A civilization that has forgotten the genocide of the people of Gaza.
More than 18 months after Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza, the world has become increasingly indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinians. The images of beheaded children and dismembered bodies littering the streets and razed neighborhoods no longer inspire global outrage. How did we reach such a level of insensitivity to the systematic destruction of a nation? How is it that the destruction of the lives and futures of the Palestinian people is met with such cold indifference?
This response is instinctively tied to the normalization of the Zionist colonial regime over the past century. This normalization has become so deep that the existence of an apartheid system in the 21st century and the longest military occupation in modern history is met only with verbal condemnations, incomplete peacemaking efforts, and biased media coverage. Even the genocide in Gaza, one of the most brutal chapters in Palestinian history, has failed to provoke a transformative international response.
It is also rooted in the institutionalized racism and dehumanization of Palestinians, whose deaths are reduced to mere, callous numbers, and whose daily oppression and humiliation are seen as normal and banal. This can be compared to the public reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Western media spoke of “civilized” refugees with blue eyes. Such racist statements show that the normalization of violence is not limited to Palestinians, but to all people of color.
This racism is intended to condition the world, including the oppressed themselves, to believe that such violence is “normal.” It is as if Palestinians are “used to” knowing how to endure war, violence, and misery; how to rebuild, survive, and resist. But when such tragedies befall those who are “not used to it,” it suddenly provokes global outrage and reaction.
During the Palestinian uprising in May 2021, the New York Times headlined: “After Years of Calm, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Reignites; Why Now?” This headline perfectly illustrates the complicity of the political and media establishment in normalizing Israeli violence and Palestinian suffering. Attention to the Palestinian struggle is only given under certain circumstances, such as when Israeli violence is so intense that it momentarily shatters global indifference.
Even that threshold has collapsed amid the current genocide in Gaza. These horrors are broadcast live, and the world stands by, numb and indifferent. Genocide is not only manifested in mass graves and burned-out homes. It is also in the slow, creeping violence that has shaped the Palestinian experience for generations. It is in the millions of refugees denied the right to return to their homeland; some stateless, some impoverished, all under the crushing burden of exile. It is in the daily compulsions that drive Palestinians to displacement, such as families forced to take turns sleeping, never knowing when the next attack by armed settlers will come.