Praise to the real pro-Palestinians. And they’re not the ones running riot in the West

We have come to realise that there are pro-Pal and pro-Pal. There are pro-Palestinians who are all the rage in the West, so enamoured with the Palestinian cause that they regard the fight against Islamist extremism as secondary – anything goes when you’re embracing the Intifada – and then there are other, less well-documented pro-Palestinians who are snubbed by the West and yet would have a great deal to teach those waving Palestinian flags. The first group of pro-Palestinians is well known. They are the ones who, when faced with Youssef Siher’s words, felt well represented by that toxic mix of anti-Western progressive Islamism, seasoned with hints of anti-Zionism and laced with anti-Semitism. The second group of pro-Palestinians is the one we do not want to see; they are the ones who show sensitivity towards the Palestinian cause far from the West. 

These are the pro-Palestinian Arabs – to be clear – those who have shown emotional, political, cultural and religious solidarity with the Palestinian cause, but who have often done so, in various contexts, without ever omitting a detail that often escapes their Western counterparts: being pro-Palestinian without making any concessions to pro-Palestinian jihadism. The most interesting pro-Palestinians are those who have also stood, with some success, in elections in Israel. They have condemned the 7 October attacks, denounced terrorism, and, above all, expressed openness to pluralism even amid differences and contradictions. Hadash, Ta’al and Balad have called for the separation of religion and state, freedom of conscience, equality between men and women, critical thinking and the fight against sectarianism; whilst Ra’am, which has its roots in political Islam, has included on its list a Jewish, Zionist and secular candidate, Yoav Segalovitz – something that perhaps no pro-Palestinian party in the West today would have the courage to do. A few days earlier, further west, in Morocco, the new Prime Minister, Fatima El Mansouri – the first woman in the country’s history to lead the government – took a hard line in Parliament against the Islamists of the PJD, who had governed for ten years. El Mansouri, during a speech in Parliament on 19 October, reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to defending the Palestinian cause and the status of Jerusalem. Three days later, she took aim at the Islamist party, attacking it for the unscrupulous way in which it uses religion for political ends. In doing so, she chose to dig out of the archives an old quote from the party’s leader, Benkirane, who had compared women to chandeliers that light up homes, and replied: “I am not a chandelier!” These are small signs, small gestures, which tie in with other developments that are no less interesting. Gestures such as those of the United Arab Emirates, which months ago took a rather sensational decision to counter the risk of Islamist radicalisation in the United Kingdom, choosing to restrict public funding for sending its young people to study at British universities and putting pressure on London to ban the Muslim Brotherhood. Gestures such as those of Jordan, an Arab monarchy with a peace treaty with Israel, which severely criticises Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, but which also regards armed Islamist networks as a potential threat to its own security – to the extent that it has done what few pro-Palestinian Westerners would have the courage to do: ban the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, order the closure of their offices and the confiscation of their assets. Measures such as those implemented by al-Sisi’s not exactly enlightened Egyptian government, which favours the creation of a Palestinian state but, aware of the risks posed by the spread of political and radical Islamism, has kept the Muslim Brotherhood banned since 2013 and supports what few pro-Palestinian Westerners would have the strength to endorse: “To save religion from being hijacked by extremist factions, which transform it into terrorism, violence, bloodshed and destruction” (al-Sisi, 19 January 2026). Then there is the case of an Arab country – a country that is, in its own way, pro-Palestinian – which denounces the danger posed by Iran and the militias it funds with a severity that many pro-Palestinian extremists are unfamiliar with: Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has for months been accusing Tehran of destabilising the Middle East – something for which Riyadh is paying the price first-hand – and it does so in the knowledge that one cannot call for a future for Palestine without doing everything possible to ensure that terrorists have no future. There are pro-Palestine advocates, and then there are pro-Palestine advocates. There are the Western pro-Palestine advocates – those who justify Hamas, who have little qualms about defending the Palestinian cause whilst failing to condemn what truly holds Arab countries hostage: radical Islamism. There are, however, non-Western pro-Palestinians who, having experienced first-hand just how painful it is to turn a blind eye to Islamist extremism, are there every day offering Western pro-Palestinians lessons that could prove useful for the future: defending the Palestinians does not mean justifying Hamas, violence against civilians or hatred of Jews, and anyone who wishes to secure a future for the Palestinians must do so whilst bearing in mind how dangerous it is to envisage the future of an Arab state without doing everything possible to eradicate, from the river to the sea, what remains of the jihadist networks.