Misunderstandings of Language Misleading View of Gaza Conflict

Every language has words that have multiple meanings. Sometimes the meanings are quite the opposite of what the word means. Others, it is similar, but not nearly the word at “face value”.

Take some standard American-English slang as example:

• When someone is “tripping”, it doesn’t mean they are falling, it means they are overreacting.
• When something is “bad”, sometimes it means it is really quite good.
• When someone says “I have no cabbage”, it means they don’t have any money, not that they don’t have any of their most favorite vegetable.

When foreigners come here after studying their “English”, they may be able to translate every word perfectly, yet they may have no idea what the heck we are talking about! It is not a stretch then to acknowledge that when we hear statements or sayings in other languages, that similar misinterpretations can happen quite easily? … and most likely without us even realizing that we have made a mistake in translation?

I turn this discussion now to the Arab world, and more specifically the Israel-Gaza conflict. I am not of Arab descent, but I do have a friend who is. I asked him this question one day late last year. When the media shows angry demonstrators in the Middle East, they state they are chanting “Death to America”, or “Death to Israel”, or “Death to this person.” or “Death to that person.” …are they really calling for their death and destruction? I mean the media typically portrays the protesters in the Middle East as blood-thirsty power-hungry radicals. Seems a little extreme to me. I have to believe that the majority of people are just like you and me, just trying to live their lives…

He told me this… Yeah it’s not that bad. It really means more like “Down With” or “End Of” or “!@#& You”– stuff like that. The Arabic word for death is such a varied word that it’s not really comparable to the English word ‘death’. When a taxi driver cuts you off” over there, he’ll mumble, “Death to taxi drivers!” under his breath, just like we’d mumble (or even yell) some anger or profanity of our own. I mean he doesn’t really want all taxi drivers killed. Just like we don’t want all of our kids to suffer eternal damnation when we say “Damn Kids!”

When I heard this, I was utterly shocked because the majority of people in this country are being completely mislead on the veracity of these demonstrations. These people are just ticked off because they are angry about something that is happening to them or their world. We are taking it as they are blood-thirsty radicals who want “us” “killed or destroyed”. What a calamity! How can the media, or US Government, not know this? Why would they not give you this little tidbit in the reporting? Seems like it is intentional to some degree… Don’t you think?

The right-wing war-mongering media in this country want you to believe that the Palestinians will do nothing to stop at the total destruction of Israel – and they use statements like “Death to Israel” to back up their rhetoric. Since most people in this country don’t understand the figure of speech over their, they say “Yeah, you’re right, look at what they are saying – we have to defend Israel”.

One of the other points that they re-iterate is that the Palestinians do not and will not acknowledge the “existence of Israel”, and that we can’t let the Palestinians be free or have arms because they want Israel off the map. The right-wing war-mongering media in this country want you to accept the fact that if they don’t acknowledge the existence of Israel, then they want it destroyed, so we must destroy them before they destroy Israel. Or, they can’t have true peace until they acknowledge the existence of Israel.

In reverse, the US, Israel, and the EU haven’t recognized Hamas as the duly elected government. Why don’t they say anything about that? We work tirelessly for years to have free elections in Gaza, then when they do, and they elect someone “we” don’t like, we won’t work with them. The world has abandoned the Palestinians. Doesn’t it seem odd to you that no one is crying out that “We” don’t recognize them? But everyone is in a tizzy that Hamas won’t recognize Israel. What a double standard!

Besides, how can they acknowledge Israel in it’s current form anyway? I mean Israel occupies Gaza, then they leave but essentially imprison and ruin Gaza with the blockade, and then attack them because some freedom fighters shoot some rockets in retaliation for their imprisonment. Once the Israeli state stops bullying the Palestinians, I’m sure they will recognize them. Once we recognize them, they will return the favor.

Don’t take the rhetoric that these statements mean that they do everything they can until Israel is destroyed. Don’t accept everything you hear at face value. All the Palestinian people want is to be their own country in Peace on land that is respected as theirs. Tell everyone you can. They need your support.