Published: 21 July 2025
Last updated: 21 July 2025
Caught in the middle of the Israel-Palestine debate is the last place I wanted to be at a nightclub. Yet somehow, that’s exactly where I’ve found myself. I’ve stepped off the dance floor for some ‘fresh’ air in a crowded, outdoor smoking section. Stuck in the corner amidst a sea of people, I tune into the conversation happening right in front of me.
A young Australian woman is asking a young Middle Eastern man where he’s from.
“I’m Assyrian,” he tells her.
“Oh, Syrian?” she replies, mishearing him. “I speak a bit of Arabic, Habibi!”
“No Assyrian,” he corrects her. “I don’t like Arabs. They stole our land.”
The woman is completely stumped. It’s evident she has no idea what an Assyrian is, let alone how it differs from a Syrian. Granted, the Assyrian people’s history is complex, but too often it’s ignored by young Westerners – especially those who pretend to care about minorities in the Middle East.
An indigenous ethnic group, Assyrians trace their roots back to the Assyrian Empire, a major ancient civilisation in Mesopotamia, which today corresponds to parts of modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Numbering about two to four million people, they are almost exclusively Christian, and speak various dialects of Neo-Aramaic.
Like many indigenous ethnic minorities in the Middle East, Assyrians have been victims of centuries of Islamic conquest and violence. In WWI, upwards of 250,000 Assyrians were murdered in a genocide led by the Ottomans. In the last decade, they’ve faced persecution and genocide at the hands of ISIS in Iraq.
