Death to America, Israel Slogans Won’t Fix Arab World’s Problems

Death to America, Israel Slogans Won’t Fix the Arab Worlds Problems — Arab Muslim protesters step on US and Israeli flags and portraits of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza City, December 7, 2017. Photo: Reuters.

Waiting Helplessly for the Voices of Americans and Israelis.

Farman Mala Mohammed | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish SharPress News.

When we were teenagers, during our elementary and middle school years, our schools would take us out to march against Israel. We were taught to see Israelis as monsters, and they even haunted our dreams.

“We must throw all Israelis into the sea because they are infidels and occupiers.” This was what we were taught in school. From mosque pulpits and in our homes, people prayed to God against Israel.

But my mother’s prayers were very different. She used to say, “May God grant even my enemy a long life.” We would ask her, “Mother, why do you pray that way?” She would answer, “My child, he too is God’s creation. As long as he is alive, he will not forget us, and you can talk to him.”

By the time I was 18, I discovered that Israelis also worship the same God as we do. Their religious practices have much in common with Islam. Above all, they are human beings.

Since 1979, “Death to America” has been a slogan in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it is still repeated today.

Year after year, Israel and its government have grown stronger. They enjoy a good quality of life and live in a democracy. They are a people with their own voices and identity. They are educated and intelligent, and they are brave enough to speak out and criticize their government.

They take to the streets to protest against those in power and their government’s policies. They love their country and protect it.

They stay in their own country. They do not emigrate or seek asylum in European countries.

In contrast, life in Arab and Islamic countries continues to go backward. The market for walking sticks has become more crowded. People are leaving their countries in large numbers, scattering across Europe and America.

Their rulers are tyrannical, arrogant, hypocritical, and powerless. They are lions at home but foxes abroad. Their hypocrisy has reached such a level that they view one another with suspicion because of their secretive and questionable dealings with the enemy.

Not only are these rulers powerless themselves, but they have also intimidated their own people, leaving them unable to take any meaningful stand.

Anyone who has closely followed media coverage in Arab and Islamic countries during this period, including the views expressed on both sides of the political divide, will understand why. Because they feel powerless and desperately hope for change, they have been covering elections in those two countries with such great enthusiasm.

In short, they are waiting for change to come from elsewhere:

1. They are waiting for the Israeli people to vote Netanyahu’s government out of power, without understanding that Israel’s foreign policy remains consistent and that national interests come first. Besides, Israelis vote in their own interests, not in the interests of others.

2. Through prayers and appeals to God, they are waiting for American voters to remove President Trump from office.

In reality, this backward way of thinking and interpreting events is the source of the problem. The real change must come from Arab and Islamic countries themselves.

Through the votes of their own people, all those arrogant rulers sitting comfortably in positions of power must be replaced if they truly want to live dignified lives alongside other nations.

First, however, they must change their mindset and their way of thinking. They must recognize the legitimate rights of those peoples whom they have oppressed for decades and whose lands they have occupied.

Only then will God answer their prayers.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in SharPress on November 3, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.