I watched several of Nas’ videos early on and noticed that he tended to make equivalency arguments and that he would often gloss over the serious issues in the Arab community while exaggerating issues within the Jewish community.
He calls Israel, Israel/Palestine quite often, and he calls himself a “palestinian Israeli” which is in fact nonsense as they are both national identities not ethnicities.
In his video “What annoys me the most”
https://youtu.be/3Hag6wAzgKE
he details several conflicts and talks about how they are all influenced by British colonialism, Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan, Cyprus and North Cyprus. However he also claims that “Palestine” is an actual recognized country and it most certainly is not. He goes into great detail about how Britain colonized everyone; however the truth is that the Arabs were the ones who colonized the entire Middle East. Oddly enough, that never gets mentioned in his video. He says in India and Pakistan there is still fighting and in Israel and palestine, “people are still dying” and Cyprus is still divided “all thanks to British colonialism,” conveniently leaving out that Cyprus was in fact colonized by the Ottomans, Israel was colonized by Arabs, and Pakistan was created to placate the Muslim population.
In this video
https://youtu.be/nkPzY-gQ-ZE
the blurb reads:
“It’s no surprise that racism in Israel is a big problem. And it can be so obvious in something as harmless as…sports.
One of Israel’s biggest football teams is notoriously known for its hardcore racist fan base. Obviously, not everyone there is a racist. But to be associated with this team is questionable. “
Actually, Beitar Jerusalem has taken several drastic steps to help prevent racist chants and actions by some of its fans. Nas mentions they have no Arab players, but I wonder if he knows how many Arab teams in Israel have no Jewish players – how many Jews are on the “palestinian” teams again?
In this video
https://youtu.be/X_rPbEXM244
Nas starts off by saying “I’m in a place that many people think is not real – PALESTINE,” ignoring that the claim isn’t that Palestine doesn’t exist, but rather that many say that it is not an actual country (and it isn’t). He then says it’s not an “easy country” (its not actually a country), and says it’s not easy living next to the wall that makes movement harder (you know, the wall built to prevent palestinians from killing Jews). He says it’s not easy to live with awful checkpoints, the same checkpoints that prevent suicide bombings. It’s not easy to live in a refugee camp – you know, the same refugee camps that exist 70 years later because the Arabs are the only generational refugees in the history of the planet. Granted, it is funny when he says “It’s not easy to have no 3G network” (the horror). But possibly the funniest (and dumbest thing he says) is “If Jesus was born in Palestine today, he would be palestinian and his life would be hard.” Jesus was Jewish, if he was born in palestine today… he couldn’t because Palestine doesn’t allow Jews to live there!
Then we have the feel-good video
https://youtu.be/eP7GEdLTmvQ
a puff piece about Bashar Masri. the Arab millionaire. Set to upbeat music, Nas narrates “He would regularly protest the Israeli occupation, by throwing rocks at them.” A smiling Bashar then says “But my rocks didn’t go far,” as Nas continues “but they did get him arrested by Israel 8 TIMES” (and the 8 times is emphasized). Nas tells how Basri went to the US, opened 30 businesses and got rich, and built the city that nobody lives in (Rawabi). The video ends with Nas saying “That’s the most effective rock he ever threw,” equating building with throwing rocks at Jews.
The video “My passport”
https://youtu.be/gNkEoMWWMF0
is interesting. He admits that he was born with an Israeli passport, and says he wants to visit countries where Israelis are not allowed to go, like Iran Pakistan et al. He identifies himself as a “Palestinian-Israeli Muslim, which again is a conflicting national identity. One is either a “palestinian” or one is an Israeli, one is not both.
The worst one, IMHO is this one
https://youtu.be/lG8ieV8R7KA
a video about Gilad Sade, a victim of a suicide bomber who almost died. Nas says “Old Gilad hated Arabs,” as if someone who nearly died and was injured severely by a suicide bomber has no right to despise the people responsible. Nas makes a comment that Gilad became “angry and even more religious,” as if becoming more religious is a bad thing. He also says “He quit high school and lived in illegal settlements, comparing those things and making them out to all be bad through comparison. But that was “old racist Arab-hating Gilad. “New Gilad” left his religion, his settlements and his hate against others” because obviously religious Jews and those who live in settlements are all hateful. Again, Nas claims that Palestine is a country when he says “hosts people from former enemy countries, like Palestine.”
It is throwaway lines like this that make me wonder if Nas is subtle or naive, but they are so often, so I am going with subtle.
This video
https://youtu.be/LEsYdTExM-E
is the one where he admits his beliefs about the solution he believes in/he says he believes in is a 2-state within the 1967 borders. Those borders are undefendable and untenable. He again claims “Palestine” is a country. He tries to be balanced by saying “both countries should pay the Arabs and Jews who were forced out of their homes, ignoring that most Arabs who left didn’t own the land they lived on. He is also clear that Israel should share Jerusalem, something that is not even negotiable (he throws in a picture of Trump and says “whatever he said, doesn’t fly”), except that Israel has been saying Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people for about 3,000 years now.
The video “This is Jerusalem?!”
https://youtu.be/aSEgfTAmyyY
was the one that sort of clued me in to what I was seeing.
He starts off saying “3 Arabs attacked and killed 2 soldiers” (note not “palestinians” but “Arabs” – he always calls them palestinians, why not now?) then “Israel closed down the mosque temporarily and installed metal detectors” – he maybe should have mentioned that the terrorists hid weapons and based themselves in the mosque? He continues with “because of that, riots broke out” (because it had nothing to do with several days of incitement from “palestinian” leaders, right?). He mentions that 6 people died on both sides, each in their own tragic way, equating the terrorists who were killed at a checkpoint attacking soldiers with the Jewish victims of the Shabbat attack. He even shows pictures of a checkpoint and the bloody kitchen picture of the Shabbat attack, because obviously Jews eating dinner are the same as someone attacking a soldier.
The Banksy video
https://youtu.be/KFb7joMhd78
is just a propaganda puff piece. “The art of Banksy is meant to show the world more of the realities of palestinians without ever raising a weapon” – I cannot eye roll enough. Banksy is a propagandist on the level of Latuff. His anti Israel nonsense is well-known.
This video
https://youtu.be/R2_EPTNrjuY
its interesting because he claims to be “Palestinian” yet admits his birthplace is in Israel. He says “69 years ago, some palestinians left, some got killed and some stayed”
Nas is a charismatic, good-looking young man who is engaging and well spoken. People want to like him, and why wouldn’t they? He seems to be having a blast making videos, travelling, eating good food, throwing a little shade at Jews and Israel, whats not to like? The subtle inferences in the videos are very problematic – they normalize things that we need to be fighting tooth and nail.
