Malala’s Neutrality Sparks Controversy
Malala has always been both a very polarizing and inspiring figure in Pakistan. Ever since her tragic accident which took place in 2012, she has been very vocal about education, particularly girls’ education. With so much power in her voice, she was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and she was the youngest Nobel Prize winner.
But ever since the Israel-Palestinian conflict started, she has been silent. People have since then been questioning her stance. Here’s more to the news.
Voice For Education
There is no denying that as a young advocate of education, she has been determined to provide education to everyone. She started to speak about the right to education for girls back when she was only 9. She came from a Pashtoon background and like many conventional Pashtoon households, she faced many challenges.
Her family, particularly her father has always been very supportive of her. As her activism increased, so did the threats around it, She started reaching many threats from the Taliban who were against her education and wanted to stop her from preaching education to others. She was then attacked by the Taliban in 2012. Malala was shot but she luckily dodged the assassination attempt.
She however was admitted for weeks and went through multiple surgeries. It was then that she became a global icon and an inspiration for many young girls.
Since then, Malala has been very vocal about education. Malala and her fight for girls’ education continues. She has since then been raising her voice for different matters.
Malala And Her Silence
It wasn’t until recently that Malala was put into question. As we all know, the present and existing matter of the Israeli-Palestinian war has raised many concerns. People all over the world have been raising voices for the Palestinians.
It was not until when many people started questioning where Malala was. For many days, there was nothing from her side. Not even a single statement was posted by her. People were eventually very disappointed by her utter silence.
After many days of silence, finally issued a statement in which she was addressing both Palestine and Israel. The statement was received with mixed responses. Many questioned Malala for her moral ethics whilst she wrote about her experiences comparing that with the Palestinians.
Some praised Malala for her “immediate Ceasefire” and many questioned her statement. According to so many people, they think that Malala did a disservice to the Palestinians by both siding on the issue.
Malala in her statement didn’t mention the Palestinians who were mercilessly killed by the Israeli forces. It was after that statement that people didn’t hear anything from her side. From simply playing neutral to ignoring the Palestinians, people were disappointed.
Calling For Ceasefire
It was only for few days ago when she called for a ceasefire. That’s when she faced massive backlash once again. People this time started questioning where was for the past so many months. Her late call for the ceasefire raised many questions.
Many even questioned her stance and called her a hypocrite for not calling out Israel in the beginning.
Bottomline
As we see Malala, we wish that she should have at least acted a bit more responsibly. With a huge platform and voice so loud, she really should call Israel out. But by not doing so, she has disappointed so many of us. We hope that Malala realizes her mistakes.
In the words of Martin Luther King Junior “In the end, we do not remember the words of enemies but the silence of our friends.” I think this is enough of an example to explain the immense disappointment that we have gotten from Malala.
Read more: Is Pro-Palestine Advocacy A sin?