 One can't deny that symbols are universal. Throughout history the use of symbols from one civilization to the next and more specifically from one religion to another has been common practice. Except no one culture could command ownership to any of these universal symbols as there's no real way to confirm one and who used them first. So I have no real issue with anyone assimilating symbols as part of their own culture or heritage as long as they did experience significant historic involvement with that said symbol. The issue I do have though is when two things happen. When the people that are appropriating a certain symbol fabricate a full history and comprehensive narrative where the said symbol had belonged to them all along. And the other criticism is when the symbol becomes intertwined with unjust behavior and suppressive ideologies of those same people. And such a symbol that has historically seen its use take place across many a Continental divide in which has now been appropriated by a single nation is the hexagram the six-pointed star. If you know this symbol then you would as would many others around the Western and Islamic world think of the nation of Israel. The six-pointed star adorns the national flag and over the last 75 years has historically represented what many to believe the Jewish nation. But I must interject here and state that this thought or connection that is made is strictly the result of where targeted conditioning has led us. A byproduct of an intentional strategy to appropriate a symbol and retell its history to fall in line with a much larger narrative the Zionist narrative. The great advantage and strength of history is when we use it as fact to justify our present and future. That is the norm. We look back at it and reference it to establish belonging and righteousness of cause and Zionism recognized that any and everything related to its story had to have history and religion at its foundation. It's claimed to a land a chosen people and its eventual employment of all utilized symbology and furthering its cause and narrative. And if that history did not exist then it had to either mutate such a history or totally fabricated to serve the Zionist purpose. So when we're exposed to the hexagram our conditioning immediately triggers thoughts of the star of David. Alluding to the ancient Jewish legend of the biblical King David whose shield was adorned with a universal symbol. With this trigger in your memory you'd confirm the fact that Judaism and the hexagram were indeed intertwined. Yes, the star of David and Judaism hand in hand since eternity, right? Nothing though could be further from the truth. You see this mythological narrative and its creation is not as ancient as you might think it to be. It's much more recent in the grander timeline of history as recent as medieval times when Muslim scholars in the 8th and 9th century CE who were intrigued by an evolution of Islamic mythology started to create their own narrative concerning the seal of Solomon a magical and mystical signet ring which was itself adorned with the hexagram and worn by King Solomon the son of King David. This ring would endow the king with the powers to control demons and command them at his leisure. By the 12th century these creations of Islamic mysticism spread across the whole Muslim Empire and shortly thereafter in Andalusian Muslim Spain. These narratives were then assimilated into the mystical branches of other faiths such as Kabbalist Judaism and Christianity. There's a lot of proof that hexagrams have been a common geometric expression in use by humans as far back as a hundred thousand years ago. Much much before Abraham and Judaism. Other historians also claim that another civilization, ancient Egypt, utilized the same symbol since it reflected one of the most important forms of the ancient Egyptians, the pyramid. But the oldest known representation of the hexagram comes from another religion in the middle of the first century BCE, Buddhism. And further on from there was Hinduism. The hexagram for both these religions symbolized either one of two things. The meeting of the masculine and the feminine that shapes human existence or the position of man between the sky and the earth. From that point in history many cultures then went on to reiterate such a universal symbol for their own set of beliefs. Moving beyond the questionable myths that linked the Jewish nation with the hexagram early in human history and after becoming aware of the reality of the cross-continental origins of the hexagram in Africa or in Asia, when did the Jewish nation become associated with the hexagram? This event happened even more recently in the 14th century to be exact. When the Jewish community in Prague were granted by King of Bohemia, Charles IV, the use of a red flag with a hexagram in its center. Over the next three centuries, the use of the six-pointed star became commonplace amongst the various Jewish communities across Eastern Europe. And fast forward another two centuries later, in 1897, the first Zionist Congress took place and amongst its many mandates was the selection of the hexagram as the national symbol for the Zionist movement. The six-pointed star was now imposed on all Judaism and history began its evolution towards the Zionist narrative. The appropriation of the symbol had begun. Since the early times of the Islamic caliphates, the use of the hexagram has been an integral part of Muslim geometric imagery and expression. Such a shape was found in Islamic architecture, literature and money. Even the Quran itself was decorated with hexagrams that were reflective of the balance of life necessary for the faith. It didn't really matter whether other faiths had either created the hexagram or had utilized such a symbol on their own religious buildings or decoratively. Within their holy scripture, it was a symbol for all. Unfortunately for Muslims, the hexagrams association with the creation of Zionism and eventually of Israel and its adoption as the national flag and symbol immediately caused a major uproar in its future application. As the establishment of Israel and its occupations came into reality, the less Muslims became willing in representing the hexagrams within their expressions, whatever such an expression might be. The more that time passed and the injustices by the Israelis continued, the less we would see the use of hexagrams. Even I myself fell victim to harsh criticism when once drawing an Islamic geometric pattern for art class that included a six-pointed star was told off by the teacher. We don't draw the star of David, I remember her saying. This symbol now represented an enemy that was unjust and cruel. I cannot think of any symbols that have had such an impact on a significant population of the world and the severe pushback on its use. Maybe one other? But I believe that this in actuality is our fault, the Arabs. Our fault for allowing our sentiment to get in the way of defending what belongs to our heritage and history. The Islamic use of the hexagram was much more abundant and expansive than that of the Jewish nation's application and for a much longer period of time. Why did we have to give in to those who wanted to change the facts or impose their will on us? We should have carried on with what the symbol meant for us and as part of our unique identity and expression. Zionism is coming for much more of Arab existence. Our food, our expression, our words and our memory. Will we not push back in the same way when we allow the Zionists to appropriate the hexagram? Will the ancient heritage sites that have been bombed into oblivion ever be rebuilt? Will it be Palestinian cuisine next that becomes relabeled as Israeli? Israeli hummus, Zionist falafel, Yiddish man'ish? Will the literature that has been stolen by the Zionist regime ever be returned to our treasury of culture? Don't be surprised if solely but surely, Zionism will attempt to wipe out the whole history of a people and eventually its full identity and claim it as their own. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And that first step, I'm afraid to say, was the theft of a single symbol. We must protect our culture, heritage and history, each and every one of us. Thank you.