Are We Human?
What about the Palestinians?
Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance
They always did the best they could
Songwriters: Mark Stoermer / Brandon Flowers / Dave Keuning / Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
The contrast couldn’t have been greater, and it showed how we have reached this unimaginable place. The abomination to all that is human that we have seen in Gaza.
The Israelis were greeted like heroes, much like astronauts returning safely to Earth, to be celebrated and looked after—all their needs to be met, with every kind of medical aid ready. The crowd cheered their arrival like spectators at a football match—victory, such as it was, was theirs.
Travel south from Tel Aviv across the wasteland that is Gaza, and the scenes were different. The Palestinians returned to a hellscape of destruction, and many will have lost family members while they were imprisoned.
Here, there was no shiny medical facility to heal those who had returned, including, by many accounts, those who had been tortured. They were even under instruction not to celebrate the return of their people.
I thought of the different worlds they returned to, one group to be feted as national heroes, and the other to years of struggle. Were they not all humans?
One side committed an act of terror; in return, they suffered for two years, with so many killed and so much destroyed. Yet here were those responsible for the vast majority of deaths, unquestionably war crimes in many cases, celebrating as if victorious.
How can we achieve peace amidst such inequity? How can we live in harmony where one side is viewed as being worthy and the other is labelled as terrorists for fighting back after decades of oppression?
Are we not all humans?
If there is to be peace, surely we must see things that way; otherwise, it is temporary at best.
It will take time for the Israelis and Palestinians to see each other as such. Down here at the bottom of the world, surely we can see them as all human and not as terrorists, freedom fighters, occupiers, colonists, or whatever term is being used to dehumanise.
Can we manage that here? You’d think so, but that wasn’t the case on 1 News as they covered the release of those who had been held. No doubt, like many who heard the words, I asked:
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard the phrase, although there had been precious little mention of those imprisoned by Israel without due process, some of them children. It seemed a grotesque way to enforce the idea that some humans are more equal than others.
Richelle commented, “This has been bugging me so much with the media coverage, or calling them 'detainees,' which is the same as hostages, and always leading with the 20 Israeli hostages instead of the nearly 2000 Palestinians being released. The bias is outrageous, so disillusioned with our media!”
Bronnie said, “Same reason white migrants are called expats and brown migrants are called migrants/ refugees and illegals. The unchecked privilege of colonialism for all the world to see.”
That phrase “illegals” makes me feel sick, and you see it on American TV all the time.
How can we describe a human being as an illegal? By all means, enforce your border policies, but dehumanising others who seek a better life is what leads to a population accepting behaviour from their government that they wouldn’t if they thought of the people on the receiving end of it as being human.
Patrice summed it up, “Because if you say prisoners, then people are less likely to care.”
They have been doing things like that on Fox News for years. Last month, one host advocated that the homeless and mentally ill should be executed by involuntary lethal injection, but why is our state broadcaster perpetuating such language, and continuing the dehumanisation of the Palestinian people here in Aotearoa?
Moira said, “I agree! Very biased reporting on TVNZ. Very pro the terrorist state of Israel! This is only a ceasefire! A peace deal has not been agreed on! An occupation by the US and Israel is not a peace deal! The two-state solution is imperative for peace.”
You can watch the 1 News clip here:
So, how is peace going? This was a headline this morning:
Israel to halve aid into Gaza over slow return of dead hostages
The fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was tested overnight as the slower-than-hoped return of deceased hostages from Gaza prompted an Israeli military agency to declare a “violation” of the truce agreement that it would respond to by halving the number of trucks allowed to bring humanitarian aid into the devastated territory.
From the Palestinians’ point of view, due to “the widespread destruction in Gaza, recovering the hostages’ bodies is a big challenge.” That doesn’t seem unreasonable. The live hostages have been returned, but due to the damage Israel caused, it will take some time to return the bodies of those who perished.
What does it say about the Israeli mindset and how they see Palestinians? It seems from their point of view, even a dead Israeli is a higher priority than providing aid to living Palestinians.
Don’t you think that’s sick? The idea that returning Israeli dead matters more than helping living Palestinians?
We will never reach peace with such inequality, and when we talk of one group as deserving human beings and the other as being less than so.
If we are to move past this with a two-state solution, then Israel must stop treating Palestinians as subhuman, or they must be prevented from doing so.
If we are to move forward, a war crimes tribunal would be a good start, be it for those who took part in the act of October 7th 2023, or those who have killed unarmed civilians, Palestinian women and children, in the two years since.
Take a look at this plea from British Labour MP Richard Burgon:
Those lives mattered, and those responsible must be held accountable if we are to be truly human.
But first, we must care for the living.
Have a great Wednesday, all you lovely people. If you’re not already a subscriber, I would very much appreciate your support if you can spare $2 a week. This helps me keep much of my content free for those who can't afford to.
To end today, here are The Killers with Human.
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
Those'hostages' returned to Israel looked well and it appears none had to be hospitalised.
Those returned to Palestine on the other hand seemed confused, emaciated and some sounded like they were suffering from PTSD as they described how they had been treated during their imprisonment in Israel.
The whole situation is grossly unfair.
The idea that you don't feed Palestiniians now because some dead bodies haven'tbeen returned is warped beyond my comprehension.
I really can't see how attitudes are ever going to change in well fed, well resourced, well sponsored Israel. Palestinians don't have homes or schools or hospitals. It all makes me feel sick.
Hi Nick
I sent a compliant to TVNZ about their using the term "Hamas run Health Service" when they don't refer to our Health service as being Coalition run or the Israeli health service as being Zionist run. The UN confirm that Hamas health numbers seem credible so the aspersion that they are biased is unfounded. Hamas are the elected authority in Gaza and this should be acknowledged. My complaint was not upheld.