Hamas support in UK could mean catastrophe — this is a battle for West’s soul

There is an old tactic among those who wish to rewrite history: take the truth, twist it, and present it as something altogether different.

Today, we see this in the rise of anti- Zionism across social media. What was once a marginal, fringe element of discourse has now become mainstream. But this is no mere shift in the tone of debate—it is something far darker. In its most toxic form, anti-Zionism has become a vector for the glorification of Hamas, a terrorist organisation recognised as such by the civilised world.

Yet, on these platforms, it is presented as a “resistance movement”. This grotesque revisionism of Hamas’ barbarity signals the very essence of what we can only call nihilism. The markers of this new narrative are clear. First, there is the denial of Israel’s right to exist—often framed as a call for “justice” for Palestinians.

Then come the familiar, ancient tropes: the blood libel, the idea that Israel—or rather Jews—are committing crimes on par with those of the Nazis. The irony is staggering, yet the rhetoric is unmistakable. On platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and TikTok, Hamas is no longer a terror organisation responsible for atrocities against civilians.

No, in this twisted reality, Hamas is hailed as a noble defender of the oppressed. This glorification of violence reaches its pinnacle when Hamas’ crimes are projected onto Israel. Israel is painted as the genocidal aggressor while Hamas, whose charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, is recast as the champion of freedom.

This inversion of reality is not simply a perverse rewriting of history—it is a negation of the sanctity of life itself. The blood libel, once confined to mediaeval Europe, now flourishes online, where Jews are portrayed as bloodthirsty oppressors, and those who attack them as heroes.

More alarming still is the manner in which victimhood is weaponised in service of this narrative. The language of liberation, long associated with legitimate struggles for justice, has been co-opted by those with far darker agendas. Hamas’ jihad, a call for holy war against the apostates, is now dressed in the colours of liberation and human rights.

Theo-fascism, in its modern guise, is not content with merely calling for violence—it cloaks itself in the language of social justice to make its cause more palatable. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way this movement has sought to appeal to the West’s youth.

Wrapped in rainbow flags and adorned with slogans about “freedom” and “resistance” the jihadist cause has become fashionable. For a generation raised on the pursuit of instant moral gratification, it has become all too easy to claim the moral high ground by supporting the “resistance” without ever examining what that resistance truly entails.

This is not misinformed activism. It is the deliberate dressing up of genocide and terror in a way that appeals to those who are desperate for easy points in the ever-competitive marketplace of virtue signalling. And social media, with its endless echo chambers and validation loops, is the perfect environment for such shallow activism to flourish.

This rise in anti-Zionism, framed as moral justice, has not only infected social media but also seeped into academia. Universities, once bastions of reasoned debate, have become hotbeds of this new theo-fascist ideology.

Criticism of Israel—legitimate or not—is conflated with calls for its destruction, and students are encouraged to see themselves as part of a righteous struggle. The glorification of groups like Hamas, under the pretext of “resistance” is not only tolerated but celebrated.

Social media platforms, once arenas for free speech, now serve as breeding grounds for extremism, providing a veneer of respectability to what is ultimately a violent, destructive ideology. The implications of this shift are profound.

The inability—or unwillingness—of Western liberal democracies to confront this new strain of theo-fascism poses the greatest threat they have faced since World War II. In our desire to appease certain demographics or remain on the right side of popular opinion, we are allowing these dangerous ideologies to flourish.

What makes this particularly insidious is that this theo-fascism doesn’t come in the obvious form of dictatorship or overt theocracy. Instead, it has embedded itself in the language of victimhood and justice, making it all the more difficult to confront.

By refusing to call out these narratives for what they are, we are inviting extremism to redraw the very norms upon which our societies are built. This is not a mere battle of ideas. It is a battle for the soul of Western civilisation.

The glorification of Hamas, the projection of its crimes onto Israel, and the weaponisation of social justice are not abstract threats. They are the tools by which radical ideologies will seek to dismantle the very fabric of our societies. This is where the true danger lies: in our collective failure to confront this rising tide of anti-Zionism, we are not merely allowing a debate to unfold.

We are witnessing the unchecked spread of theo-fascism, dressed in the language of resistance and justice, designed to appeal to those who should know better.

If we do not confront this now—if we do not expose it for the perverse, life-negating ideology that it is—we will find ourselves standing by as Western liberal democracies are torn apart by the very forces they once stood against.

The rise of anti-Zionism on social media is not just a failure of discourse; it is a failure of moral courage. And the consequences for our societies, if we continue to indulge these falsehoods, will be nothing short of catastrophic.

Catherine Perez-Shakdam is Executive Director at We Believe in Israel