Bruno Šagi is a historian and member of the Centre for Public Policy and Economic Analysis (CEA). This article is a follow-up on his participation in CEA’s panel Disinformation against the State of Israel.
The pro-Palestine youth movement in Croatia is closely related to different organisations of civil society, mostly organizations related to issues such as green politics, human rights, or anti-fascism. They are very known for promoting pro-Palestine activities. But there is also one initiative calling for a free Palestine. Most of the protests or events covering this topic and pro-Palestine political interpretation of the current war between Israel and Hamas are organised by that group of people inside the Initiative for Free Palestine Croatia.
It is important to say that young people shape their opinions because of different factors. They can be categorised into a few other groups; for example, some young people learn about the war on social media like Tiktok; some of them follow influencers or organisations who promote a pro-Palestine approach; some young people read pro-Palestine literature and texts; and some young people, especially students, are affected by their teachers because some teachers are pro-Palestine or anti-Israel. Also, politicians play a big role because people are listening to them. For example, in the presidential elections at the end of 2024, two presidential candidates of the left-wing parties (Ivana Kekin and Zoran Milanović) said they were open to the idea of independent Palestine at this global moment. But there are more examples. Green party Možemo (We Can) is calling for independent Palestine. The vice mayor of Split, Bojan Ivošević, was writing anti-Jewish texts on social media. President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, is not against independent Palestine, and he said that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is no different than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During 2024, there were protests, online propaganda, and extremist behaviour by activists.
There were many actions by anti-Israel people in Croatian public universities. Most of them, or almost all, happened in public Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences. For example, we can mention Faculties in Zagreb and Split. Such situations were problematic. However, they still didn’t reach the highest level of action compared to the USA, France, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands.
On Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split, in June 2024 there were written messages on the space of the faculty (on glass surfaces, but also stairs, sidewalks, and walls with a spray). For example, the messages were: “Free Gaza,” “Stop cooperation with Israel,” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.” Messages like that are globally known.
More events happened at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb during 2024. The originality of that Faculty is that there is organised group Studentice za Palestinu (Female students for Palestine), but members can also be male or other. Pro-Palestine activities often had the official support of Studentski zbor (Student council), the main student body inside of the faculty. Also, on that faculty, some professors supported Palestine, for example, many professors from Department of sociology and some student clubs, such as Klub studenata antropologije Prometheus (Anthropology student club Prometheus). Of course, some individuals are supporting Palestine. All of these are openly and publicly anti-Israel in the context of the current war and some of them are maybe antizionist or antisemitic. Some of the events, like Studentice za Palestinu book club were organised inside the faculty in the Klub studenata Filozofskog fakulteta (Club of students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences), and two protests were organized in the space of the Faculty. Student pro-Palestine activities are part of clear political activities because they are demanding people to take sides, so it is not science, and it doesn’t call for dialogue or respecting different opinions. It started in the first half of 2024 with varying panels like the one “Activism in academic community and movement for free Palestine” with various guests (mostly publicly pro-Palestine) and the one “War in Israel: causes and solutions” organised by Klub studenata sociologije Diskrepancija (Sociology student club Diskrepancija) where guests were from a political organisation called Marksistička organizacija Crveni (Marxist organisation Reds). During the year there was a lot of propaganda inside of the faculty building, for example, posters with writings such as “Instead of going to class, go on protest against the genocide in Gaza”. Pro-Palestine activists are using a lot of strong words (for example, “genocide”) because strong words are publicly attractive to read. The biggest anti-Israel group in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is studentice za palestinu and they are very clear in their calling for stopping the cooperation with Israel, wanting the Faculty to openly stay against the current policy of Israel in the context of war, and wanting the Faculty to help students refugees from Gaza. This group is promoting that Israel is doing genocide and, in their propaganda, they are showing Palestine as occupied territory. In the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, there was one example of students disrespecting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when students wrote on the outside wall of the Faculty against a person working on the Faculty who was part of the IDF, and it was published that the person was participating in violence against Palestine people.
Even though different groups called people to come, protests for supporting Palestine outside and inside the Faculty were not big, and it shows that the majority of the academic community stands with Croatian support for Israel.
MOST COMMON PROBLEMS
“Accusations against Israel of committing genocide are currently unfounded. The ongoing war is a consequence of the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on the population in which over 1,100 people were killed. Therefore, it is a defensive war against the terrorist group Hamas. According to the UN definition, it is clear that genocide refers to the physical destruction or partial destruction of a group based on identity, and this is not the goal of Israel in the Gaza Strip, where the war is happening. The goal is an Israeli victory over Hamas, whose Charter goes against human freedom. Certain humane reactions by the Israeli military refute disinformation about genocide or such intentions. For example, the Israeli military sent certain warnings before the attack, called for the temporary evacuation of the population, and increasingly provided humanitarian corridors and operations.
As for the claims about Israel as a colonial power, this is disinformation. In the territory of Israel, Jews are an indigenous population that has had a historical continuity of residence in that area since before Christ. This area has often changed “owners” throughout history. As a state, Israel was formed after World War II. Namely, although national consciousness, as a basic component of the concept of a nation, emerged during the 19th century, according to the rules of historical science, it is relevant to talk about the concept of statehood (continuity of state law) that is drawn from pre-modern times. It is enough to recall, for example, the original foundations of the Croatian Constitution, which refer to the distant Middle Ages. From then until today, there have been attempts to form two states, Israeli and Arab, but Arab and Palestinian politicians have rejected such solutions. As for Israel’s relationship with the Arab population, there has never been a directive from Israel that would have led to the expulsion of the Arab population, and many Arabs have become citizens of Israel. Although tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel sometimes arise, state policy does not seek a solution through violence against Arabs; moreover, Arab political parties are active in Israel, which have historically influenced on the government.
For example, the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” popular among anti-Israel groups, has anti-Semitic content because it calls for the creation of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, which means the destruction and abolition of the Jewish state, thus calling for the deprivation of the rights of the Jewish people. It should be noted that this slogan does not intend regime change or secession but implies the complete destruction of a state and its institutions.”[1]
[1] Preuzeto iz članka „Moguće toleriranje antiizraelske propagande na hrvatskom javnom fakultetu,“ Centar za javne politike i ekonomske analize, https://www.cea-policy.hr/antiizraelske-propagande/ (pristup 21. 1. 2025).