They also help to sustain each other. The Left can offer a moral vocabulary that is intelligible within many Western college campuses, media outlets, churches, labor organizations, causes and NGOs. Islamists, meanwhile, can supply a historical and communal narrative centered on themes such as Israel, the ummah, dispossession, Western domination, resistance, and reclamation. In short, progressives provide the moral vocabulary, while Islamists provide the larger narrative into which that vocabulary is placed.

Obviously, I’m not trying to say that if you stand for the Palestinian people you are an Islamist or that by opposing Israel you necessarily support Hamas.

Beyond the Common-Enemy Explanation

There has been talk about how radical leftism and Islamism can find points of convergence. They both dislike imperialism, colonialism and America, as well as many Western ideals that our government stands for, and how they are able to translate ideas across ideological frameworks.

This brings me to what I call ideological translation. This is where you take an idea from one ideology and translate it into the conceptual framework of another ideology. The original message can change drastically throughout this translation.

So each ideology can perform different interpretive functions when discussing Palestine. Islamists can portray Palestine through categories such as Islamic history, the ummah, Jerusalem, al-Aqsa, dispossession, and resistance, whereas progressives can portray Palestine through categories such as settler colonialism, apartheid, indigeneity, oppression, and liberation. Each gives Palestine meaning within the other’s moral and political framework.

Why Vocabulary Matters

When we use these terms, we are placing the conflict within a moral category. We are determining if it’s an an occupation, a land grab, an apartheid state, a settler-colonial project, or a movement of indigenous resistance. These are all very different things. Each can shape the moral conclusions people draw.

By using the terminology that many on the left have embraced when describing Palestine, we begin to see why many Westerners are able to condemn Israel without ever learning about Islam. Colonialism, indigeneity, genocide, oppression, liberation, and decolonization are all terms carrying strong moral associations. If you place Israel in the position of the settler-colonial power and Palestine in the position of the indigenous people, much of the moral framework has already been established. Much of the moral framework has already been established. One can become very pro-Palestine and have zero understanding of Islam or even the Middle East.

Islamism Tells a Different Story

Palestine can be framed as an Islamic issue by Islamists. Palestine came under Muslim rule during the early Islamic period and contains The region also contains sacred sites, including Jerusalem and al-Aqsa, that carry religious meanings beyond those found in secular Western........

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