Social media users ridicule Israel's white coloniser 'game show' video

Social media users have ridiculed Israel's official account on X after it published a parody video where Israelis were asked whether they are "white colonisers".

In the video, which aims to challenge the argument that Israel is a "settler colonialist state," social media influencer Zach Sage Fox asked Israelis sunbathing on a Tel Aviv beach whether they felt they fitted the description.

If the "contestant" responded with "no" they were given a prize of 100 shekels ($26.9).

On Monday, less than two days after being published, the video had amassed more than six million views, but had also garnered a stream of criticism from thousands of social media accounts.

Many highlighted that while they agreed that not all citizens of Israelis were white colonisers, all of the "contestants" who featured in the video hailed from countries outside of historic Palestine.

One of the contestants who featured first identified as an Indian Jew. Others listed their country of origin as being from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Iran and Iraq.

"So you just proved that although they’re not white they sure as hell are colonizers nevertheless," one user wrote.

"Everyone interviewed is from somewhere else in the world sunbathing on the skeletal remains of Palestinians," another user added.

India, Colombia, Brazil, black, white, Morocco, Dominican Republic. Yup, all of you are indigenous to the land.
I don't know what you were trying to prove but this soooooo incredibly stupid even for you 😂

— Najwan Al Rousan (@RousanNajwan) August 17, 2024

"How stupid and desperate can you get??!! They are white, brown, and all mix of brainwashed people living on a STOLEN land after murdering or cleansing its original population!!" another user commented.  

Some referenced the work of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese who has repeatedly advocated for the dismantling of Israel's "settler-colonial occupation and its apartheid".

According to experts, colonialism occurs when one people dominates another and exploits the subjugated people's natural resources.

Although settler colonialism does not have a definition under international humanitarian law, it has been described as system of replacing an existing population with a new one through land theft and exploitation, which is enabled by occupation, apartheid, forced assimilation, or genocide.

Others mentioned that the representative of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, Eyal Weizman, described what was happening prior to the establishment of the state of Israel as the Jewish "colonisation of Palestine".

The American influencer Fox, who is of European Jewish ancestry, was also criticised by social media users over his attempts to frame the debate over Israeli occupation as one guided by race. 

Some also criticised attempts to create an image of diversity, with one user characterising it as a "Machiavellian strategy," whilst others called it an attempt at being "woke". 

Omg that's SO woke! Like you got colonisers in all different ethnicities and shades! How very demure and cutesy!

— UmmTypo (@ummTypo) August 18, 2024

Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion which found that Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories was "unlawful", and that its "near-complete separation" of people in the occupied West Bank breached international laws concerning "racial segregation" and "apartheid".

ICJ President Nawaf Salam said that Israel must make reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by its occupation, adding that the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and all states have an obligation to not recognise Israel's occupation as legal.

MEE reached out to Fox and the Israeli foreign ministry for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.