Saeed's story: shot by settlers while defending his West Bank home

Richard Mellor

8-12-25

 

I just watched this video from the UK’s Channel 4. It just angers me so much to watch it but I urge others to do so. We ned to watch It  because it’s important for us to at very least grasp the horrific situation that exists for the Palestinian people in the West Bank or what we also know as the occupied territories. Incidentally, it mirrors the events that led to the formation of the modern US nation state and the genocidal wars against the native population here.

 

Imagine having to deal with this, a condition that is completely illegal according to international law. This is what the US and British governments finance and support. The settlers come from the US, Europe, South Africa and other countries and claim the land was given to them by their god. This is not a serious argument for justifying colonial violence and theft. I don’t think Native American’s would fare very well using that argument to steal our homes here in the US.

 

This violent regime is strongly supported in the US Congress by Christian Zionists who base their actions on Biblical prophecy; billions of US taxpayer dollars are spent here that could be used to provide a better life at home and help others more productively abroad all as a consequence of obscure tracts written thousands of years ago by people or persons that knew next to nothing about the world around them when compared to where science and critical thought has brought us today.

 

It’s always fascinated me that these Christian nationalists and avid white supremacists have kidnapped a religious philosophy that is surely the most revolutionary of the three main Abrahamic religions. I am not a Christian nor do I have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to Christian theology but when I was young I was attracted to Jesus’ teachings by the compassion and humanity I saw in it. At the time, when I accepted there was a such a historical figure as Jesus and the events surrounding him despite very little evidence to show for it, I was drawn by the humble, forgiving, not materialistic portrayal of a person who stood up for the poor and disposed and scolded the rich and powerful. 

 

I saw the light by the time I reached puberty. But, as I have written in the past, some of the best fighters for the working class and for the oppressed against the oppressors I have known in my political experience were Christians  (and Jews) so people take from these philosophies and the writings what best suits them. 

 

Please watch this video and most importantly share it with friends whose opinions on this matter are blinded by sheer ignorance, or whose window to the world is framed by the extremely censored and biased mass media, particularly here in the US. And raise it with friends in conversation at dinner or work. You don’t have to go to war about it; if you do nothing else, challenge the mass media and the official narrative set out by those who have a vested interested in perpetuating this barbaric situation.