Pakistani writer Noor Dahri pens an Op-Ed on why as a Pakistani Muslim he decided to join the Zionist Federation of UK, and why other Muslims should follow his example. By Noor Dahri

Pakistani writer Noor Dahri pens an Op-Ed on why as a Pakistani Muslim
he decided to join the Zionist Federation of UK, and why other Muslims
should follow his example.
 
By Noor Dahri
 
 
 
It was 30th of March, 2016, when I was invited by the Zionist
Federation of UK and it was the day when I acquired honorary
membership in the Zionist Federation. I received mixed responses from
different social circles and schools of thought, especially from the
South Asian community. My own Pakistani community was surprised and
mortified when I proclaimed my adherence to Zionism. I received
various texts and social media messages from Muslim communities across
the globe. Most of them welcomed my brave and courageous step to grasp
the truth and some people asked queer questions regarding any
anti-religious elements in Zionism especially for the religion of
Islam. In response to their contrasting questions, I adopted the
following way of discourse:
 
1) Why did I join the Zionist Movement being a Muslim?
 
First of all, I need to ask a very exclusive question before an answer
to the above question, which is what is Zionism? In fact, Zionism is a
political reclamation movement to establish a separate, safe and
inviolable state for the world Jewish community in Palestine. This
movement was extremely crucial for the Jewish people, to settle them
down in a secure place from the worst persecution of the European and
the Middle Eastern peoples. Before the Zionist Movement, there was
still persecutions, pogroms, genocide and ethnic cleansing of the
Jewish people all around the world. Before the establishing of the
Zionist Movement, the Jewish community was abandoned and helpless and
the Zionist Movement gave them an aspiration, provided them a
political platform to increment their lawful voice and a social
support. The Zionist Movement was the national liberation movement of
the Jewish people and its main goal was to the return the Jews to
Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). The world history shows us the huge
religious, cultural and social persecution of the Jewish people before
the creation of the Zionist Movement in 1896 by Theodor Herzl.
 
Photo Credit: Noor Dahri
 
 
 
The Zionist Movement is an authentic national movement of the Jewish
people in the world. There are many people of various religions who
joined a political branch of Zionism in solidarity with the Jewish
people and in support of Israel. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was an
enormous figure from the history who was pro-Israel and pro-Zionism
because he has seen great persecution against the black community in
the US and all around the world. He experienced racism first hand.
Every person who suffered racially and religiously would understand
better what the objectives of Zionism are. The Zionist Movement is as
a supportive liberation movement such as Martin Luther’s
African-American civil rights movement and Nelson Mandela’s
Anti-Apartheid Revolutionary Movement and like many other
revolutionary or salvation movements for their nation. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr always supported Israel and Zionism throughout his
life: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews; you are talking
anti-Semitism.”
 
I was not the sole Muslim who joined this the Zionist Movement; there
are numerous Muslims in history that also joined this movement in
consensus with the Jewish community and in support of Israel. I joined
the Zionist Federation in the UK because I believe that the Jewish
community needs more support for their cause, they need someone, who
campaigns for peace between the Muslim and the Jewish community,
someone who can descant with the Pakistani community for them and
someone who can educate their people about the reality of Israel and
Jewish people. I then decided to become a part of the Zionist
Federation, which is a great honor for me.
 
2) Zionism is against Islam and Muslims!

There are many conspiracies against Zionism and Zionists in the world.
So many people blame Zionism for every wrong that happens in the world
and one of their claims is that Zionism is against Islam and the
Muslims. These accusations are totally baseless and flimsy because
those who accused Zionism are heedless of Zionism and its history. The
history of Zionism started from 1896 and it was principally focused on
the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. There is no such
agenda in Zionism against any religion, particularly Islam or Muslims.
The Zionist Federation has never provided any shelter for religious
haters or supported any anti-religion movement.
 
20% of the Israeli population consists of non-Jews and most of them
are Arab Muslims. Muslims are living in peace and harmony under
Israeli law and there are about 400 Mosques in Israel, which are
protected by the Jewish state. This is the beauty of Zionism. Zionism
has never encouraged religious violence. There is no any example of
the Zionist Federation providing a platform against Islam or Muslims.
The Zionist Federation always denounced terrorism, whether it is a
political or a religious terrorism.
 
There is freedom of speech and freedom of religion for Muslims in the
state of Israel. Muslims live in the only democratic country in the
Middle East without fear and persecution. We cannot find any religious
discrimination against Arab Israelis in the Jewish state. Muslims have
more rights than any other Islamic country in the Middle East. One of
the foundations of Zionism is, settling the country of Israel as an
expression of practical Zionism. Very well-known Muslim political
figures not only supported Israel but provided assistance in
recognition of the Jewish state of Israel.
 
3) Islam and the Quran is against Zionism!
 
One very essential thing people need to understand is that Zionism is
the latest political nationalist movement of the Jewish people and it
has nothing to do with Islam, the Holy Quran or Muslims. It was a
political movement for the creation of Israel and in support of the
Jewish people. After establishing the Jewish state of Israel, it
became an advocacy movement for Israel and for the Jewish people. If
people are refereeing this phenomenon to Israel and the Quran or Jews
and Islam, then I can give you many examples that Israel belongs to
the Jewish people and Jews belong to Israel only. Furthermore, the
Quran itself defended Jews and their land of Israel.
 
According to British-based Imam Muhammad Al-Hussaini, traditional
commentators from the 8th and 9th century onwards have uniformly
interpreted the Qur’an to say explicitly that the Land of Israel has
been given by God to the Jewish people as a perpetual covenant.
Hussaini bases his argument upon the Qur’an in which Moses declares:
“O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has prescribed for you,
and turn not back in your traces, to turn about losers.” Quran 5:21
 
This is a concrete proof that this land was never been a historical
land for Muslims ONLY and the Jewish community has a divine right on
this consecrated land according to the Holy Qur’an. I fully concede
with the statement of Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, a pupil of the Grand
Mufti of Cairo, in which he stated: “The Qur’an itself grants the
whole Land of Israel to the Jews, so that any opposition to the Jewish
state is an offense against Allah.”
 
According to the Islamic point of view, this land belonged to the
people of Israel (Bani Israel) and Muslims must follow the Qur’anic
teaching by accepting the truth and embracing the Jewish community
especially the Jews of Israel. People must do a comprehensive research
about the Faisal–Weizmann Agreement, in which Emir Faisal, who later
became the king of Syria and then Iraq supported the Jewish state.
King Faisal made an agreement on the 2nd of January, 1919 with Chaim
Weizmann, the Chairman of the World Zionist Organisation in which he
stated:
 
“We Arabs… look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our
delegation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals
submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organisation to the Peace
Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our
best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through; we will
wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home… I look forward, and my
people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and
you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually
interested may once again take their places in the community of the
civilized peoples of the world.”
 
Emir Faisal, a son of the King of Hejaz, conditionally accepted the
Balfour Declaration based on the fulfilment of British wartime
promises of development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Zionist
Federation is not a secret society or a hidden organisation but an
open advocacy platform for the Jewish people and the Jewish land of
Israel. The Zionist Federation’s mission, objectives and projects are
open and bright for the world. The Zionist Federation is a political
organisation that educates people of the world about the lifestyle of
the Jewish people, which is no different from the rest of the world
and they support those who have affected by the wave of terror.
 
Conclusion:
 
My main objective in joining the Zionist Federation is to
unconditionally support my Jewish brothers and sisters. Through this
political and advocacy platform, I will educate my Muslim,
particularly my Pakistani community to stand firm with the Jewish
community who have endured for thousands of years. I need to raise
awareness within my community for what they examine through western or
Arab media is not accurate and they must research in order to find out
the actuality which is hidden under Arab politics against the Jewish
community.
 
We must raise our voice in solidarity with Israelis who are the most
peaceful and intelligent nation in the world. They have very great
skills in every educational field especially in science and the latest
technology. We Pakistanis are suffering from terrorism and from
violent extremism for decades and the only option to defeat this
monstrous ideology is to make good ties and relations with those whom
we considered our enemy. Israel has never remained our enemy and
always seeks good relations with Pakistan. Every Pakistani who visited
Israel changed his/her view about Israel. It is not against our
religion or culture to support our Jewish cousins and we must open our
arms to embrace our cousins and the nation of the Prophet Moses
(PBUH).