AUGUST 14 — I am sympathetic to the Palestinians presently under attack, and am against the operation that has killed and traumatised so many innocent people in Gaza.

But I expect brickbats anyway for what I have to say, because the conversation in Malaysia has become so polarised, being hijacked by those with extreme voices.

For example, I have personally seen many espouse the view that to truly be pro-Palestinian, one is necessarily anti-Semitic (hating Jewish people). In the last few weeks I have even read and heard Malaysians making statements supporting Hitler for the genocide he caused (ironic, when many anti-Semites deny the holocaust even happened). Anti-Semitism has been normalised in Malaysia, and it’s on the rise. Why is this so?

I believe this behaviour is enabled by the fact that to most Malaysians, Jews have no faces. People without faces are easy to dehumanise. People we see as the ‘other’, and not as human beings are expendable and do not deserve dignity and respect.

I don’t know the actual statistics, but I doubt there are more than a handful of Jews in Malaysia. Thus, the average Malaysian likely has little to no contact with actual Jewish persons. The only Jews we speak of are malicious forces trying to interfere in our affairs. They’re talked about in the abstract as oppressors of Palestine.

An exception to this lack of contact came in July 2011, was when Chelsea FC played a Malaysian XI. Sadly, Malaysia made international headlines for the anti-Semitic abuse Israeli footballer (and then-Chelsea player) Yossi Benayoun received from sections of the stadium crowd.

It seems many of these bigoted Malaysians view all Jews the same, despite the fact that not every Jew supports the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF. In fact, there are many Jews in Israel who oppose the siege in Gaza. To respond with anti-Semitism towards an entire people group demonstrates stupidity at best, and hatred at worst — people who do so care little for doing any actual good, but are just looking for a justification to their bigotry.

It’s easy to forget that there is life on both sides. Granted, more Palestinians than Israelis are in harm’s way, but does this offer justification for saying that a Palestine life is sacred while a Jewish life is not?

We rightly denounce Israel’s violence because we recognise that Palestinian life is sacred. But those who retaliate in blind anti-Semitism are no better than the ones they condemn — they dehumanise Jews they have never met.

That’s why when some Malaysians saw Yossi Benayoun, they didn’t treat him like a human being (showing themselves to be sub-human). That’s why some are quick to boycott McDonalds without evidence — a faceless corporation is an easy target (and they forget that Malaysian employees suffer the effects of their actions). That’s why extremist groups resort to burning Israeli flags, even when it does no one any good. That’s why some Malaysian teachers reportedly threatened a student for the mere act of ‘liking’ a pro-Israeli page on Facebook (and now the student is being investigated for sedition).

That’s the same reason the Nazis found it so easy to commit the atrocities they did in WWII — they didn’t see their victims as humans.

When we contribute to the dehumanisation of human beings, we ourselves become less human. Israel is guilty of this with the Palestinians, but so are we when we let that lead to anti-Semitic hatred.

Malaysians rightly sympathise with Palestinians because we see them being dehumanised in the current crisis. But in our righteous protest, let’s not become less human by condoning anti-Semitism — there is after all a distinction between Jewish people and the IDF forces. My prayers go out to the victims in Gaza, and for anyone in Malaysia who is consumed by hatred.

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.