Justice, Not Revenge, Is the Solution in the Palestinian-Israeli Crisis

Revenge is the solution of supremacists, not healthy people. Healthy people advocate for justice.

The news of the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, in Washington DC on May 21, 2025, is a stark reminder of how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reverberates far beyond its geographic borders. As someone who stands firmly with the Palestinian cause, I advocate for justice, just as I advocate for justice for any life taken—Palestinian, Israeli, or otherwise.

But justice is not revenge, and certainly not to policies that punish entire communities for the actions of individuals.

This incident, labeled an “appalling, antisemitic crime” by UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, comes amid a surge of hate crimes in the U.S. fueled by the ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel.

The same day this news broke, we learned of the 53-year sentencing of Joseph Czuba for the 2023 murder of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadee Alfayoumi—a hate crime that shook the Palestinian and Muslim community to its core.

What Is Justice?

First, let us address what it is not: individuals take it upon themselves to play judge, jury, and executioner. As I advocate for due process for Palestinians, I advocate due process for others. As a supporter of Palestinian liberation, I ask myself: If the victims in Washington DC had been Palestinian, how would I respond? My answer is clear—I would demand that the perpetrator be prosecuted through the legal system, just as I do now. I would not call for burning down homes or villages, nor would I support policies that collectively punish Israelis for the actions of one. Justice must be blind to identity, and it must never give way to vengeance.

Yet, too often, the response to violence in this conflict is not justice but blind revenge, and Palestinians bear the brunt of this cycle. The Gaza genocide, which Amnesty International in December 2024 accused Israel of turning into a genocide with over 42,000 Palestinian deaths by October 2024, has been marked by policies that target entire populations. From the blockade that has starved Gaza of essential goods to the indiscriminate attacks that have killed tens of thousands, these actions are not justice—they are blind revenge, collective punishment, a war crime under international law. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu, issued in November 2024 for “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza,” are a step toward accountability. But they are not enough if the systems of oppression that enable such violence remain intact.

When I hear calls for increased security or crackdowns in response to the DC shooting, I worry that the pendulum will swing toward more harm, not less. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar attributed the attack to “toxic, antisemitic incitement,” a valid concern given the rise in hate crimes. But we must also acknowledge the parallel rise in anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim violence—like the attempted drowning of a Palestinian American child in Texas or the murder of Wadee Alfayoumi.

What Is Revenge?

When I hear calls for increased security or crackdowns in response to the DC shooting, I fear that this tragedy will be weaponized to justify policies that further harm Palestinians, Muslims, and anti-genocide advocates, much like the aftermath of 9/11 was used to wage illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Council on Foreign Relations notes how the 9/11 attacks led to intense scrutiny and distrust of American Muslims, with successive U.S. administrations struggling to repair relations amid rising anti-Muslim rhetoric. We cannot allow the Washington DC shooting to become a pretext for policies that rob Palestinians of their rights, target their advocates with surveillance, or vilify entire communities in the name of security. Such measures do not bring justice—they perpetuate harm, echoing the same supremacist mindset that fueled post-9/11 aggressions. Revenge is the solution of supremacists, not healthy people. Healthy people advocate for justice.

What Are The Solutions?

The answer cannot be policies that further dehumanize Palestinians, such as tightened restrictions on Palestinian Americans, increased surveillance of our communities, or blanket vilification of those who advocate for Palestinian rights. Such measures do not address the root causes of violence; they deepen and obfuscate the divide.

The web of this conflict reveals a troubling double standard, a telling sign of supremacy. Western leaders are quick to condemn violence against Israelis, as they should, but their silence on Palestinian suffering is deafening or justifications and rationalizations, or the Hamas excuse. The Conversation’s October 2024 piece rightly called this out: “The idea that Western governments are horrified by violence against civilians rings hollow” when Palestinian civilians endure what scholars like Nahla Abdo and Nur Masalha describe as an “ongoing Nakba and genocide.”

If we are to end hate crimes, we must demand equal justice for all victims, regardless of their identity.

This means supporting legal mechanisms like the ICC to hold perpetrators accountable, whether they are Israeli leaders responsible for war crimes in Gaza or individuals committing hate crimes in the U.S. It means rejecting vigilante justice and collective punishment in all its forms—whether it’s burning villages, bombing civilian infrastructure, or enacting policies that target entire communities. And it means addressing the systemic issues that fuel this violence: the occupation, the blockade, and the global rise in hate crimes that studies, like the 2021 paper from the University of Gothenburg, have linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s spillover effects.

The future will not be built on revenge, nor on policies that punish entire peoples for the actions of a few. It will be built on justice—justice that is ethical, respectful, and unwavering in its commitment to human rights for all. Let the tragedy in Washington DC be a call to action, not for more harm, justice, not revenge, and for a renewed commitment to accountability and fairness.

Supremacist Propaganda

When Palestinians are killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories—including children, infants, and even premature babies—the narrative in mainstream media almost reflexively pivots to Hamas. The identities and innocence of the victims are overshadowed as the focus is redirected to alleged militant ties. Protestors who dare to speak out are swiftly arrested, with supposed connections to Hamas fabricated without evidence or due process. Palestinians themselves are rarely, if ever, given a platform to speak—whether in the media or at critical venues like the DNC. On the rare occasion they are allowed to speak, the conversation is immediately reframed: “Do you condemn Hamas?” becomes the central question, regardless of the topic, reducing their suffering and mass murder to a political litmus test.

In stark contrast, when two individuals in Washington, D.C., who openly supported and celebrated the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians—including the deaths of thousands of children—are killed, the media’s framing shifts entirely. Their public endorsement of mass violence is not scrutinized; instead, they are centered as victims, their actions and beliefs erased from the narrative. None of their loved ones are subjected to grilling questions such as, “Do you condemn the genocide or the mass slaughter of babies?” The double standard, a telling sign of supremacy is glaring.

I have witnessed the aftermath of this violence live-streamed: children’s skulls shattered, bodies torn apart, lives incinerated. The selective, supremacist framing of these tragedies—where fabricated links between Palestinian victims and Hamas are manufactured, while the genocide supported by others is ignored—cannot be called journalism. It is, rather, the perpetuation of supremacist propaganda: silencing the oppressed, distorting the truth, and denying justice to those who need it most.

Fadwa Wazwaz | Fəd-wə Wəz-wəz | Author of “God Intervenes Between A Person and Their Heart: Key Lessons from the Prophets” and “Love Is Deeper Than Words: Key Lessons from the Prophets.” The author’s work centers on exploring Islamic teachings, philosophy, ethics, and the Israeli colonialism in Palestine.