Why don’t they ever protest peacefully? Israel has a right to protect itself from terrorists! These are comments that we have heard frequently. This time, however, the global community has watched in horror while Israeli forces murdered unarmed Palestinian protesters that included children, students and journalists. Their actions debunk the false theory of protecting Israel from terrorists. The world has now witnessed racist aggression, apartheid and cold-blooded murder.
March 30, 2018 was the first Friday of the Great Return March that is planned for subsequent Friday’s through May 15th when a commemorative march for Nakba Day is to occur. The numbers of people participating in the Friday marches have decreased from the 30,000 that attended the first one. This may be due to the 20 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces while attending the first march, some of whom were shot in the back while facing away from Israeli soldiers. Since then, an additional 10 Palestinians have been killed, and approximately 2,860 wounded.
Although every news channel and social media outlet has videos and photos of unmitigated extinguishing of Palestinian lives, the written narrative of these incidents is devoid of the language to match these atrocities. Adam Johnson of fair.org covered this very issue in an article entitled “Sniper Shooting Unarmed People at 100 Meters Isn’t a ‘Clash’ “. Johnson accurately provides examples of how CNN, Washington Post, Reuters, The UK Independent and even the New York Times all contribute to the subterfuge and opposition to truth by utilizing simplified and substituted expressions when human lives are intentionally snuffed out. Most poignant is Johnson’s assessment that, “Simple plain English works when reporting on those in bad standing with the U.S. national security establishment, but for allies of the United States, the push for false parity requires increasingly absurd euphemism to mask what’s really going on –in this case, the long-distance slaughter of unarmed human beings.”
Despite two million Gazan residents being forced to exist in a modern-day concentration camp surrounded by Israelis intent on exterminating them, Palestinians remain committed to their largely non-violent protest, where not even one Israeli soldier has been killed or wounded. In contrast, the Palestinian victims of the Israeli’s lethal assaults continue to mount, and now included sadistic torture via the denial of medical treatment.
Twenty-year-old Yousef Karnaz and seventeen- year-old Mohammad Al Ajouri were shot by Israeli police at the March 30th land protest. Both need to leave the Gaza Strip to obtain medical treatment for amputation of their legs. The surgery is necessary to save their lives, but transport outside of Gaza to Ramallah has been denied by the Israeli government. Medication in Gaza is quickly running out and the hospitals just do not have the life saving supplies and treatment options available.
So, protests continue, and hope remains an integral part of Palestinian existence. We can only pray that western media conscience will be rebirthed and the truth about Israeli apartheid truthfully covered on social media, and by the major news networks (televised and print). Until then, the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, land rights, and freedom will continue.
Copy this brand of underreporting of atrocities against people throughout the Muslim world, Kashmir, China, Iraq, etc. It highlights western complicity in, and thus, turning blind eyes to global genocide.
