We determined to carry collectively a British Jew and a British Palestinian who’ve felt themselves deeply affected by battle within the Middle East.
Mohamed Aboukhachab is an accountant in his early 20s. He is a Muslim whose household got here to Britain, by way of Lebanon, from the Palestinian “nakba” in 1948.
Deborah Lyons, 37, lives in north London and works within the vogue trade. She is Jewish and was born and raised within the UK.
Like Mohamed her household has suffered within the lengthy battle – her grandfather was killed by a bomb in Israel.
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We know their interplay has no relevance to the struggle itself, but it surely does have relevance right here in Britain: the distant thunder of the weapons is creating divisions right here, stripped of complexity, which it is in all our pursuits to discover.
“I’m here to talk to you about ways in which, hopefully, at least, you and me, can come together to talk about how we can make things better – rather than things that push us further apart,” says Deborah.
“I agree,” says Mohamed, including: “I want to display that there is a generation, and generations, of Palestinian people who can genuinely live in peace.”
It isn’t the narrative that we have now mostly seen within the information media since 7 October, when Hamas invaded southern Israel, murdering, raping and kidnapping its residents.
But Deborah and Mohamed have agreed to return to Sky News and speak about their completely different views and to see if they’ll discover some frequent floor.
Since the October assaults and Israel’s retaliatory motion on Gaza, there was an increase in Islamophobic offences of 140% whereas antisemitic offences have risen by 1,353%, based on the Metropolitan Police.
Deborah thinks the current pro-Palestinian marches, which have seen a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals demonstrating on Britain’s streets, are a cause for this current sharp rise in reviews of antisemitism.
She has specific concern concerning the chant “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant which Mohamed freely admits that he makes use of.
The chant refers back to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an space which accommodates all of the Palestinian and Israeli territory.
It was first utilized in 1948, calling for a free Palestinian state for each Palestinians and Jews.
For some, it’s a name to finish the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, however to others, together with many Jewish teams, it’s an antisemitic slogan.
“Calling ‘from the river to the sea’ rather than calling for a two-state solution? That, for me, is truly problematic,” Deborah says.
“And then when I’m walking around London, seeing swastikas all over the street or ripped down hostage posters. Does it make me feel very targeted here? Very isolated and afraid?
“Yeah, 100%.”
“I believe it is unfair to say that the Palestinian marches and the protests are all outlined by swastikas,” Mohamed says.
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“I can’t speak about being Palestinian because when I speak about being Palestinian, when I go to a pro-Palestine march, you say I walk among people who are antisemitic. And it’s really unfair to put those connotations on someone who’s simply marching for the freedom of his people.”
He goes on to clarify that, for him, “from the river to the sea”, isn’t an anti-Israeli or antisemitic slogan, merely a name for an finish to what he describes as “occupation”.
“I believe in a two-state solution,” he says.
Deborah stays unconvinced by this defence, insisting “it causes more divisions, it causes more harms,” however neither can persuade the opposite.
Their disagreement is amicable.
Mohamed then says: “As a Muslim, I’ve seen a lot of what’s happened to my community and how we’ve been marginalised.
“And (for) the Jewish group, I’ve seen loads, and it has been horrific. We don’t have any issues between one another and that is what we have to present… one folks.”
“Let’s hope,” says Deborah.
“We can hope,” Mohamed replies.
Mohamed and Deborah parted on heat phrases.
Friends can be overstating it, however they recognised a shared citizenship inside one another which policymakers might want to construct on, even because the horrors of this struggle proceed.
Source: information.sky.com”