The Controversial Article On Gaza Sparks Debate Online; Mahmood Kooria Responds

After Mahmood Kooria’s recent extraordinary feat in Infosys Prize, debate sparked online questioning his stance on Palestine.  An article he wrote over a decade ago has become the hot-topic of discussions on online platforms. The article published in 2014 titled Why we should not support ‘this’ Gaza is under scrutiny now.

In the article, Kooria questioned the conscious or unconscious spreading of hatred towards any other community, especially the Jewish community, under the context of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He raises the issue of boxing all Jews with the ones who are performing inhumane atrocities against the Palestinians, while there are Jews who vehemently oppose Israel’s actions against Palestine.

Kooria, in the article published on the cafedissensus.com pointed out that the notion is similar to accusing all Muslims as “terrorists” for the actions of some who bear Muslim names. In the article, he asks his friend, “How do you react, if I say, as most of the mainstream media do, that all Muslims are terrorists and they are troublemakers everywhere”. He said “not all Jews are not problematic. Only some Jews are problems as much as some Muslims are. But that cannot judged on the basis of religion”.

In the article which was written a decade ago, Kooria mentioned how some Palestine supporters are quoting “Nazi extremist statements against the Jews such as (the one ascribed to Hitler), ‘I would have annihilated all the Jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them,’ have been spreading around widely”. And how “those who have been genuinely raising the human-rights violations and possible war-crimes in Gaza were countered by the supporters of Israel with the news of ISIS-dramas from Iraq, such as ISIS asking the women to undergo female genital mutilation, burning down cathedrals and raiding the bank. Sharing and reposting such news were mostly followed by a comment: ‘If you are doing these, of course, Gaza will happen.’”.

Outraged debate online called the article inhumane, and accused it of equating the unparalleled brutality of the modern history committed by the Israelis and their victims on same line.

Responding to this in a personal conversation with the editor of Timeline, Kooria said he was not aware of the discussions online, as it’s been a while since he used Facebook. He said he is on the same side of the ones who are against genocide in Gaza, without any questions, and has always been. “Israel’s actions killing so many innocent children, women and civilians as well as destroying institutions, universities and schools can never be accepted or justified in any way”, and he stands with the Palestinians.

He said the major reason for keeping distance from online platforms like Facebook was because what is happening in Gaza has took a toll on his mental health. “The fact that we are not able to do anything while a genocide is happening right in front of us is weighing down”.

He said mentally he is not is a place to write anything on any issue, and he find it hard to celebrate his recent achievement given the situation of Palestinians.

In his response, he mentioned that, in the 2014 article, he was trying to convey that both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are problematic. “Anti-Semitism is a major problem, like Islamophobia, and we need to be conscious about it,” he added.

Kooria won Infosys Prize 2024 for Humanities and Social Sciences. The award has been given for Kooria’s “truly outstanding and seminal contributions to the study of maritime Islam in a global perspective, with particular focus on Kerala in the pre-modern and early modern eras. His pioneering studies have revealed the role of Islamic law in shaping economic, political, and cultural transformations on the Indian Ocean littorals”.

He is a lecturer in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Hailing from Kerala’s Malappuram, Kooria was earlier a joint research fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and African Studies Centre (ASC), Leiden. He completed his PhD at the Leiden University Institute for History, and pursued his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Darul Huda Islamic University and the University of Calicut.