A New Kind of Racism
11th October 2024
“Anti-Palestinian Racism” (APR) is a term that does not seem to have been widely in use before 2022. It began to be popularised when Dania Majid, co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), issued a report on the existence of this new form of bigotry. Of course, everyone should oppose racism against Palestinians—as they should stand against all forms of race-based hate. The definition of APR, however, is far broader than the term implies. It can include everything from denying that Palestinians have a “right of return” to Israel to condemning acts of Palestinian violence or terrorism. In fact, the term has been carefully crafted to fit into the social justice lexicon, which goes some way to explaining its ready adoption by various individuals, activist groups, and institutions, including the Toronto District School Board, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sundry American teachers’ unions, colleges, universities, and even Queen Rania of Jordan.
The problem with all of this, of course, is that ‘Palestinians’ are not a race. Nothing is more common among the Wokerati than to pick out some Fashionable Victim Group, cram it into the box called ‘race’, and then hand-wring about ‘racism’, even when it is patently absurd. (‘Muslim’ is not a race.)