Having young Najjar featured in a prominent American news outlet wasn’t enough to spare her life from being shattered by the bullet of an Israeli sniper. As the world watches, we continue to see many more destruction of young lives. It sometimes seems we are becoming numb to the sights of this human tragedy. Still, we all remain witnesses to his human tragedy and the accompanying injustice. We are all witnesses to the murder of Najjar and many other young bodies in the streets of Palestine. The 20-year-old medic, Razan al-Najjar was only the 119thkill of the Israeli forces in the recent demonstrations since the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem.
It is said that the arc of history is long but always bends towards justice. Justice cannot be postponed because it is the sum total of our actions, which always recoils with mathematical precision to enforce equity. Where we cannot witness the apparent unfolding of justice, a great equalizer wrought through its place to levy a tax. Fear is the great equalizer; a sagacious instructor that emerges wherever there is some rottenness of inequity.
The Israeli military can roam the Palestinian streets with the American made war tanks and heavy artilleries – to kill, humiliate and intimidate, but the society in whose name it claims to destroy so many Palestinian lives for is also made to suffer as a direct consequence of the same injustice. They live in fear and anxiety because of the senseless violence their own government attracts.
Israel is terrified of coming to terms with any of the two solutions left on the table to resolve this crisis; so the current government find it easier to destroy more young lives and maintain a perpetual state of apartheid than to have a real two state solution or live in one state with Palestinians as equals at the risk losing its Jewish stateidentity. It is not hard to see through these trifles and the great America hypocrisy to the same sorrowful end, which only breeds more violence and hatred in the entire Middle East. But who is left to be fool with these trifles and hypocrisy? The world sees through the blatant apartheid and the injustice of slaughtering young stone throwing Palestinian lads with sniper riffles and heavy artilleries. The world is tired of America’s amoral statements of sharing blames or outright hypocritical defense of Israel with false equivalence.
The world knows very well when it sees the use of a disproportionate force. It knows that the marshaling of the mighty US and Israeli weaponry against desperate groups of young men, women and children – armed with stones for offence and burning tires for defense is disproportional. We all know this is simply unacceptable.
Worst still is to have Israeli snipers targeting journalists and first aid responders like Najjar for murder. The world cannot turn a blind eye to sniper bullets being squeezed through her flesh and shattering the innocent tissues of this young medic, whose only goal was to help safe some lives of other victims of the Israeli military.
Without any apologetic considerations, it is still reasonable to acknowledge that vast majority of the Israeli citizens are good decent people. It might be equally reasonable to conclude that many among them have now succumbed to the base estimates of its vitriolic leader, Netanyahu. They most demand something better from those that represent their interest. Netanyahu is a man the world leaders generally agree is a difficult person to work with because of his treacherous ways. In the last year of his presidency, even Obama couldn’t help but conclude that any efforts to work with him are a waste of time. But in America today, we have Donald Trump, another erratic leader who seem to be bought and sold to the antics of the Israeli leader, hence paving way to this latest string of violence by his ill-advised opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. As a direct consequence, we have Palestinian medics like Najjar now slaughtered at the whims of the Israeli snipers.
The NY Time’s heroic title; “A Woman Dedicated To Saving Lives Loses Her Life In The Gaza Violence – A Palestinian medic killed by Israeli forces.” – with which the murder of young Najjar was condoled with wouldn’t last forever. Under Israeli pressure and propaganda, NY Times tried to undermine their own reporting by later attempts to portray the same medic its own journalists have followed around and have numerous footages of – as not so innocent after all.
Through great pains, they printed a long articleto lend credence to Israeli claims that Razzan al-Najjar, the young medic killed by an Israeli sniper, was not so innocent after all. They took at face value Israel’s desperate claims to taint the slain young lady, whom Israel’s own army has previously maintained it killed by accident, before they later painstakingly try to portray her as a human shield used by Hamas. Not until after reading deep into the article would a reader realize that NY Times was merely parroting the Israeli hasbara, or a propaganda of a doctored video interview about al-Najjar, a full version of which NY Times and the entire world have complete access to and would prove otherwise.
This is what some of the world’s biggest media outlets have reduced themselves to: propaganda tools and sensational journalism. We live in a world that accepts it as well – we care little about the substance of the issues but always yearning for some sensational breaking news and seem contend with any false narrative that serves our interest or make our side look better. It is no surprise to see articles like the hit-piece from NY Times – written specifically to muddy the waters and bring confusion. They are designed to hide the truth. Obfuscation at best.
The Israeli society cannot claim full innocence to the crimes of its government and the military. If their government and its military can bent to the cruel tactics of its leader, then it must certainly lack the vitality to resist the force of enough of Israel’s noble patriots if they’re willing to occupy a higher moral ground – at the center of its public affairs. They can certainly refuse to accept an apartheid state, which Israel has quickly evolved to.
I wish I could say the same of the Palestinian masses but it will be just another false equivalence and foolish attempt to appease or seem fair minded. Palestinians have no effective central government, military or even a real police force. They are a desperate people trying to live in dignity. Among these desperate people, individuals get radicalized to commit atrocities and target innocent Israeli citizens with senseless violence. Nevertheless, the Palestinian leaders and its people should not celebrate suicide bombings and other violent acts committed by its people as some type of heroism. They should not be compensating the families for the cowardly acts of suicide bombers or attackers. That is an outrage, has nothing to do with Islam and will never advance their course.
If the Israeli public allowed its conscience to be corrupted and made to feel like their lives are more worthy than their Semitic brethren, then we have little hope in the triumph of peace and justice. When citizens support their governments in terrorizing other people – they will likely live in terror themselves or suffer some consequence in the end. For now, we have Palestinians living in indignity and terror of the Israeli military, whilst the Israeli public remains terrified of every young Arab man who they knew could just as easily be radicalized and encourage to carry out the brainless unholy act of suicide bombing or other violence against its citizens. Its own government is feeling the disapprobation of the world, and its people continuing to struggle for greater acceptance by larger humanity and to rid anti-Semitism. These are the heavy taxes levied.
It is unpatriotic to accept a state of apartheid perpetuated in your name. True patriots should not allow to be used as ponds, and let their leaders oppress others unchallenged. Patriots with moral conscience should be vocal against injustices and push their society towards greater equity and the common good of all people.
Demands to end this system of apartheid in Israel and Palestine have to come from the Israeli citizens to be effectual. The individual is the basis of every society and its conscience; therefore, every small step taken by each individual in truth – is profound and has the inert potential to change its course for better. When the individual leaves conscience behind, and refused to act on moral principle, society leaves behind the very essence of its humanity. That is the attitude that paved way for all the great genocides in the world. The world should not be silent, but more so the Israeli citizens.
To the Israeli military, no unjust law is worth standing for. The unjust orders of the targeted assassinations of journalists and first aid responders are unworthy to be followed. These are war crimes – plain and simple. The use of brute force and intimidation is not an effective strategy for governance and cannot bring peace amongst the people.
The Israeli military must make the distinction between serving to perpetuate the injustice of apartheid and the oppression of their Palestinian brethren, or they can stand for equality and justice for all people. History will judge their actions; for no man, military or not, should allow themselves to be reduced to the level of an immoral instrument – to go on killing medics, journalists and even children.
A better more peaceful Israel and Palestine is still possible. A society where the Palestinians can live in dignity and free from terror and oppression. A society where all Israelis are free from fear and anxiety of some sick rascal blowing himself up to kill their little children. The condition of both people will only change to the extent that they change as a people, and to the degree that they elevate their discourse and conduct. To truly change the condition of their people for better, both the Palestinians and Israeli must do better in their treatment of one another. They must stop appealing to their base instincts and not resort to vile acts of tribalism and hatred for one another. They must learn to see each other as Semitic brothers and sisters, who have more in common than they differed. It is in their best interest to learn to love and respect one another.
