far,

(37:50):
and the culmination of all of that being broadcast from
the World Cup internationally. It's just been really really incredible
and beautiful to watch. And uh, yeah, that's the episode.
Until next time. I don't know, go watch Huh. That's

(38:12):
the only thing I can really say. And I hope
you all have nice holidays whatever you do. Um yeah,
have fun. Goodbye. It could Happen here as a production
of cool Zone Media or more podcasts from cool Zone Media.
Visit our website cool zone media dot com, or check

(38:34):
us out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources
for It could Happen Here, updated monthly at cool zone
media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.