Arakan Watch| September 9, 2026
Brutal Myanmar military regime has been suppressing the ethnic Rohingya as Israel in the east, while copying comprehensive strategies. Muhammad Shehada, an expert on Israel has listed eight methods of repression that the Myanmar junta copied from Israel, which was published on Malaysia Now as follows:
1. Exclusive citizenship
Both Myanmar and Israel define national identity around a dominant ethnic or religious group, leaving Rohingya and Palestinians without full citizenship and political rights.
2. Labelling minorities as Muslims/Arabs
Both Myanmar and Israel use labels such as “Muslim” and “Arab” to deny Rohingya and Palestinian communities their distinct identities and imply that they belong elsewhere.
3. Calling them ‘illegal immigrants’
Despite historical evidence of their longstanding presence, both Rohingya and Palestinians are portrayed as outsiders who migrated into lands to which they supposedly have no legitimate claim.
4. Portraying minorities as an ‘existential threat’
Political and religious leaders in both countries have portrayed Rohingya and Palestinians as security threats whose very existence endangers the dominant national identity.
5. Systematic expulsion and settlement expansion
Both Rohingya and Palestinians have faced displacement, segregation, movement restrictions and settlement policies, with their communities increasingly confined to smaller, controlled enclaves.
6. Disavowed diaspora
Both communities have large diasporas created by displacement, while those who fled face barriers to returning home and, in the case of the Rohingya, even lack passports because of their statelessness.
7. State-sponsored violence
In both Myanmar and Israel, Rohingya and Palestinians are targeted by armed groups or settlers, encouraged and tolerated by the authorities.
8. Blurring ethnic cleansing as ‘misinformation’
Both regimes have framed violence against Rohingya and Palestinians primarily as responses to terrorism or extremism, shifting attention away from allegations of systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing. ##
Credit: Malaysia Now
