People can peacefully protest to express dissatisfaction with policies or actions, to raise awareness about a cause, to connect with like-minded individuals, and to push for negotiation, compromise and policy changes.
Terrorism, however, is the unlawful use of protest, force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce governments, civilian populations, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. This includes actions that cause death, serious bodily injury, or hostage-taking, with the intent to provoke a state of terror in the public or to intimidate a population or compel a government. Indeed, Hamas’s horrific attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was an act of genocidal terrorism under the slogan of “Free Palestine.”
Historically, Nazi propaganda against Jewish people from the mid-1920s to 1945 often used slogans and phrases designed to dehumanize, blame, and incite hatred. These slogans were a core part of the Nazi regime’s efforts to scapegoat Jewish people for Germany’s problems and justify their persecution.
The main purpose of Nazi’s antisemitic slogans was to blame Jewish people for Germany’s socioeconomic problems; foster antisemitic sentiment; justify discrimination and persecution; and, ultimately, commit the horrific crimes against Jewish people during the Holocaust, exterminating six million European Jews.
Other forms of Nazi propaganda reinforced these ideas, including antisemitic publications; antisemitic public displays and signs; children’s books depicting Jewish people in a negative and hateful light and reinforcing harmful stereotypes. These slogans and other propaganda played a significant role in creating a hostile environment for Jewish people in Nazi Germany and, therefore, contributing to the atrocities of the Holocaust.
The most well-known Nazi term for the extermination of Jews was the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” This was a euphemism used by Nazi leaders to refer to their plan for the systematic and intentional mass murder or genocide of millions of European Jews.
The “Final Solution” represented the central part of the horrifying culmination of Nazi anti-Jewish policies and ideology, which viewed Jews as a dangerous threat to the German “race” and its racial purity. In fact, progression of the Nazi anti-Jewish policies evolved over time, starting with discrimination, exclusion, forced emigration, violent attacks of the civilian population, and culminating in the “Final Solution.”
It is well documented that implementation of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was carried out through mass shootings by mobile killing units and in extermination camps with gas chambers in occupied territories. The Nazis used “resettlement” and “special treatment” tactics to hide the truth about their genocidal policies.
The Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on Jan. 20, 1942, was a meeting of high-ranking Nazi officials to coordinate and formalize the implementation of the “Final Solution.” In summary, while the Nazis used various terms and slogans to promote their antisemitic agenda, the term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” is the most direct and specific reference to their plan for the extermination of the Jews.
Today’s pro-Palestinian antisemitic slogan for freedom from the “Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” is calling for a complete destruction of Israel and extermination of Jews worldwide.
Clearly, the Free Palestine organization and its movement opposes the existence of Israel and its historic connection to the ancient land of Judea. In fact, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that was founded by Jews nearly 3,200 years ago, while other countries in the region in close geographic proximity to Israel (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq), except for Egypt, were artificial constructs of British and French mandates of the early 20th century.
The murder of two Israeli diplomates Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2025, by a pro-Palestinian terrorist, along with the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado, on a march in support of hostages held in Gaza (both terrorists were yelling “Free Palestine”) reverberates and resembles a beginning of the Nazi’s-like “Final Solution.”
European Jews and others were silent when antisemitic atrocities emerged in Europe, naively hoping that the “wind of the Final Solution” will eventually stop or change its direction; but it did not, resulting in a massive extermination.
American Jewry and all the civilized world must recognize a danger of the “Free Palestine” terrorist organization and its movement to all humanity and peace-seeking nations; and they must do all possible in preventing its growth, advance and being of existence. “Free Palestine” isn’t just a slogan, it’s a genocidal call echoing the darkest chapters of history. Today’s pro-Palestinian rhetoric masks deep-rooted antisemitism.
• Alexander Dolitsky was born and raised in the former Soviet Union before settling in the U.S. in 1978. He moved to Juneau in 1986 where he has taught Russian studies and archaeology at the University of Alaska Southeast. From 1990 to 2022, he served as director and president of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center.
