Mia Oudeh, a Palestinian piano and singing teacher living in Scotland, has schooled J.K. Rowling about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine due to the author's stance and support for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue along with her opposition to the BDS movement in the Guardian’s “ Culture for Coexistence ” letter.
The open letter, which was posted on Oudeh's Facebook page, points out the contrasts that came to life once the prominent author publicly supported a letter that condemns boycotting Israel because "cultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory and will not further peace."
The young Palestinian calls out Rowling by highlighting scenes and concepts in the Harry Potter book series that made the author famous to begin with.
In the letter, Oudeh states that "the practices Israel enforces in its culture and every day functioning are in themselves divisive and discriminatory. No cultural engagement between Palestinians and Israelis will ever build bridges, because rather than the 'two sides are to blame' argument the letter you signed endorses, there are no two sides."
In order to showcase the similarities between the way Palestinians are treated by Israeli forces, Oudeh compares the evil forces in the Harry Potter book series to the Israeli government. She states that "the death eaters ran a ministry of oppression – from the 'Magic is Might' statue of the naked muggles being used to support the robed wizard, to the brutal treatment of muggle born students at Hogwarts."
"The death eaters had the advantage of fighting together using the Unforgivable Curses, having an army of brutal magical creatures including giants and dementors, having magical spells to track the Potter trio’s movements and having full control of the magical world through their position of power," Oudeh added.
Oudeh continues to compare the constant human rights violations done by Israel on the Palestinian civilians. She says that while the Israeli army, ranked 4th in the world, receives millions of dollars for military aid by the U.S on daily basis, the Palestinian government receives none. In fact, due to the dire conditions of the country, Palestine has no army.
She goes on to state that while Israeli forces are "armed with guns and helmets and tanks and illegal chemical weapons and f16s and drones," Palestinians are fighting against the occupation with "rocks and handmade weapons."
While Oudeh has sparked a debate with this genius response, J.K. Rowling has remained silent and is yet to address this letter written by this Palestinian fan.
In the meantime however, Oudeh is receiving international support and admiration for a beautifully written response to one of the world's leading writers.