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The removal of Israel’s flag from the Israeli Embassy on Saturday by masked protesters is a shameful event in itself.
Let’s name it for what it is: a provocation.
1. The House Belongs to the Guest and to the Host – This Is Besa
First, understand this: the house belongs to the guest and to the host.
Only the ayatollahs in Iran attacked and burned embassies. Only terrorists attack and desecrate embassies.
We are Albanians. We protect the guest with our lives. In World War II, Albanians protected and hid Jews and Italians who fled Nazi psychopathy. We didn’t ask their politics. We didn’t check their flags. We gave them besa – our word, our honor, our lives.
Today, here in Albania, we have Israeli friends and Iranian friends who live among us. People who chose to live in our country, in our home. We welcomed them. We cannot create this climate of darkness for those we have hosted.
To tear down a flag from an embassy is to tear down our own code. It is to spit on the memory of Albanians who died to keep their besa. That is not protest. That is dishonor.
2. Netanyahu Is Not Israel – Just Like the Ayatollahs Are Not the Iranian People
Second, for anyone who associates Israel with Netanyahu, and as a result feels strong emotions about the war in Gaza – it is no different than equating today’s regime of the ayatollahs with the Iranian people, who suffer for freedom.
Netanyahu is one faction leading Israel. He is not all of Israel.
Do we condemn every Iranian for their regime? No. Do we burn their symbols because of their rulers? No.
Albanians know the difference between a government and a people. We know it in our blood. To attack an embassy is to attack a people. And we do not do that to our guests.
3. This Is How a Just Protest Gets Hijacked: Manufactured Chaos
And third, let the protesters of justice, of culture – the protesters who came out to separate the public from the private, to turn attention back to the common good – let them understand how their protest is slowly being steered: manipulated chaos.
Agendas that have nothing to do with Albania are using the protesters, the environmentalists, the youth.
I protested early. I know this broken game well.
First, they infiltrate. Then, they radicalize. Then, they stage provocations like this flag removal. The goal is to stain the protest, to brand it as extremist, to give the state an excuse to crush it, and to turn international friends against Albania.
Who benefits when Albania looks like Tehran in 1979? Not the Albanian people. Not the students who want clean air. Not the families who want justice.
Only the foreign hands pulling the strings benefit. Only the regimes that fear a free, honorable Albania benefit.
Open Your Eyes
This flag incident is not Albanian. It is not patriotic. It is not brave.
It is a provocation designed to derail us. Designed to make us forget why we came to the square. Designed to replace our flag, the red and black, with someone else’s war.
The real protest is about Albania. About our home. About our besa.
Do not let them steal it. Do not let masked men define us. Do not let foreign agendas burn down our house.
Open your eyes. Protect the guest. Protect the host. Protect Albania.
Long Live Albania. Long Live Besa.