Inside Hasim’s Kitchen: The Land of Israel & Her Arab Foes

This week (May 30, 2014), Ram Lubranicki, the Islam Exposed roving reporter/U.S. Jewish Israeli-American administrator, as well as the Chair of Communications and Public Affairs of Israel’s Voice, visits his long-time friend Hasim — an Egyptian-American secular Muslim — in his kitchen and discusses everything from Israel, Hamas, Fatah, and the disputed territories, to Egyptian General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Egypt’s and Israel’s history. Watch as Hasim confirms what we knew all along — that Israel is not the aggressor and belongs to the Jews.

As Hasim demonstrates in the following clip, there is no letter or sound for “P” in the Arabic language. For this reason, he is unable to properly say it, as is the case with most Arabs. Instead, he substitutes “P” with an “F” as in “Filistine.” In fact, the words “Palestine” and “Palestinian” are spins on the term that was used centuries ago to describe the ancient Philistines, who were arch enemies of the Israelites, and the territory they had inhabited.

[hdvideo id=83 ratingscontrol=on views=on title=off playlistid=9 relatedvideos=off]

The Origins of “Palestine”

The original Philistines conquered the Mediterranean coastal plains, now Israel and Gaza, in the 12th Century B.C.E., long before Islam’s inception in the 7th Century. They were Aegean and most closely related to the Greeks, not to Arabs. When the Romans regained Jerusalem and Judea during the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the 2nd Century, they named the area of Judea “Palaestina,” which is Latin , not Arabic, and is pronounced with a “P.” They did so to mock the Jewish people and to rob them of their Jewish heritage and identity.

The Arabs have done the same.

When the Ottomans captured the territory, they kept the name to describe the region south of Syria but mostly referred to themselves as Southern Syrians.

After World War I, the name “Palestine” was applied to the region, which also included Jordan, under the British Mandate. A continuous Jewish presence in the geographical area known as “Palestine” has existed for over 3,000 years.

Before Israel’s Independence in 1948 and up to the ’67 War, the Jewish people were referred to as “Palestinian Jews.” It was not until much later, after the ’67 War, when Arabs who lived in the areas of Gaza and Judea and Samaria began to be called “Palestinians.” That territory, called “Filastin” or Palestine, is now disputed.