When Hollywood Tries To Cancel Palestinians

Debra Messing leads a list of Hollywood celebrities attacking Emmy nominated Bisan Atef Owda, a Palestinian filmmaker

Bisan Atef Owda is a Palestinian journalist and filmmaker. She has so far survived Netanyahu’s siege on Gaza and documented her experience through a heroic film titled, “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive.” This courageous documentary “chronicles her family’s plight as they flee the bombardment of their home in Beit Hanoun for the supposed safe zone of Al-Shifa Hospital.” Accordingly, Owda has received an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story Short Form category.

But there’s only one problem—prominent western celebrities led by Debra Messing are exerting all their efforts to cancel Owda. Messing’s efforts reek of racism, ignorance, and perpetuates bigotry she’s long shown against Arabs and Muslims. In this piece I address this racism and cite history to rebuke the overt hate expressed towards Owda—racism that harms both Arabs and Jews alike. We must demand better. So, Let’s Address This.

Photo Credit: IMAGES on Facebook

Trying to cancel Bisan Atef Owda

By her own admission, Messing never set foot in Israel until December, 2023. She’s likewise never visited the West Bank, and certainly never visited Gaza. Post 10/7, she’s never condemned Netanyahu’s refusal to allow Western journalists to report on the siege, nor has she ever condemned the Israeli military for killing 150+ Palestinian journalists. Instead, during her visit she “thanked the troops” despite the military’s documented war crimes and sexual violence. But her cynicism doesn’t stop at ignoring the violent censorship of journalists in Gaza. Messing is leading an effort of nearly 150 Hollywood celebrities to demand The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) rescind Owda’s Emmy nomination. The letter Messing signed accuses Owda of affiliating with terrorist organizations—yet provides zero actual evidence of this horrifically racist and dangerous claim.

Fortunately, Adam Sharp, NATAS President & CEO responded to Messing and all 150 letter signatories with a sound rebuke, stating:

“It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive” was reviewed by two successive panels of independent judges, including senior editorial leadership from each significant U.S. broadcast news network. It was selected for nomination from among more than 50 submissions in one of the year’s most competitive categories. Most critically, the content submitted for award consideration was consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies. Accordingly, NATAS has found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material.

Sharp goes on to say in his letter that NATAS likewise found zero evidence of the allegations of “terrorism” levied against Owda. (As you’ll see in a moment, evidence and facts aren’t exactly Messing’s thing). And it is worth noting that though Messing calls herself a Democrat, she visited Israel with extreme right wing pundit Douglass Murray—a man so extreme that The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University published an entire profile on his extremism:

Murray is opposed to Muslim immigration in Europe and lambasts the changing demographics on the continent. He has made statements claiming that violence and terrorism are a direct result of Islam and has advocated a reduction in immigration as the first step to achieving “a bit less Islam.” Murray claimed London had “become a foreign country” because “white Britons” were a minority in 23 of 33 London boroughs.

A history of propaganda

Clearly, Messing has no problem fraternizing with open white supremacists and Islamophobes. But that hasn’t prevented her from having opinions on whether Palestinians should be allowed to exist, nor has it prevented her from advancing grotesquely racist anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian propaganda. As an aside, it is encouraging to see Palestinian filmmakers push back against this hate and demand a seat at the table.

For example, a Jewish friend sent me the below meme—not to antagonize me—quite the contrary. They sent it as a heads up and request to provide context for those who might fall victim to this dangerous misinformation. As you might guess, Messing posted this propaganda meme on her social media, even before 10/7, demonstrating her long history of misinformation and hatred against Arabs and Muslims.

The meme depicts two women speaking to one another. The first woman says:

“Isn’t the Israeli Palestinian conflict just a Middle Eastern argument over land between Muslims and Jews?”

To which the second woman responds:

“Yes, but not the first. Jewish people have lived in Jerusalem for thousands of years. And they’ve lived in the Middle East for ages, being oppressed, raped + murdered by the Arab Empire, like Palestinian Christians.”

By the time I received this meme it had been shared thousands of times across social media. At a time of immense antisemitism and Islamophobia, such memes do nothing to advance peace and understanding, but create immense fear to advance hate and violence. It is a dangerous misrepresentation of history and creates anti-Muslim hate and antisemitic hate—not to mention the complete erasure of Palestinian Christians.

This dangerous meme is a perfect example of why I launched this platform, to combat media misinformation and uphold universal human rights, so people have a reliable, trusted source from which to glean information and set the record straight.

Debunking propaganda with facts

To properly debunk this propaganda, let’s start from the beginning and use facts. In 622 C.E., the Founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, left Mecca after a dozen years of brutal persecution. He traveled some 220 miles by foot and arrived in Medina, a city state that was predominantly Jewish with a growing Muslim population. As part of the new government he helped establish, he ratified the landmark Constitution of Medina, sometimes known as the Charter of Medina. Established in 622, the Constitution of Medina was history’s first secular Constitution. It mandated separation of religion and state and united the Muslims and Jews as one alliance. It comprised of 57 Articles, including these two gems most relevant to our discussion:

Article 17: No Jew shall be wronged for being a Jew.

Article 18: The enemies of the Jews who follow [Muslims] will NOT be helped.

Image of Charter of Medina

The Charter went on to explicitly confirm the humanity of Jewish people as equal to Muslims (Article 42), and the obligations of Muslims to protect not only Jews, but also protect allies of Jews who were not explicitly mentioned in the Charter (Article 34). This ironclad commitment would soon be put to the test as war would impose itself on Medina. Accordingly, when Medina was subsequently attacked in the following years, for example in what is now known as the Battle of the Ditch, history records that Prophet Muhammad and the Muslims actively defended Jews from attack and being killed, and protected Medina’s unified sovereignty and sanctity.

Meanwhile, some 600 miles away and six years later in 629, Byzantine Christians conquered Jerusalem and forcibly expelled all Jews from this holy city. A massacre of Jews ensued. Going forward, Jews were forbidden from settling in Jerusalem and were forced, by some accounts, to live at least 3 miles outside the city walls.

This atrocity against Jews was not committed by Arabs or Muslims—as they had an alliance with Jews and remained steadfast in that alliance—but by the Byzantines.

Prophet Muhammad died in 632, and his death tested whether the alliance he made with Jews, and the promise of protection of Jews from harm, would remain in tact? That question was emphatically answered in 638 when the Caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem and retook it from the Byzantine Christians. As among his first orders of business, Umar reopened Jerusalem for Jews to reenter and live peacefully and without persecution. The restrictions in movement and residency that the Byzantines had imposed upon the Jewish people were also lifted. Likewise, Christians were allowed to remain in Jerusalem provided they did not engage in war. Subsequently, Jews, Muslims, and Christians live in relative peace under Muslim rule for the next 461 years. Soak that in for a moment. The United States has only existed for 248 years. But for nearly double the existence of the United States, Jews and Christians lived peacefully under Muslim rule in Jerusalem.

That unity continued until the Crusaders retook Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. Horrifyingly, another massacre ensued, again not committed by Arabs or Muslims, but of Muslims and of Jews at the hands of the Christian Crusaders.

From 1099-1187, the First Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and committed a well documented massacre of the previous Jewish and Muslim residents of Jerusalem.

And true to the Constitution of Medina signed some 467 years prior, Jews and Muslims fought side-by-side against the invading army, but lost. Those who survived the war were once again expelled from Jerusalem altogether. That is, until 1187. In 1187, General Saladin launched a successful campaign against the Crusaders and retook Jerusalem, again.

And yet again, true to the covenant established more than 500 years prior, General Saladin allowed Jews to re-enter Jerusalem, a second time, just as Caliph Omar had done centuries prior. He furthermore let native Christians remain in Jerusalem and as another token of his sincerity, compassionately guarded the Holy Sepulcher of Christ from attack, vandalism, or destruction—all this contrary to the malicious allegation of “rape of Palestinian Christians.” In fact, to this day in 2024, the Holy Sepulcher is honored under Muslim protection. I have had the honor of visiting the Holy Sepulcher and paying my respects personally. And if people like Messing were truly concerned about Palestinian Christians, they would listen to voices like Palestinian Christian Isaac Munther, who warns what Netanyahu is doing to Gaza is ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Again, to emphasize the point once more, Jews and Muslims lived in relative harmony and peace without any such incidents of “rape and murder by the Arab empire.”

From 1259-1516, under the Mamluk reign, there were several notable Jews and Christians in high ranking positions in the Muslim majority government of Jerusalem. To be sure, this was not a utopia by any means, but likewise, there are no such examples of "mass murder or rape" as alleged. The Mamluk reign lasted until 1517, when the Ottomans took over Jerusalem.

From 1517-1917, under 400 years of Muslim rule we once again history records relative peace and a rapid growth of the Jewish population in Jerusalem. This era amounted to the third multi-century reign of Muslim leadership, in which Jews lived in Jerusalem, protected by Muslims from outside attacks, and free to practice and worship without oppression. This alone should suffice as evidence that Muslims and Jews have long lived in peace and harmony with one another.

And this harmony wasn’t only in the Middle East.

Vastly contrary to the treatment of Jewish people under Christian Europe, in Moorish Spain we see 700 years of Muslim rule and relative peace between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Indeed this was known as the Golden Age of Islam. As historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall relates about this time period:

The Almoravids were a country people, religious and honest...Their reign was tranquil, and was untroubled by any revolt, either in the cities, or in the country- side...Their days were happy, prosperous, and tranquil… There was no tribute, no tax, or contribution for the government except the charity tax and the tithe. Prosperity constantly grew; the population rose, and everyone could freely attend to their own affairs. Their reign was free of deceit, fraud, and revolt, and they were loved by everyone. Even after its overthrow, other chroniclers of Islamic Spain praised the rule of the Almoravids. They wrote that learning was cherished, literacy was wide-spread, scholars were subsidized, capital punishment was abolished, and their gold coins were so pure and of such reliable weight that they assured prosperity and stimulated trade throughout the Mediterranean world. Christians and Jews were tolerated within their realms. When the Christians rose up in revolt, they were not executed but were exiled to Morocco instead. The Almoravids were criticized, however, for being excessively influenced by their women. (Hall, 2005: 6)

(As an aside, it would be nice to have political leadership today that is excessively influenced by women but perhaps that’s an article for another time). The fall of Moorish Spain saw the rise of systemic antisemitic violence and pogroms against Jewish People. For example, preceding the groundwork that Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Church laid to trigger what soon became the Transatlantic slave trade, Columbus wrote in his journal to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella:

Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes who love the holy Christian faith, and the propagation of it, and who are enemies to the sect of Mahomet and to all idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Cristobal Colon, to the said parts of India to see the said princes...with a view that they might be converted to our holy faith...Thus, after having turned out all the Jews from all your kingdoms and lordships...your Highnesses gave orders to me that with a sufficient fleet I should go to the said parts of India...I shall forget sleep, and shall work at the business of navigation, so that the service is performed. (Borne, 1906: 76) (emphasis added)

The above attests once more that even if there were instances of conflict, Muslims and Jews lived in consistent harmony with one another, and both suffered horrific atrocity at the hands of Crusaders and genocidal maniacs like Columbus.

Returning to the main point at hand, shortly after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the State of Israel was created in 1948. The history from 1948 to 2024 warrants an independent analysis, which perhaps I will provide at a future date. For the purposes of this article, history consistently records that from 622 to 1917—a span of nearly 1300 years—no mass or generational discrimination, rape, and murder of Jewish people existed under Muslim rule or at the hands of Muslims. On the contrary, under Muslim rule, Jewish people were consistently protected from persecution and annihilation. History records no example of Muslims proactively targeting and harming Jewish people for being Jewish—indeed the Constitution of Medina ratified by Prophet Muhammad way back in 622 specifically forbade such atrocity.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine today is due to contemporary injustice, not ancient war. It is due to political injustice, not a religious feud. Messing’s offensive but viral meme, and others like it, succeed only in advancing hate, racism, fear, and misinformation.

In conclusion

Demanding better begins with honesty about the history of Israel and Palestine. But it doesn’t stop there. It requires us to also contemporarily uphold international human rights law to ensure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, a release of all hostages on both sides, a prosecution of war crimes, an end to the illegal military occupation and illegal settlements in Palestine, and the right for Palestine to be an independent sovereign nation with self-determination.

Such a path forward will uphold justice and safety for Palestinians, justice and safety for Israelis, and a meaningful consistent standard of accountability going forward. Such a path would truly revive the long history of mutual co-existence that Muslims and Jews initiated with the landmark Constitution of Medina in 622 C.E. And that is a unity on the tenets of justice and humanity worth fighting for.

I have long, and proudly, worked on interfaith coalition building. When extremists attacked a Jewish cemetery near my mosque in Philadelphia, I was proud to activate my mosque community to help with clean up. When I was asked to speak at the funeral of a Holocaust Survivor and serve as a pallbearer, I considered it my distinct honor. Whenever I’ve been invited to Seders and Synagogues to break bread or speak on interfaith harmony, I’ve embraced the opportunities. These moments of unity and solidarity are important to a healthy society, in significant part because unfortunately, provocateurs have long tried to drive a wedge between Muslims and Jews with varying degrees of success.

Provocateurs like Messing will likely continue their provocations. But that’s why voices like Bisan’s are that much more important to push back against the hate and misinformation. I look forward to seeing Bisan’s documentary, and I am hopeful the hate she’s received from ignorant people only adds fuel to her drive for justice, and only elevates her platform to uphold justice for all people, including for Palestinians.

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