Palestinian - Victimhood as a Business Model

There are refugees in the world. Many refugees.

There are refugees fleeing genocide. Refugees escaping civil wars. Refugees running from deliberate starvation, ethnic cleansing, and decades of repression.
And then there are the Palestinians, the only case in the world where refugeehood is not a temporary condition, but a hereditary, political, and economic identity.


Since 1948, Palestinian refugeehood has not been resolved - it has been frozen, institutionalized, and over time turned into a system of incentives. Not merely tragic, but profitable. Not a problem to solve, but a resource to manage.

Refugeehood That Is Not Meant to End

Globally, a refugee is someone who flees their home due to immediate danger. The international goal is clear: rehabilitation, resettlement, integration, or return, whatever is feasible.
This is how the UNHCR operates, serving tens of millions of refugees from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ukraine, and elsewhere.

But Palestinians have a separate agency: UNRWA.
One agency, for one population, with a rule applied to no other refugees on earth:
A Palestinian refugee is not only the person who fled - but also their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

The result is absurd: the number of Palestinian refugees only grows, even when no new displacement occurs.
Instead of resolution - preservation.
Instead of rehabilitation - perpetuation.



Incentives to Remain a Victim

This is where the money comes in.

For decades, enormous sums have flowed to the Palestinians:

  • Humanitarian aid

  • Education and healthcare budgets

  • Direct budgetary support

  • Governmental and private donations

  • International NGO funding

And yet, sustainable civil institutions are not built, real rehabilitation does not take place, and functional governance does not emerge.

At the same time, the Palestinian Authority maintains an official policy of paying terrorists and their families — a policy widely known as “Pay for Slay.”
The more severe the attack, the higher the payout.
This is not a failure. It is a system.

The message is clear and dangerous: violence pays. Victimhood pays. Accountability does not.

Violence... Then Victimhood

The pattern repeats itself:

  1. An attack against Israel

  2. A military response

  3. An international victimhood campaign

  4. More funding

  5. No structural change

Tunnels are built. Weapons are stockpiled. Leadership enriches itself. Civilians remain trapped.
Not by accident, but because in this system, continued suffering is a political asset.

And What About the Rest of the World?

This raises the uncomfortable question:
Why the Palestinians?

Why not Sudan, where ethnic cleansing has raged for years?
Why not Nigeria, where Boko Haram burns villages and kidnaps girls?
Why not Syria, with millions of refugees with no future?
Why not Yemen?

The answer is not purely humanitarian. It is political, cultural, and ideological.

Palestinian suffering has become a symbol.
Israel has become a moral punching bag.
And the Palestinian cause has become a space where Westerners can feel righteous — without engaging with conflicts that are truly complex and lack a convenient Western villain.

The Cost of Selective Compassion

The problem is not empathy.
The problem is exclusivity.

When Palestinians are treated as the only victims worthy of attention, all other victims are pushed aside.
When every protest must pass through Gaza, Sudan disappears. Nigeria is silenced. Syria becomes background noise.

Thus, in the name of morality, a new moral injustice is created.

Who Really Pays the Price?

  • Genuine refugees, left without resources

  • Donors, who believe they are helping civilians while funding a cynical system

  • Palestinians themselves, locked into an identity with no exit

  • And Jews, once again turned into the scapegoat of global conscience

It’s Time to Say This Out Loud

Refugeehood is not a career.
Victimhood is not a national identity.
Humanitarian aid is not meant to reward violence.

The world should help refugees, but real refugees.
Those seeking life, not those freezing death.
Those who want a future, not those who monetize suffering.

Blind support for the Palestinian narrative, as it is currently maintained, is not morality... it is an abdication of responsibility.

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