--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Hitherto, the Palestinians had been…" description: "\"“Hitherto, the Palestinians had been relatively immune to this Allahu Akhbar style. I thought this was a hugely retrograde development. I said as much ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg" --- # Hitherto, the Palestinians had been relatively immune to… ![“Hitherto, the Palestinians had been relatively immune to this Allahu Akhbar style. I thought this was a hugely retrograde development. I said as much to Edward. To reprint Nazi propaganda and to make a theocratic claim to Spanish soil was to be a protofascist and a supporter of 'Caliphate'…” quote by Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg) > ““Hitherto, the Palestinians had been relatively immune to this Allahu Akhbar style. I thought this was a hugely retrograde development. I said as much to Edward. To reprint Nazi propaganda and to make a theocratic claim to Spanish soil was to be a protofascist and a supporter of 'Caliphate' imperialism: it had nothing at all to do with the mistreatment of the Palestinians. Once again, he did not exactly disagree. But he was anxious to emphasize that the Israelis had often encouraged Hamas as a foil against Fatah and the PLO. This I had known since seeing the burning out of leftist Palestinians by Muslim mobs in Gaza as early as 1981. Yet once again, it seemed Edward could only condemn Islamism if it could somehow be blamed on either Israel or the United States or the West, and not as a thing in itself. He sometimes employed the same sort of knight's move when discussing other Arabist movements, excoriating Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, for example, mainly because it had once enjoyed the support of the CIA. But when Saddam was really being attacked, as in the case of his use of chemical weapons on noncombatants at Halabja, Edward gave second-hand currency to the falsified story that it had 'really' been the Iranians who had done it. If that didn't work, well, hadn't the United States sold Saddam the weaponry in the first place? Finally, and always—and this question wasn't automatically discredited by being a change of subject—what about Israel's unwanted and ugly rule over more and more millions of non-Jews? I evolved a test for this mentality, which I applied to more people than Edward. What would, or did, the relevant person say when the United States intervened to stop the massacres and dispossessions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo? Here were two majority-Muslim territories and populations being vilely mistreated by Orthodox and Catholic Christians. There was no oil in the region. The state interests of Israel were not involved (indeed, Ariel Sharon publicly opposed the return of the Kosovar refugees to their homes on the grounds that it set an alarming—I want to say 'unsettling'—precedent). The usual national-security 'hawks,' like Henry Kissinger, were also strongly opposed to the mission. One evening at Edward's apartment, with the other guest being the mercurial, courageous Azmi Bishara, then one of the more distinguished Arab members of the Israeli parliament, I was finally able to leave the arguing to someone else. Bishara \[...\] was quite shocked that Edward would not lend public support to Clinton for finally doing the right thing in the Balkans. Why was he being so stubborn? I had begun by then—belatedly you may say—to guess. Rather like our then-friend Noam Chomsky, Edward in the final instance believed that if the United States was doing something, then that thing could not by definition be a moral or ethical action.”” [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage critiques selective moral condemnation, noting how some observers blame external powers for atrocities while ignoring internal extremist actions, and highlights double standards in geopolitical criticism. **In simple terms:** It points out hypocrisy in blaming others for violence while ignoring the perpetrators. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge selective moral narratives. Themes politics ethics double standards media bias conflict Mood critical skeptical analytical Type commentary political analytical When to use this quote - journalism - policy analysis - academic debate - activism - public discourse Key Concepts hypocrisy selective outrage propaganda imperialism Questions to Reflect On - How do we ensure consistent moral standards across different conflicts? - What impact does selective condemnation have on peace efforts? A Different Perspective Such narratives can oversimplify complex conflicts and hinder accountability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [1981](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zz-1981-461/) [Andalusia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/andalusia-8231/) [Antisemitism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/antisemitism/) [Baath-party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baath-party-13625/) [Balkans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/balkans/) [Bill clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bill-clinton/) [Blamed Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blamed-israel-1638031/) [Bosnia-and-herzegovina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bosnia-and-herzegovina-22985/) [Bosnian-war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bosnian-war/) [Caliphate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caliphate/) [Catholics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catholics/) [Chemical weapons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chemical-weapons/) [Christians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christians/) [Cia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cia/) [Discussing Arabist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discussing-arabist-1638035/) [Doing the right thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-the-right-thing/) [Edward-said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edward-said/) [Fanaticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fanaticism/) [Fascism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fascism/) [First place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-place/) [Gaza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gaza/) [Hamas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hamas/) [Henry kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/henry-kissinger/) [Imperialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism/) [Imperialism Mistreatment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperialism-mistreatment-1638033/) [Iran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/iran/) [Islam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/islam/) [Islamism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/islamism/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [Israel Involved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel-involved-1638034/) [Israelis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israelis/) [Kosovo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kosovo/) [Kosovo-war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kosovo-war-102433/) [Leftists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leftists/) [Mistreatment Palestinians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistreatment-palestinians-1638032/) [Muslims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/muslims/) [National security](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-security/) [Nazi propaganda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nazi-propaganda/) [Nazism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nazism/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noam-chomsky/) [Noam-chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noam-chomsky-2/) [Oil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oil/) [Palestinians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/palestinians/) [Plo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plo-145579/) [Politics-of-israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics-of-israel-146532/) [Propaganda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propaganda/) [Religious extremism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious-extremism/) [Right thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-thing/) [Saddam hussein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saddam-hussein/) [Spain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spain/) [Theocracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theocracy/) [United states](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-states/) [War crimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-crimes/) ## Related quotes > [“Rolf Ekeus came round to my apartment one day and showed me the name of the Iraqi diplomat who had visited the little West…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/rolf-ekeus-came-round-to-my-apartment-one-day-and-showed-me-the-name/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“And your neihjbour is sitting next door weeping as she watches her child facing a crowd of Palestiniankids armed with rocks which could take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-grant/and-your-neihjbour-is-sitting-next-door-weeping-as-she-watches-her/) [Linda Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-grant/) ## More by Christopher Hitchens > [“The spirit of our accurate and exact philosophy is outraged by conclusions that contradict each other so glaringly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-spirit-of-our-accurate-and-exact-philosophy-is-outraged-by/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Many governments employ torture but this was the first time that the element of Saturnalia and pornography in the process had been made so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/many-governments-employ-torture-but-this-was-the-first-time-that-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ It's \[Los Angeles\] mostly full of nonsense and delusion and egomania. 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I thought this was a hugely retrograde development. I said as much to Edward. To reprint Nazi propaganda and to make a theocratic claim to Spanish soil was to be a protofascist and a supporter of 'Caliphate' imperialism: it had nothing at all to do with the mistreatment of the Palestinians. Once again, he did not exactly disagree. But he was anxious to emphasize that the Israelis had often encouraged Hamas as a foil against Fatah and the PLO. This I had known since seeing the burning out of leftist Palestinians by Muslim mobs in Gaza as early as 1981. Yet once again, it seemed Edward could only condemn Islamism if it could somehow be blamed on either Israel or the United States or the West, and not as a thing in itself. He sometimes employed the same sort of knight's move when discussing other Arabist movements, excoriating Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, for example, mainly because it had once enjoyed the support of the CIA. But when Saddam was really being attacked, as in the case of his use of chemical weapons on noncombatants at Halabja, Edward gave second-hand currency to the falsified story that it had 'really' been the Iranians who had done it. If that didn't work, well, hadn't the United States sold Saddam the weaponry in the first place? Finally, and always—and this question wasn't automatically discredited by being a change of subject—what about Israel's unwanted and ugly rule over more and more millions of non-Jews? I evolved a test for this mentality, which I applied to more people than Edward. What would, or did, the relevant person say when the United States intervened to stop the massacres and dispossessions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo? Here were two majority-Muslim territories and populations being vilely mistreated by Orthodox and Catholic Christians. There was no oil in the region. The state interests of Israel were not involved (indeed, Ariel Sharon publicly opposed the return of the Kosovar refugees to their homes on the grounds that it set an alarming—I want to say 'unsettling'—precedent). The usual national-security 'hawks,' like Henry Kissinger, were also strongly opposed to the mission. One evening at Edward's apartment, with the other guest being the mercurial, courageous Azmi Bishara, then one of the more distinguished Arab members of the Israeli parliament, I was finally able to leave the arguing to someone else. Bishara [...] was quite shocked that Edward would not lend public support to Clinton for finally doing the right thing in the Balkans. Why was he being so stubborn? I had begun by then—belatedly you may say—to guess. Rather like our then-friend Noam Chomsky, Edward in the final instance believed that if the United States was doing something, then that thing could not by definition be a moral or ethical action.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Christopher Hitchens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relatively-immune-to-this-allahu/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "1981" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relatively-immune-to-this-allahu/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a88/christopher-hitchens-117_1981_hitherto-the-palestinians-had-been-relat_2564837.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Hitherto, the Palestinians had been relatively immune to this Allahu Akhbar style. 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