The word Palestine echoes with ancient sounds, but its political sting comes from Rome. In 135 AD, after crushing the last Jewish revolt under Bar Kokhba, Emperor Hadrian sought to erase Judea not only from the map but from memory. With one stroke, he renamed the land “Syria Palaestina,” a calculated insult meant to sever the people from their story, to mock Israel’s bond with its soil. What had always been Judea — the heart of the Jewish world — was recast with a foreign name, an act of imperial spite that history would not forget. By invoking the name of the Biblical enemies of Israel — the Philistines — the Romans meant to insult the Jews and erase Judea’s Jewish character. As one historian noted, Hadrian’s renaming of Judea to Palestina was intended “to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land,” replacing the Jewish ethnonym with an unrelated geographic term.

The ancient Philistines were a seafaring people of the Iron Age who vanished as a distinct group over 2,500 years ago. Thus, and despite sounding the same in Arabic (Filastiniyyīn vs. Filistīniyyīn), Palestinians and Philistines are two entirely different and disconnected groups — with the modern appropriating the original name to serve a political agenda.

Prior to Emperor Hadrian renaming it, the region had commonly been called Judea (made of the same Hebrew word meaning “Jew”) or the Land of Israel (reflecting its biblical heritage).

In other words, no independent nation called “Palestine” ever existed; rather, Palestine was a general geographic term used by Greeks and Romans for the southern Levant. It’s telling that even centuries later, no sovereign state named Palestine arose — the area remained under various empires until the 20th century.

For that reason, the modern political concepts of “Palestine” and “Palestinian people” are often criticized for appropriating an ancient-sounding name to lend historical legitimacy to a rather recent nationalist movement. The contemporary use of “Palestine” as a national identity only gained traction in recent years as part of the Islamic narrative and resistance to the rise of the Zionist movement. Critics argue that this rebranding strategically invokes antiquity to obscure the fact that no sovereign state called “Palestine” ever existed, thereby manufacturing historical depth to support territorial claims and political legitimacy.

So, today, the term “Palestine” generally refers to the territories and people identified with the Arab Palestinian national identity, specifically those areas of the former British Mandate that were not incorporated into the State of Israel — namely, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, often referred to as the Palestinian Territories.

Strategically, both Gaza and the West Bank are located at the heart of the Land of Israel — regions of immense strategic importance, especially in light of Islamic Jihadist ideology and global geopolitical tensions. These are the Muslim lands on which Palestinians aspire to establish an independent Muslim state (often dubbed the “State of Palestine”).

Demographics

As of 2025, the combined population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is roughly 5.5 million Palestinians. The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) is home to around 3.2 million Palestinians, while the Gaza Strip houses about 2.35 million Muslim Palestinians.

The Palestinian people, in the contemporary sense, are the Arabic-speaking people, overwhelmingly Muslim. In Gaza, for instance, approximately 99.8% are Muslims (sadly, the number of Christians and Jews living in Gaza has dropped by 99.9% since 1948, mostly caused by Islamic persecution).

Only some Palestinians are indigenous to these territories or descend from those who lived there before 1948. According to UN records, as of January 1947 — a year before the establishment of the modern State of Israel — the Gaza District had a population of only 150,540 (compared with today’s 2.3 million). These Palestinians primarily trace their ancestry to various Muslim Arab populations who settled or migrated into the region — beginning with the Ottoman Empire. Genetic testing confirms that migrations from the Arabian Peninsula introduced the chromosomes of modern Palestinian Arabs.

Many Palestinians today can recount diverse family origins, acknowledging that their ancestors moved to the area from other parts of the Arab world. So where did most of the Palestinian people come from? Most Palestinian families arrived in the last hundred-plus years from surrounding Muslim Arab regions, including Jordan (it’s no accident the Palestinian flag is 99% identical to Jordan’s), Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, drawn by economic opportunities or fleeing Sunni-Shia violent Islamic conflicts. This is evidenced by many common Palestinian surnames that indicate foreign origins — for example, al-Masri (meaning “the Egyptian”), al-Mughrabi (“the Maghrebi,” i.e. North African), al-Turki (“the Turk,” i.e. Turkish), al-Hourani (“from Houran,” a region in Syria), and so forth.

Addressing the Jordanian National Assembly on February 2, 1970, Prince Hassan, King Hussein’s brother and the crown prince (1965-99), claimed that “Palestine is Jordan and Jordan is Palestine; there is only one land, with one history and one and the same fate.” And in the 1981, he reiterated, “The truth is that Palestine is Jordan and Jordan is Palestine.”

Historians have documented waves of migration: Muslim Egyptian peasants and soldiers settling in Gaza and the coastal plain in the 19th century, Muslim laborers from Syria and Transjordan coming during the British Mandate to work in growing cities and on new British projects, etc.

This does not negate Palestinian peoplehood — a distinct national identity has clearly formed now — but it does underscore that Palestinian identity is relatively modern, coalescing chiefly in the 20th century, and that the population has diverse regional roots.

For the sake of illustration, imagine large waves of Muslims immigrating from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to the U.S. state of Michigan. Then, a century later, their descendants begin calling themselves ‘Michiganians,’ convince everyone else to do the same, and claim that Michigan — now a Muslim state — has always belonged to them simply because of the new name. Next, they refuse to recognize the authority of the United States and wage war against it so that the entire country will also be placed under Sharia law. That, in essence, is the kind of historical revisionism we face in the so-called ‘Palestinian territories.’ It is an intellectual deception, a tactic of jihadism aimed at the West. Tragically, many Westerners have never opened a serious history book on the Middle East, instead forming their views of the region from TikTok clips. Few in the West realize that the idea of ‘Palestine’ has been weaponized as a jihadist front — an ideological project designed to deceive global opinion while sacrificing the very people it claims to represent. Muslims living in Israel flourish. In Gaza, Palestinians suffer not under Israel, but under the iron grip of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, militant groups that function less as liberators and more as jihadist armies.

The Influence of Islam on the Palestinian People

The Arabic word Islam itself means “submission,” signifying a universal surrender to Allah and Islam as termed in the Quran, Hadiths and the Sharia law. This submission, as history attests, has rarely been a mere peaceful and private spiritual practice. From its earliest days, Islam has demanded not just individual piety but the conquest and submission of peoples and lands.

Sharia law in Gaza is selectively enforced by Hamas through personal status courts and social policies, shaping aspects of daily life — especially for women — while blending religious norms with political control.

Sharia Law?

Most Westerners have no real understanding of life under Islamic Sharia law, as only those living in Muslim-majority countries — such as Iran — experience its full reality. Let’s take a quick glimpse at life under Sharia Law.

Sharia, as implemented in various jurisdictions, prescribes cruel and unusual punishments, often justified by Islam’s religious text and tradition. Its most notorious prescriptions are the Hudud crimes — offenses considered transgressions against Allah, carrying fixed, often brutal penalties:

Amputations and Cross‑Amputations: Under Hudud, theft can result in the amputation of the right hand — intended both as punishment and deterrence. In some interpretations, the punishment extends to cross-amputation, cutting off the right hand and left foot to hinder the individual’s future independence. Such punishments are justified by Quran (e.g., 5:33–34) and reinforced by classical jurisprudence.

Stoning for Adultery: Adultery by married individuals (Zina) can be punished by stoning to death, a verdict rooted in hadith rather than the Quran, which prescribes only lashes.

Death for Homosexuals: Homosexual (including LGBTQ+) acts are criminalized under Sharia, with punishments ranging from flogging to execution. In Iran, same-sex relations are punishable by death, and the regime has carried out public hangings of gay men as recently as 2022. Article 233 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code defines homosexuality as a capital offense, and Article 234 prescribes execution by hanging for penetrative acts between men. Ayatollah Khomeini once wrote: “If two men, even if minors, engage in homosexual acts, they both must be killed.”

The dehumanization of LGBTQ individuals under Sharia is often framed as a divine command. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, accusations alone can result in torture or extrajudicial killing. Public sentiment shaped by state media further endangers LGBTQ lives, casting them as moral corrupters or agents of the West. UN reports have condemned these practices, calling them violations of international law and crimes against humanity. Nevertheless, many Islamic regimes continue to defend these laws as sacred and non-negotiable.

Flogging and Corporal Punishment: Lashes—often numbering 80 or more—are ordered for moral crimes like fornication, alcohol consumption, and in some cases, apostasy. While flogging may seem less final than execution, the physical pain, social degradation, and psychological trauma are severe and irreversible.

Execution for Apostasy and Blasphemy: Perhaps most chilling is the death penalty for apostasy — leaving Islam — or blasphemy. Classical jurisprudence regards apostasy as treason, punishable by execution unless the accused repents. This includes peaceful ideological dissent. In countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan, apostasy remains a capital offense. Such laws are condemned as direct violations of freedom of conscience, as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights organizations argue that Islamic Sharia Law conflicts profoundly with fundamental human rights. Amnesty International and Humanists UK have repeatedly called for the abolition of corporal punishment and the death penalty for religious expression. Public floggings and amputations are globally seen as torture, not justice.

The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend — The Strange Collaboration Between Western Woke and Islamism

At first glance, it seems paradoxical: hyper-liberal woke individuals, including some from the LGBTQ+ community, vocally supporting Islamic movements like Hamas — groups that, if given the opportunity, might imprison, torture, or even execute them. But I believe the logic, twisted as it is, comes from two main directions:

1. The Victimhood Reflex.

Western progressive ideology often runs on identity politics, where virtue is measured by victim status. Islam, through decades of propaganda, has mastered the art of self-portrayal as the oppressed underdog, endlessly framed as the colonized, the marginalized, and the silenced. So, to many on the far Left, it is almost instinctual: “We are victims; they are victims; therefore, they are our allies.” This is done willfully blind to the reality that in Gaza or Tehran, those same activists would be the first in line for a rooftop execution.

2. A Shared Enemy.

Islamist groups and radical Leftist ideologies like Marxism and neo-Communism share a common goal: the dismantling of the West. For Jihadists, that means conquest and submission in the name of Allah. For Marxist-leaning activists, it means tearing down “structures of oppression” — capitalism, Judeo-Christian values, traditional family, and Western sovereignty. Though their worldviews could never peacefully coexist, they find common cause in their hatred of the same enemy.

In summary, Woke activists view the alliance as an emotional bond of solidarity with those they perceive as fellow victims who share their resentment of the West. Islamists, by contrast, treat it as a cold strategic partnership — “useful idiots,” to borrow the words of Son of Hamas’s founder, Mosab Hasan Yousef — driven by a clear goal of conquest. One side imagines friendship; the other sees only a convenient tool to be exploited.

However, they are right about one thing: many Palestinians suffer terribly. Trapped under the rule of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, they have little choice but to live under a system of fear and coercion. This is both a human tragedy and a political reality — ordinary people paying the price for jihadist rule.

The Palestinian People — A Cynical Tool in the Hands of Islamists

The Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave, has been under the de facto rule of Hamas for twenty years. Hamas (meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”) is an ISIS-like Islamist militant movement that also functions as a political party. Hamas published its charter in August 1988, wherein it defined itself as a chapter of the terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, and its desire to establish “an Islamic state throughout Palestine [Israel].”

For twenty years, Gaza has not held any democratic elections, and Hamas governs the territory in an authoritarian manner. Dozens of countries designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, including the United States, European Union, Canada, and others, due to its record of attacks on civilians and avowed goal of destroying Israel and the Jewish people.

The group’s ideology is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood’s radical Islamist teachings. Hamas’s charter and leaders openly reject Israel’s right to exist and embrace an extreme form of jihadist rhetoric against Jews. In fact, scholars have noted that Hamas is a “direct ideological descendant” of global jihadist movements like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS).

A recent analysis by a security expert described Hamas as “a fundamentalist terrorist organization… fully embracing [the] ideology and grotesque methods” of groups like ISIS, including calls for indiscriminate violence in the name of Islamic conquest.

Hamas leaders have, for example, publicly praised figures like Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden as “great holy warriors” and have invoked classic antisemitic and apocalyptic language, framing their conflict with Israel as a religious war against Jews worldwide.

In practice, Hamas administers Gaza with a heavy hand and an explicitly Islamist agenda. The Gaza government imposes Sharia-inspired regulations on daily life — for instance, it has enforced conservative dress codes for women, gender segregation in schools and public spaces, and other religiously based social restrictions.

Dissent is not tolerated: political opposition, independent media, and civil society groups face harassment or shutdown. Freedom House’s assessments have found that Gaza under Hamas lacks any meaningful institutional checks and is rife with human rights abuses — there are no free elections, no independent judiciary (Hamas appoints its own courts), and no transparency in governance.

Numerous reports document the persecution of opponents and dissidents: journalists have been arrested or beaten for criticizing Hamas, and ordinary Gazans who protest living conditions or Hamas policies have been met with force. Hamas’s rule in Gaza is often compared to other Islamist militant regimes, and its militant activities pose constant security risks. The group has built a formidable armed wing (the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades) and an arsenal of rockets and weapons, frequently launching attacks against Israel. For instance, in the period between October 2023 and May 2024, “Hamas and other terrorist groups have launched more than 19,000 unguided rockets at Israel.”

Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade on Gaza to contain Hamas, which has severely restricted Gaza’s economy and freedom of movement. Inside Gaza, besides Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is also powerful. PIJ is a smaller Islamist militant group, also dependent on Iranian support, that shares Hamas’s jihadist ideology and operates its own militants in Gaza. Hamas has at times cooperated with PIJ (they jointly engage in rocket fire and tunnel warfare against Israel) and at other times restrained them to avoid provoking large wars. Both Hamas and PIJ are often likened to other Islamist jihadist movements akin to ISIS in terms of ideology — all envision an Islamic state and endorse violence as a religiously sanctified means. However, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad focuses specifically on the Palestinian arena — fighting Israel — whereas ISIS pursued broader global ambitions. Yet their shared theocratic vision of imposing Islamic rule has effectively transformed Gaza into an Islamist polity.

The Palestinian Agenda: A Front for Islamic Jihad

The so-called “Palestinian cause” is inseparable from the wider Muslim agenda of Jihadism. The two most powerful groups in Gaza — Hamas and Islamic Jihad — are not “freedom fighters” seeking coexistence, but jihadist militias bent on religious war. Their leaders say it plainly.

According to the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.

(Preamble to Hamas Charter)

The financial, military, and ideological support from Islamic nations such as Iran, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood is not accidental; it is the lifeblood of the Palestinian movement. Their goal is not statehood beside Israel, but statehood instead of Israel.

This is not speculation or “Islamophobia.” It is written in black and white. The Hamas Charter (Article 7) openly quotes a hadith and says that “The day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.”

Like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah (on the northern border of Israel), unapologetically claims the same:

The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win because they love life and we love death.

(Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah)

These are not hidden aims, nor are they a radical’s opinion. They are, in fact, coming straight from the hadith of Muhammad. For instance:

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him…

(Sahih Muslim 2922, Hadith)

These and other antisemitic slogans are regularly chanted by Palestinians in the streets and repeated in religious sermons, children’s school textbooks, and kids’ television shows in Gaza and the West Bank.

Conclusion

The people of Gaza live under the iron grip of an Islamist militant regime — one that exploits its own civilians as human shields, enforces harsh sharia-based social controls, and openly proclaims its goal of eliminating the Jewish people. Yet this grim reality is routinely obscured, minimized, or spun by much of the mainstream media in its coverage of the conflict with Israel.

“From the river to the sea” is not a call for a friendly peace solution; The phrase — referring to the land stretching from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west — means the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. “From the river to the sea” is a direct call for the genocide of over 7 million Jews living between these boundaries.

In the next chapter, we will delve deeper into this topic and uncover who is behind Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as their antisemitic motivations.

This chapter was provided free from my book, “The Elephant in the Middle East.” The quotations, footnotes, and references can be found in the book itself: