What does it mean to be "anti-Israel"?
Honest Reporting Canada did a feature on me, "Meet Gerry Chidiac, anti-Israel activist in small town British Columbia." I think it is time to rebut that claim.
According to the website Honest Reporting Canada, I am an “anti-Israel activist.”
I find this odd. I have never said that Israel should not exist as a state. I have, however, advocated that Israel conduct itself within the confines of international law, something that I believe will ensure the continued existence of the state, and the long-term safety of its citizens.
International law is meant to be objective. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of both Israeli officials and leaders of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
A good historian also does not take sides. One cannot predict the future, but in pursuing truth, a historian will recognize patterns. We study these patterns so that we can learn not to repeat the same mistakes as our ancestors. We recognize, for example, that hyper-militarized and aggressive states, like Napoleonic France, regularly bring about their own demise.
Two Israeli historians, Ilan Pappé and Omer Bartov, both veterans of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, people who have put their lives on the line for their country, have sounded a warning for the future of the State of Israel. I find their perspectives both intriguing and troubling; I cannot comprehend why anyone who loves Israel would not, at the very least, consider what they have to say.
Ilan Pappé recently published Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions that Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence. In the preface, Pappé states, “I do not take lightly the process that can lead to the end of a state that I am a citizen of and in which millions of people live.” He points out that the fall of a state could simply mean the end of an ideological regime, and there are numerous examples of this in history. Pappé is quite confident, however, that the question of the collapse of Israel as a Zionist state “is not about if, but when.”
While some may find this an unacceptable conclusion, it’s clear that Pappé is trying to narrate a plausible alternative to the violent Armageddon prophecy preached so fervently by Christian Zionists in America. He draws from the extensive research of Lebanese/Palestinian historian Ussama Makdisi who points out that, in contrast to the Zionist narrative, throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side by side peacefully; there were very few examples of sectarian violence. Massacres happened, but after European interference in the region in the mid 1800s, and these were largely directed at Christians.
By applying critical analysis to the current situation in the Levant, Pappé recognizes that peace is again possible. For that to happen, however, the current violence needs to stop, and those who are responsible for crimes against humanity need to be held accountable so that true reconciliation can take place.
Omer Bartov was raised a Zionist and specializes in the study of genocide. He is one of the world’s most respected scholars on the history of the Holocaust, but he has recently turned his attention to his own beloved country. In 2023, he published Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis, and Israel: What Went Wrong? in 2026.
In his most recent book, Bartov does not hold back in his critique: “The license that Israel, the land of the victims, has long enjoyed and abused may be expiring. The sons and daughters of the next generation will be free to rethink their own lives in their future beyond the memory of the Holocaust. They will also have to pay for the sins of their parents and bear the burden of the genocide perpetrated in their name.”
I believe in respect for all life and the enforcement of international law. While violence is at times necessary, it should only be used in self-defence and as a last resort. Individuals and nations tend to thrive when they live at peace with their neighbours. History has always shown us that violence and war bring unforeseeable and often devastating results.
I am not anti-Israel. I would encourage those who label me this way to study the writings of Pappé and Bartov. I would also be open to a reasoned discussion of their claims.
The current violence needs to stop, not only for the sake of Palestinians, but also for the sake of our humanity, and that of Israel.
No state has the right to exist. No state has the right to its existing boarders, or form of Government. All states have the responsibility to provide security, respect, and security of persons to every person with in that state, and to facilitate their well being.
History shows that States come & go. Boarders change, and over time even who lives with in those boarders change.
Wars happen when one party seeks to impose their will on another party, or take that which belongs to another party by force, which most people agree is wrong both at the personal & at the state level.
It is also true that over time States & Governments become corrupt & dysfunctional, at which point the people who live in that state or form of government will seek to replace it. This is normal and natural. States that successfully navigate this process well will exist much longer than States that do not.
China is an example of a State that has successfully reinvented itself for thousands of years, although that process has at times taken a long time (150 years the last time)