On November 25, 2023, Brown Student and Palestinian-Irish American, Hisham Arwatani, was shot in Burlington, Vermont, while visiting family during his Thanksgiving break. He, alongside two of his friends, was taking a walk while wearing Keffiyehs and speaking a mix of English and Arabic when they were unprovokedly shot at. One was shot in the leg, another in the chest, and Arwatani was shot in the spine. Arwatani is now paraplegic. His shooter’s trial is meant to take place this upcoming Fall. This is just one local example of increased Anti-Arab violence in the US.
On May 16, 2025, a Palestinian flag was raised in Providence, at the steps of City Hall, under the approval of City Council President Rachel Miller. The time of this flag raising coincides with the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, an event that, for some, commemorates the independence of the state of Israel, and for others is a chilling reminder of the forceful removal and displacement of roughly 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Nakba, an Arabic word, translates to “the catastrophe,” – an attempt to accurately name an event that continues to this day to affect the daily lives of Palestinians.
Among the crowd at the flag raising were Palestinian allies, and Jewish allies alike -– one sign reading “Jews for Palestine. Starving Children is not a Jewish value. Liberation Now.” And yet still, this flag raising caused a true stir. Mayor Brett Smiley came out with new legislation limiting what flags can be raised where and for how long in response to the public outcry. And to this outcry I ask, why? Why are you so upset, and what exactly are you so upset about?
Anti-zionism is not antisemitism, and equally, the Palestinian flag is not the flag of Hamas, but instead the flag of a people who have been historically oppressed, persecuted, and targeted because of a political entity’s imperialist desire to control the land. Palestine is in a humanitarian crisis. 470,000 people face starvation daily. And yet, raising a flag in solidarity with a people facing a constructed famine is where the public’s outcry stems from. To that I say, shame. Shame on the people who care more about their own comfort in their hundred-thousand-dollar homes than recognizing a genocide that is being paid for with their tax dollars. Shame to the people who refuse to acknowledge the genocide for what it is: a racist colonialist project.
The reason Americans continue to rest so comfortably in silence, and become uncomfortable when others reject that silence, is because we live complicitly in the comfort that came from the genocide of the Indigenous people from the land we now occupy. Columbus Day is celebrated annually. Andrew Jackson, responsible for the Trail of Tears, is on the $20 bill. Indigenous people live on restricted reservations that oil tycoons continue to harass. We are settler colonialists. This silence is something we must work to reject.
I do not mean to say that this genocide has not led to a rise in antisemitism, I simply hope to also shift focus towards the equally undeniable rise in anti-Arab hate and Islamophobia in a post 9/11 America, where Arab people cannot board a plane without harassment. That rise in hate is why this flag was raised. If you feel uncomfortable watching an oppressed people’s flag being raised in solidarity, you must confront this discomfort. We live in a time of hate from all sides, but even with this discomfort, emotional discomfort does not outweigh attempting to survive a genocide. Your discomfort is something you must work on within yourself, not something expected to take precedence over other people’s well-being and survival.
I live for the day that Jewish people feel fully safe in America, but I also live for the day that my friend Remas, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl born and living in Gaza, has a secure source of food without fear that she will be shot dead at an aid site. I live for the day that another boy just like Hisham can walk the streets of Vermont speaking his father’s language without being perceived as a threat and unjustly paralyzed for it. I live for the day a Palestinian flag can be raised outside of city hall without unjust outcry.
We must ask ourselves as Americans, who is truly the privileged here: the one who lives on soil untouched by international warfare, or the children in Palestine who are both starving and hesitant to eat provisions because their aid has been tampered with (oxycodone, for example, has been found in military-distributed flour sacks)?
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has visited Israel in the past year – he has gone and come back. Palestinians in Gaza do not have that choice. In Gaza, it costs $6,000 to travel to Egypt. A bag of flour can cost up to nearly $400.
This war has moved far beyond “revenge” for October 7, it is the continuation of an imperial / colonial plan that has been around since the 1948 Nakba. And if we continue to harp on October 7 as a justification, in time, the people and place of Palestine will cease to exist. We must step outside of ourselves and focus our efforts on the community that is in need. We must reject the hate we are being told to hold, and instead move towards a more just tomorrow.
That flag was raised for Providence community members and students like Hisham Arwatani to show him that he is safe here, even though one man decided he was not. And in response, you must choose how history will remember you. Whose flag will you let fly, whose flag will you raise?
Read a contrasting opinion on the flag raising
If you would like to help support Remas and her family in securing food you can donate at the link below: