(Delivered at the “National Solidarity Conference on Palestine and Call for Peace in the Middle East” by Dr. Mansoor Limba on 10 April 2026 at the Acacia Hotel in Davao City)

First, let me greet you with the greetings of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad

Shalom aleichem, salamun ‘alaykum, and may peace be upon you all. 

BDS Movement

We are gathered here for something that is common to us all as members of the human race. Let me have a rejoinder on the last point that was mentioned by Sister Elin and that is about the BDS: boycott, divestment and sanction. It means to say to boycott all products and companies which are connected to the Zionist entity which is an embodiment of white supremacy and settler colonialism in the current world.

We look forward for a situation when this boycott and divestment could be held in the BARMM in the same manner that in Malaysia the people really express along that way and the result was even felt by the people on the other side of fence. By sanctioning, we also look forward for a situation when a school in Davao (City) would not have a memorandum of agreement on health issues with a Zionist entity which is actually complicit or the perpetrator of a genocide which is done live on TV. 

Now, this BDS or boycott, divestment and sanction, is something that was already tested before. And since the result is something that was positive, there is no reason that it will not render or that it will not also yield positive result in the case of Palestine. I am referring to the BDS against the apartheid government of South Africa before. 

Now, the question is to what level our BDS in the country is?

I think you have no qualms in agreeing with me that it is something that is low. 

Why it is low? 

National Public Discourse

Because there are needed efforts to catapult the issue of Palestine into the national public discourse. It means to say that instead of holding this seminar right here in the fringes of Davao, it should be in Manila right there in the center. Instead of just local media covering this, it should be international and national media so as to catapult Palestine into the national public discourse. 

Now, what are the hindrances to this public discourse? We could cite so many. One is the low public awareness that we have. The second is the fear of being labeled antisemitic. And the third one is the sickness that I would say neutrality mentality. 

1. Low Public Awareness

So, let us first deal with the first one: the low public awareness. When we talk about Palestine even at the national level, even at the academe, even in the media, we are confronting myths, after myths after myths. 

1.2. Palestinian is Muslim

The first myth: go to Manila, deal with the common people, and you will be given the impression that “Palestinian is Muslim.”

We fail to realize that Palestinians are Muslims, are Christians, Jewish Palestinians, and even secular Palestinians. That is the first myth that we will encounter even at the national level, or I would say international level: that Palestinian is Muslim.

1.2. Jew as a Religious and Racial Identity

The second one is that Jew is that is only a religious identity where in fact they are playing with the cards of Jew as a racial identity and Jew as a religious identity. These people who are claiming that that piece of land is given to them by God are usually people who are secular, and worse still, people who are atheists. They don’t believe in the One who gave the land for them. But for the sake of the argument, they would say otherwise.

Why? Because they are playing with the cards of these two identities: Jew as a racial identity and Jew as a religious identity. 

1.3. Abrahamic Covenant as Unconditional

The third reason for this low awareness we have is the issue of chosenness. That “we are the people who were chosen by God”. It means to say it has to do with the Abrahamic Covenant which is mentioned in the Old Testament as well as in the Qur’an.

What we are thinking is that the Abrahamic Covenant is something that is unconditional; that it is something that is unfettered; that it is something that is it is unhinged; and it is something that is eternal. They would cite Genesis chapter 12; they would cite Genesis chapter 15, saying that “This was given to us, the descendants, [the so-called descendants] of Abraham,” but they will not side Genesis chapter 22 wherein this Abrahamic Covenant is tied to one condition and that is obedience. So long as you obey the Lord that would be there, the covenant. 

In the Quran we can find it in Surah al-Baqarah 2:124:

وَإِذِ ابتَلىٰ إِبراهيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِماتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قالَ إِنّي جاعِلُكَ لِلنّاسِ إِمامًا ۖ قالَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتي ۖ قالَ لا يَنالُ عَهدِي الظّالِمينَ

“And remember when Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands which he fulfilled, then Abraham said, “And also covenant for my descendants?” Allahu Ta‘ala said, “Yes, My covenant is also extended to your descendants but LĀ YANĀLU ‘AHDĪ’Ẓ-ẒĀLIMĪN. It will not be extended to those who commit ẒULM, to those who commit iniquity, those who commit injustice, and those who commit oppression. And look at the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing in the in West Bank as well as in the neighboring countries as mentioned by Brother Ahmed. And in the Qur’an also, we can find in Surah Luqmān 31:13: INNA’SH-SHIRKA LAẒULMUN ‘AẒĪM (Verily, the greatest form of ẒULM is nothing but SHIKR or polytheism such as worshipping Bāl and other tāghūt. 

So, these are some of the hindrances or the reasons why we have somewhat low or even wrong awareness of the issue at hand.

That was the first.

2. Antisemitism = Anti-Zionism

The second has to do with the fear of being labeled as antisemitic. What is the reason for this? Because at the national consciousness we believe although sometimes we already have the grasp of the elements of truth, the problem is that we always think that to support a certain entity is an asset such as in the United States. Politicians would support because of the AIPAC lobby, because of the AIPAC support, but now the trend is reversing; that they would understand that to support the Zionist entity is now becoming a liability, becoming a liability at least on a level of imagery that they are trying to portray. 

3. Neutrality Mindset

The third hindrance to catapulting Palestine into the national public discourse is what we call as the neutrality mindset: that the issue of Palestine is something that is very complicated; it is not advisable for us to engage with it.

It is the same mentality that we could find in the intellectual history, I mean in the intellectual history of Islam. On one side, we can find the Khawārij, those who would declare every Mustafa, Ja‘far, and Muhammad aside from them as kāfir. That is on one side.  

The other side is what we call those who represent what we call the murji‘ah madhhab or what we call as Murjites. The Murjites would tend to suspend judgment: “We could not judge between the Palestinians and the other side because our knowledge is insufficient [about the issue].

That is usually the mentality that we have. A worst kind of it is what we call fiqhu-l-awlawiyyāt(jurisprudence of priorities) as Al-ihtimām bi’s-saghā’r wa’l-ghaflatu ‘ani’l-kabā’ir (focusing on the minors and neglecting the major issues). 

What is this one? We can find it in Ṭabaqāt Ibn Sa‘d or we can find it in Tārīkh Damishq, for example, a narration from ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar. He was asked by the people of Kufah, saying:

يَسْأَلُونَ عَنِ الذُّبَابِ، وَقَدْ قَتَلُوا ابْنَ بِنْتِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ

“They asked about the ruling on killing a fly, and yet they killed the son of the Messenger of Allah’s daughter!”

What we mean here is that instead of clamoring [for justice] or crying for the genocide that is continuously done in Gaza, for example, we are judging the faith of every individual: that this one is a people of naraka or hell and this one is the only salvage community that we have.

This is the condition that we have now. The factors are there for us to address. 

Concluding Prayer

So, with that I would end my reaction by maybe a prayer or a wish that in as much as we are gathered here today, very soon we will also be gathered in the holy city of Jerusalem, in sha’ Allahu ta‘ala. 

Thank you very much. 

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Mansoor L. Limba, PhD in International Relations and Shari‘ah Counselor-at-Law (SCL), is a publisher-writer, university professor, vlogger, chess trainer, and translator (from Persian into English and Filipino) with tens of written and translation works to his credit on such subjects as international politics, history, political philosophy, intra-faith and interfaith relations, cultural heritage, Islamic finance, jurisprudence (fiqh), theology (‘ilm al-kalam), Qur’anic sciences and exegesis (tafsir), hadith, ethics, and mysticism. He can be reached at mlimba@diplomats.com and www.youtube.com/@WayfaringWithMansoor, and his books can be purchased at www.elzistyle.com and www.amazon.com/author/mansoorlimba.]