In 1948, the British formulated the creation of Israel on Palestinian land, a place intended to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution following the Holocaust. The indigenous people living in Palestine were asked to share what was theirs. However, over time, Israeli Jews began to expand their settlements, driving out thousands of Palestinians from their land.
If you ever find yourself in a comparable situation—where what you're sharing is taken from you and then claimed as someone else’s—then according to the Urban Dictionary you’ve been "Israeled".
Amid Israel’s escalating genocide in Gaza, the Urban Dictionary recently added the word “Israeled” to their entries. The word “Israeled” means, “When someone asks you for sharing something of yours and then fight you to get you out of it. And tell everyone you took it from them.”
As an example of how the term can be used, the Urban Dictionary writes, “In a restaurant, someone asked to share my table. I agreed. After a moment, he asked me to leave because he has a meeting! I've been israeled.”
Palestine has long been a victim of Israel's settler colonialism—a distinct form of colonialism in which indigenous people, along with their properties and culture, are systematically replaced by invasive settler colonisers. Israeli Jews have fought for a homeland- they view the Land of Israel as a central tenet of their religious and cultural identity, often citing historical and religious ties to the land.
The holy city of Jerusalem holds significant importance for the three major faiths—Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. For Jews, it is the Temple Mount; for Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque; and for Christians, it is a revered site associated with visits by Jesus and other prophets.
The holy land has seen many bloody conflicts in the past decades.
In the ongoing war which began on October 7, so far close to 21,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 54,000 injured. The war has been characterised by airstrikes, bombardments, and egregious acts of violence, with even schools, hospitals, and shelters being targeted. There seems to be no end in sight with the death toll rising, and nowhere safe left to go.
