First, a disclaimer/acknowledgement of my perspective. I do not deny that I have a personal opinion on the experience of the people of Palestine. I believe that they have been suffering under a colonizing occupation for decades. I also feel that those doing the colonizing and occupying, while oppressing, are themselves oppressed by a system greater than them. They are acting with some agency, but only so much as is allowed by a colonizing system that has been built to lift others above even them into positions of power. In short, the recent conflict goes beyond these last few weeks, years, and decades, and is symptomatic of a long-standing imperialistic oppression that pits minority against minority, getting one oppressed people to raise themselves up above another oppressed people by doing the dirty work of the very same people who oppressed them in the first place. In the end, the two oppressed communities in conflict are the ones that lose, and though one may appear to have (and does have) greater power than another, it is only because the ones truly in power are using them as agents of their own agenda.
(The link to the post that I am about to criticize. I encourage you to read it and offer your own feedback as you desire.)
I am about to say some things that might upset a few of you. I apologize if my words are seen as insensitive, that is not my intention. After reading this blog post, I feel like I need to offer some form of counter to this piece of "journalism on journalism" that is, to me, a blatantly hypocritical composition.
In this post, it is claimed that the majority of images circulated in the media of Palestinian casualties are of women and children, even though a large portion of the dead are young adult males. The author then makes a not-so-thinly-veiled claimed that we do not see images of these men because most of them are likely Hamas militants.
I have to stop and breathe before I swear viciously into my computer screen.
First of all, we have seen images of young adult male casualties. One was shot dead by a sniper as he searched for his family. Another was a reporter. Another was an aid worker. Second, have we really stooped so low that we are criticizing the fact that the news media is reporting on the hundreds of children who have died in bombings on homes, school shelters, and beaches? Is that not an unacceptable and preventable tragedy, regardless of the number of alleged "militants" killed? We report for weeks at a time when a school shooting happens in the US, but when children are killed in their beds as they sleep in Palestine, it's biased, inflated, and anti-Semitic to continue coverage of their deaths?
Third, the claim that these men, aged 17-30 (with a spike in 21-27, an apparently popular age range among Hamas militants) are comprised mainly of combatants is false journalism, propaganda, and dehumanizing spin at its finest. Simply because these men fall within a certain age range of people who are known to be part of a certain group, does not make all or most of them a part of that group. To borrow from a fabulous tweet circulated in recent days, saying that male Palestinian fatalities within the ages of 21-27 are likely Hamas combatants because most militants fall in that age range is akin to saying that most white men between the ages of 20 and 30 are violent school shooters. One trait does not a militant or terrorist make.
I do not deny that there are Hamas militants among the dead in Palestine. I do not deny that they likely fall within the aforementioned age range. But to claim, even loosely infer, that the men who are being killed in these bombings are primarily combatants is a horrific and slanderous attempt at dehumanizing the people of Palestine. Simply because they are men between the ages of 17 and 30 does not condemn them to death. Simply because they live in an occupied state where there are some men who are fighting for its freedom in an undeniably terrorizing way does not mean that they are participating in those actions. To plant the seed of false inference and claim that many of these men are "likely Hamas militants," is to engage in the very same integrity-less journalism that is being reported.
What is happening in Israel and Palestine is a tragedy for both communities. In a recent vigil, I read the names and ages of some of the Israeli soldiers killed in the recent burst of violence. The fact that they were 18, 19, 20 years old made my heart sink. That their young lives were ripped from them by this violence is no less of a tragedy. But the recent reporting that this article describes as inaccurate and propaganda-fulfilling is, in my opinion, among the fairest that has occurred in recent years. We have just been so skewed in the other direction, so ignorant to the realities facing the largely civilian people of Palestine for so long, that we are horrified of the truth. We may not want to believe it, and we may try to come up with excuses for what is happening on the ground in Gaza. But that does not change the truth. It only dishonors the majority of the dead and continues to oppress the living.
In this post, it is claimed that the majority of images circulated in the media of Palestinian casualties are of women and children, even though a large portion of the dead are young adult males. The author then makes a not-so-thinly-veiled claimed that we do not see images of these men because most of them are likely Hamas militants.
I have to stop and breathe before I swear viciously into my computer screen.
First of all, we have seen images of young adult male casualties. One was shot dead by a sniper as he searched for his family. Another was a reporter. Another was an aid worker. Second, have we really stooped so low that we are criticizing the fact that the news media is reporting on the hundreds of children who have died in bombings on homes, school shelters, and beaches? Is that not an unacceptable and preventable tragedy, regardless of the number of alleged "militants" killed? We report for weeks at a time when a school shooting happens in the US, but when children are killed in their beds as they sleep in Palestine, it's biased, inflated, and anti-Semitic to continue coverage of their deaths?
Third, the claim that these men, aged 17-30 (with a spike in 21-27, an apparently popular age range among Hamas militants) are comprised mainly of combatants is false journalism, propaganda, and dehumanizing spin at its finest. Simply because these men fall within a certain age range of people who are known to be part of a certain group, does not make all or most of them a part of that group. To borrow from a fabulous tweet circulated in recent days, saying that male Palestinian fatalities within the ages of 21-27 are likely Hamas combatants because most militants fall in that age range is akin to saying that most white men between the ages of 20 and 30 are violent school shooters. One trait does not a militant or terrorist make.
I do not deny that there are Hamas militants among the dead in Palestine. I do not deny that they likely fall within the aforementioned age range. But to claim, even loosely infer, that the men who are being killed in these bombings are primarily combatants is a horrific and slanderous attempt at dehumanizing the people of Palestine. Simply because they are men between the ages of 17 and 30 does not condemn them to death. Simply because they live in an occupied state where there are some men who are fighting for its freedom in an undeniably terrorizing way does not mean that they are participating in those actions. To plant the seed of false inference and claim that many of these men are "likely Hamas militants," is to engage in the very same integrity-less journalism that is being reported.
What is happening in Israel and Palestine is a tragedy for both communities. In a recent vigil, I read the names and ages of some of the Israeli soldiers killed in the recent burst of violence. The fact that they were 18, 19, 20 years old made my heart sink. That their young lives were ripped from them by this violence is no less of a tragedy. But the recent reporting that this article describes as inaccurate and propaganda-fulfilling is, in my opinion, among the fairest that has occurred in recent years. We have just been so skewed in the other direction, so ignorant to the realities facing the largely civilian people of Palestine for so long, that we are horrified of the truth. We may not want to believe it, and we may try to come up with excuses for what is happening on the ground in Gaza. But that does not change the truth. It only dishonors the majority of the dead and continues to oppress the living.
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