If Moses and Muhammad were alive, they would curse Israel and the Taliban
Author: Mahmoud Saikal, diplomat, former Afghan representative to the UN
Original article: صهیونیسم و طالبانیسم - دو روی یک سکه
There are many similarities between Zionism and Talibanism:
Both movements are rooted in religious fanaticism. The first distorts the teachings of the Torah and the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), while the second turns the message of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) upside down. One’s flag bears the Star of David, the other’s displays the Shahada (Islamic declaration of faith).
Both regimes are authoritarian, chauvinistic, monopolistic, aggressive, and occupiers. One has occupied Palestinian lands through deceit, violence, and force; the other has captured Afghan territory by the same means. In both cases, they have enjoyed practically unlimited military and financial support from the United States.
Both completely disregard international law and norms. The UN Charter and the rulings of international courts mean nothing to them. Otherwise, the International Criminal Court in The Hague would not have issued arrest warrants for the leaders of both regimes. The International Court of Justice has also ordered Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza and declared the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem illegal. Several countries have initiated legal actions to bring the Taliban before the International Court of Justice.
The international community faces difficulties in recognizing both regimes. Seventy-seven years after Israel’s founding, around 30 UN member states still do not recognize it, while some who do recognize it are reconsidering their stance. During the Taliban’s first rule, only three countries recognized them, two of which later withdrew their recognition. Now, nearly four years after the Taliban’s return to power, only one country officially recognizes their regime, and that is for geopolitical reasons against a global rival.
Both ideologies pursue policies of forced displacement: one through settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza, the other through land confiscation, forced migration, and land redistribution in northern Afghan provinces, especially along the Kush Tepe canal.
Both regimes commit crimes while portraying themselves as victims. One justifies its brutality by the Holocaust, Palestinian resistance, and the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons, acting more bloodthirstily than Hitler. The other uses the tragedy of Dasht-e-Leili and US bombings—which it helped provoke—as a pretext while sacrificing tens of thousands of its own people to explosions, terrorist attacks, and war crimes.
Contrary to all international norms, one commits numerous massacres, destruction, blockades, and unprecedented humiliations of human dignity in Gaza under the pretext of avenging Hamas attacks, spreading aggression across several Middle Eastern countries. The other commits unprecedented crimes in human history, turning Afghanistan into a global terrorism hub, instituting gender apartheid, and ruling through fear and ignorance.
Today, the people of Afghanistan, especially the millions of our refugees in Iran, are caught between the cruelty of Talibanism and Zionism. One has occupied their homeland; the other attacks the country that hosts them, providing grounds for their forced deportation.
Both regimes respond to any dissent with violence, weapons, and repression. The policy of suppression and elimination of dissent is characteristic of both. Yet, their backers and architects claim that “positive change” can only come through “engagement” with Zionism and Talibanism. They overlook that for both, such “positive change” and freedom for their peoples pose an existential threat.
Whatever internal political problems exist—whether in Afghanistan, Palestine, or Iran—solving them through Talibanism or Zionism will be a fatal poison for society.
Both movements emerged from two UN General Assembly resolutions in 1947, which aimed to create states based on religion (Israel as a Jewish state, Pakistan as an Islamic one), largely designed by Britain. Israel gave birth to Zionism, Pakistan to Talibanism.
Interestingly, these two countries recently nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Considering the crimes both ideologies have committed in recent years, global awareness of their true nature has significantly increased. Today, both evoke disgust in the majority of the world’s peoples.
The fragmentation of progressive forces, the post-truth era, and the greedy geopolitical games of great powers providing space for their survival, is another matter altogether.
If the prophets Moses (peace be upon him) and Muhammad (peace be upon him) were alive and saw the crimes committed in their names by Zionism and Talibanism in the Middle East and Central Asia, they would surely curse them both.
