By Tenzin Dedan
DHARAMSHALA, Oct 18: The Student For Free Tibet (SFT) Minnesota chapter expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemned Israel’s military action against its Palestinian population. This statement was released amid escalating tensions in the region, drawing attention to the human rights violations and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a longstanding and deeply complex geopolitical issue characterized by territorial disputes, historical grievances, and political struggles. The conflict has seen numerous conflicts, wars, and peace initiatives with no permanent resolution in sight. A central issue involves the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the ongoing dispute over land, sovereignty, and self-determination.
SFT Minnesota emphasized its core belief that “everyone has a right to be free,” not limited to Tibetans, but extending to all communities facing injustice and oppression. The organization voiced condemnation of Israel’s recent military operations in the Gaza Strip, stating that the human rights violations in the region epitomize a tragedy that has endured for 75 years.
The statement highlighted the devastating impact of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, revealing that the Israeli Air Force has dropped a significant amount of ordnance onto the densely populated enclave since October 7. Most of these airstrikes have targeted civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, mosques, and universities, resulting in the loss of over 2,800 lives, including approximately 850 children. As a result, more than one million people have been displaced, nearly half of Gaza’s population.
Israel’s actions in Gaza have also resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis. Food, water, electricity, and aid have been severely restricted from entering Northern Gaza. The Palestinian population in this region faces daily hardships, including military checkpoints, raids, and restrictions on their fundamental freedoms. As well, many Palestinians have been unable to visit their sacred sites and ancestral lands, and millions are trapped within the confines of the Gaza Strip, which has been compared to an open-air prison.
SFT Minnesota further claimed that Israel’s current actions, such as coercive evacuations, targeting humanitarian facilities, and severing communication ties with the outside world, are tantamount to ethnic cleansing and genocide. The statement concluded with a clear assertion that SFT Minnesota does not intend to justify or downplay heinous terrorist attacks carried out by groups like Hamas against Israeli civilians. The organization, as highlighted in its constitution, supports nonviolent action and denounces violence as a solution to conflicts.
The statement concluded with a clear assertion that SFT Minnesota does not intend to justify or downplay heinous terrorist attacks carried out by groups like Hamas against Israeli civilians. The organization, as highlighted in its constitution, supports nonviolent action and denounces violence as a solution to conflicts.
12 Responses
There seems to be lot of misunderstanding among some people who wrote comments about the Palestinian issue.
According to a Middle East expert Zhu Weilie: “Hamas has a radical side, but it’s a legitimate organisation in Palestine and is recognised by Arab countries”. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas was personally met by Iranian Foreign Minister Amir -Abdollahian recently. In 2006, Palestinian Legislative Election awarded victory to the Hamas militant organisation! It therefore rules Gaza as a democratically elected Government!
The western media has a bias towards the Muslim word. This has been present from the times of the Christian crusaders who waged war on the Muslims to reclaim land for Christianity in the Holy Land. The two civilisations have had an uneasy truce but since the creation of Israel in 1948, the old wounds of animosity has resurfaced and the events of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq by the American let west has only inflamed passions even further. So, the west’s use of “unprovoked” attack by Hamas is disingenuous because Israel has been provoking the Palestinian people since its inception in 1948. Every western talk back radio and TV anchors insist their guests if they would condemn Hamas to prove their humanity!!! They conveniently forget that thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the State of Israel including hundreds of children through incessant bombing, killing of civilians including children and women by Israeli Defence Forces, (IDF) killing civilians including children by Israeli settlers and death in juvenile detentions where hundreds of Palestinian children are incarcerated. Is seventy five years of provocation not enough, one might ask! How many Palestinians have to die to elicit the humanity from the western world?
Some ignorant Tibetans (or Israeli troll)? have inferred that empathising with the Palestinians is somehow sympathising with the “terrorists”! One people’s heroes may be perceived as “terrorists” by others but that is just a difference of perception. In Tibet’s case, the brave Tibetan freedom fighters were branded by our enemy CCP as ཁམས་པ་ལོག་སྤྱོད་པ་ (reactionary Khampas) and even called His Holiness The Dalai Lama ཏྭ་ལའི་ལོག་སྤྱོད་ཤོག་ཁག་ (The Dalai reactionary clique). Does it make us evil? The enemy will heap only abuse and damnation upon their nemesis. That’s natural. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza by the most powerful country in the Middle East with the cover of the most powerful nation on earth for 17 long days and continuing at the most densely populated enclave on earth which is no more than the size of an airport is a HEINOUS CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY! ITS A WAR CRIME! Just look at the hypocrisy of the west! When Putin was bombing cities in Ukraine, they cried foul and sent teams to collect data to indict Putin for crimes against humanity and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has alerted Interpol for the arrest of Putin but when Israel with weapons supplied by the US is bombing Gaza to dust, nobody is raising their little finger about the crimes against humanity committed by the Jewish State! No western nation is crying out for the trampling of human rights of the citizens in Gaza!!! THIS IS CALLED DOUBLE STANDARD!!! THE HYPOCRISY IS REVOLTING! All Palestinian groups who are resisting Israeli occupation and expansion are FIGHTING FOR AN INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN STATE SIDE BY SIDE WITH ISRAEL.
SFT MN with their statement standing in solidarity with the Palestinian would make sense if the group also issued a statement condemning Hamas for their barbaric attack against innocent Israeli civilians.
I don’t know how many Palestinian people support our Tibetan causes,but I do know there are many Jewish supporters who have supported our cause.
We Tibetans depend on the help of the US government politically and financially, the US senate and house both support Israel.
I commend our youths on being sensitive to the causes of others but I believe we should be equally sensitive to upsetting those that help our own causes.
If Israel did not have its Iron Dome, if Israel did not fight back? (Isreal would be non existent)
If Tibet could fight back? If Tibet could defend itself? (Tibet would be a free country)
Isreali should be supported as it was attacked by terrorists
Any groups, any organizations, any states who kill civilians, rape girls and women and beheading babies should not be supported. Hamas, people of Palestinian did that crime. We must know that.
Most Tibetans are unaware of the Palestinian Struggle. They may have heard about it but pay scant attention. If we look at the root cause of the struggle there are stark similarities between the Tibetan struggle and theirs. Both Palestine and Tibet are victims of foreign occupation and colonisation. The Palestine issue started seventy five years ago which they call NAKBA or catastrophe! Our own struggle began seventy four years ago with the signing of the “17 point Treaty” under gun point! For Tibet it was because of the Chinese communists seizing power in China in 1949, while for the Palestinians it was the creation of Israel in 1948! There are two types of Jews. The New Yishuv and the old Yidhuv. The former are settlers composed of Jewish immigrants who arrived in 1881-1903 and the later are the the pre-existing Jewish community of Palestine. The old Yishuv have no problem with the Palestinian people since they co-existed prior to the arrival of the new Yishuv who are known as Zionists. The Zionists are religious zealots who waged war against the Palestinian people living on the land and drove them out. This breed of Jewish religious fundamentalists who were not indigenous to the land were responsible for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people after the creation of Israel in 1948. Some 800,000 Palestinian people were dispossessed of their land as the invaders destroyed an estimated 531 villages and displaced them. It’s one of the worst ethnic cleansing that took place under the gaze of the imperialist British, the Americans and others. AfterAdolf Hitler’s Holocaust upon the Jewish people where six million Jews were gassed in notorious gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Dachau was no doubt the most shocking deprivation human beings have indulged in. There were 15,000 camps between 1933 to 1945 in German occupied territories. Apart from six million Jews and an equal number of non-Jews were also killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Innocent people were slaughtered as a state policy who were seen as sub-humans through dehumanisation of the Jews and homosexuals, transgenders and the invalids. Owing to the guilt complex of the British and others felt for their abject failure to stop the Holocaust, they created Israel to atone for the sins of inaction. It is therefore most astounding that the people who suffered such inhumanity are inflicting the same inhumanity to another group of people who are the Palestinians. The land of the Palestinians was taken by force just like the Chinese communists have taken Tibet by force. The Zionists savagely drove out the Palestinians and built the State of Israel. In 1967, not satisfied with the land they have acquired through war upon a hapless and poor Palestinian population, they occupied Gaza during the six day war. The Palestinian resistance continued and there was constant bombing of Gaza when ever there was a skirmish between Palestinians and Israel. Since, it was difficult to govern, the Israelis left Gaza in 2015, even though everything was controlled by them. Now, the right wing Leader Netanyahu built Jewish settlements in Gaza to drive the Palestinians from there. He built houses for 600,000 people in order to nullify the two state solution. The US and western countries made sanctimonious statements about having two state solution but nothing else. The Jewish settlers are armed and often Palestinians are killed by them. The two State solution which was envisaged by the UN was undermined by building Jewish settlements on Palestinian land which infuriated the Palestinians. The two people drifted further and further into a cycle of hatred which culminated into terror attacks by the Palestinians and the State of Israel going all out to bomb the entire population into submission with hundreds and thousands of death. For every ten Israeli death, the Palestinians suffered thirty deaths! The mistreatment of Palestinians by the occupying state is one of the most shocking in the 20th and 21st century. Israel created an apartheid State where there is segregation between the Jewish population and the Palestinian population. They built a high wall to segregate themselves from the Palestinians which has severely restricted the Palestinian people’s movement. The Jews travel on shinning roads with Mercedes Bentz while the Palestinians travel on dirt roads driving skinny donkeys as beast of burden! There are check points specifically segregated. Israelis and other foreigners can travel freely but Palestinians are strip-searched, asked questions, humiliated and even beaten by security forces for no apparent reason. This is also happening in Tibet where Chinese and others such as foreigners can travel free without having to go through security checks and scrutiny but the Tibetans are stopped, made to produce four or five documents and strip searched and often beaten or detained. On top of that the Israeli army carry’s out raids, arbitrary arrests and killings of Palestinians and just the same things happens in occupied Tibet as well. Tibetans should know that what Israel is doing in the occupied Gaza is also done by communist China in occupied Tibet. China is doing exactly the same to suppress Tibetans from practising their religion, wearing their national dress, respecting their Lamas and speaking their own language. Just like Israel has dehumanised the Palestinians, communist China has dehumanised the Tibetans right from the time they invaded Tibet. The destruction of Tibet’s priceless monasteries, pillaging their contents and suppressing of Tibet’s unique culture and religion are all part of the Chinese racism that sees themselves as superior to the Tibetans and thus they have the “right” to impose their culture and language upon the dispossessed people of Tibet. The recent announcement by a Chinese company to abort Tibet’s historical name (TIBET) for a Chinese nomenclature is an unmistakable sign of Chinese attempt to OBLITERATE TIBET AND ITS PEOPLE!!! Tibet is historically seperate from China and this is an attempt by the CCP to ERASE TIBET from the map of the world. Israel doesn’t tolerate the Palestinians because they are exclusivists. Communist China is intolerant of Tibetans expressing their culture and religion because the communists are exclusivists and says so unashamedly by proclaiming themselves as mono culture, mono language and mono people! The racist trend towards colonised people exhibited by Israel and China are the face of modern apartheid juxtaposed with fascism. The root cause of the conflict is possession of land! Palestinians are the indigenous people of Palestine and Tibetans are the indigenous people of Tibet. Palestinians are fighting to reclaim their lost land and Tibetans are fighting to OWN our country. If the Tibetans don’t fight for the possession of our rightful country, the Chinese will gradually obliterate Tibet and consign it to the dust bin of history. That’s what happened to Palestine. The forcible removal and illegal occupation of Palestine was ERASED BY THE POWER OF ISRAELI MILITARY, MONEY AND DIPLOMATIC POWER AND REDUCED THE ORIGINAL OWNERS OF PALESTINE TO A WRETCHED BUNCH OF REFUGEES AND CAGED PEOPLE IN GAZA. Tibet is a caged country and an open concentration camp. Tibetans cannot travel even inside Tibet freely let alone outside the country. Tibetans are not issued passport. The Chinese communists have made it impossible by charging an exorbitant fee to get the passport. Even if one has the money, they make all sorts of hurdles by back ground checking and no Tibetan except the Tibetan collaborators who are sent out for Chinese propaganda purposes are ever issued passports. The Palestinian freedom movement has received much sympathy and the image of Israel has suffered a catastrophic downward spiral. Now, it’s only the US, the UK, Germany and France who are still willing to stand by an apartheird regime. Tibetans must make sure to expose the crimes of genocide under Chinese colonialism and fight like the Palestinians for our RIGHT TO THE OWNERSHIP OF OUR COUNTRY.
Close to 2000 Palestinians have been killed since the relentless bombing of Gaza by Netanyahu and his Zionist Government. More than two million Gazans are thrown into a cauldron of Israeli missiles and bombs that are killing women, children, the old and infirm and their homes blown to smithereens! They have no food, no water, no electricity and no fuel! How can the world watch as spectators to the genocidal onslaught by the Jewish State? The slaughter will continue but Israel has now exposed itself to its cruelty, its recklessness and its vengeful nature. It shows that it is no different from the blood thirsty Nazi tormentors that have wreaked so much misery on the Jewish people!
If tibetans support Israel by saying hamas are terrorists, then that statement can be used by the Chinese by saying TYC Rangzen people are terrorists. Chinese govt can alert govts in Europe by requesting arrests of Tibetan independence fighters at airports using INTERPOL channel. Sft was detained at Brussels airport in 2012 after Chinese police sent interpol alert request. So we might be shooting our own foot.
Once a sovereign govt makes an interpol request, all signatories to the convention has to comply to request, according to international law.
It’s does not make sense of your long and dull comments. You have to be grateful for Israeli government who took great initiative in training for Tibetan in farming at Israel early 90’s that really benefited many Tibetan and their families both monetary and skills. What Palestinian government to do us ? Research on it , you will realize how much Israel government is grateful to us Tibetan ?
SFT Minnesota,
SFT should stick to Free Tibet cause & Garner Support for our cause only and not make enemies regardless of how strong an individual feels. It effects every Tibetans & Free Tibet cause.. When was the Last Time we got any support from Arab countries? Never.. Never will..
There’s a reason why Biden went to Israel to support.. Jews r one of the Wealthiest & most Powerful people in this world.
You r not gaining or changing anything Positive on the ground reality of the this War but it will have huge negative impact on our cause. Please Take back your statements like Harvard students & Stick to our Agenda.
Don’t be Delusional & Think of the Consequences before making such huge statements..
I fully agree with Namchoe-La. We need to address our situation wisely, even though we may not fully comprehend the intricacies of the conflict. Regardless of China’s actions, Tibetans will never resort to the methods employed by Hamas against the Israelis; such actions are unimaginable to us. I cannot fathom involving myself in such a mess.
While every individual has the freedom to express their opinions, it’s essential not to misrepresent Tibet by supporting any form of terrorism. I do sympathize with the innocent Palestinians who are caught in the crossfire. It’s worth noting that Hamas appears to hinder the creation of a two-state solution, focusing on inflicting harm on both Jews and their own people. Their anti-West stance is supported by countries such as Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia
Palestine is a victim of occupation just like us Tibetans. America is fighting them due to their interest, but we tibetans are not Americans, neither white or christian. I think we have zero connection with this case whatsoever. If Buddhist truly believe in justice, then stand for the weaker, less powerful and more vulnerable side. Israel can bomb whole of Palestine in 70 minutes.
I totally agree with You.