Palestine-Israel “War”: A Stain on the Conscience of Humanity
Why the violence in Gaza is often described as a "war" instead of what many see as something far more severe? This blog explores how media narratives and cultural perceptions shape public understanding and empathy. With a focus on personal stories and shared humanity, it discusses why compassion and justice matter for creating a better path forward.
POLITICS AND POLICYSOCIAL JUSTICE
Anonymous
12/15/20241 min read
Let’s be clear. Despite what the headlines of the world’s most popular news outlets are saying, the violence between Palestine and the occupying state of Israel is no war, it is a genocide. Enacting collective punishment on an entire population, directly targeting humanitarian workers, blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, indiscriminately bombing one of the most populated places in the world: this is not a war, it's a massacre.
As an American, I’ve seen the media report Palestinian children who were bombed or gunned down by the IDF as “found dead,” while on the other hand, a false story of forty beheaded Israeli babies is paraded across every main American news channel. As an American, I’ve been taught to hate those Arab “others,” post-9/11 anti-Arab discrimination that is fundamental to the modern American identity. As a teenager, I have seen a dead Palestinian child on my Instagram feed every single day of the last year and two months.
As an Arab, I see myself in the children of Gaza. I see my mother in the Gazan woman who has just been informed that her children were killed in a bombing while she went to collect water. I see my father in the Palestinian men who search the rubble for signs of their loved ones. As an Arab, I understand their pleas, constantly asking where the humanity that will save them is.
But I’m expected to think that this is okay, an expectation that subverts all levels of human compassion, empathy, and morality.
As a human being, I believe that it is my duty to bear witness to these horrors. I believe that the only way forward in this genocide is for people to remain committed to their humanity. Only when we see each other as human beings can conflict be resolved.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/middleeast/hind-rajab-death-israel-gaza-intl/index.html