Hind, Sidra, and Yazan- The Human Cost of the Assault on Gaza
It has been nearly a month since Hind Rajab made the call to the Red Crescent, her words translated to a heartbreaking plea: “Please, I’m scared, come quick. Call someone to come and take me please.” The Red Crescent did dispatch an ambulance. It was targeted, the two rescue workers were killed, and, when the presence of Israeli soldiers was gone 12 days later, they found Hinds decomposed body amongst the ruins of the car which also held the corpses of 5 other members of her family. In her last moments she recited Surah Al-Fatiha, on the phone with the rescuers who were attempting to comfort her with verses from the Quran.
Bismillah hir rahman nir raheem
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful..
It is that mercy which we need now more than ever.
During what some online have been calling the “Super Bowl Massacre,” the night when Israel launched it’s assault on Rafah as American’s were distracted by the multi-million dollar spectacle, another young girl was killed. Sidra Hassouna, just seven years old. Her crime? Being born in the right place, at the wrong time. The image of her dead body hanging off a wall, circulated on social media to our collective horror. The photo resembles an abattoir, a human slaughterhouse. If you’ve seen it, you likely will never forget it. Stephen Corry, a British “Indigenous Rights Activist” considered it, along with the recording of the last hours of Hind’s life, to be “among the most moving and shocking records of genocide ever recorded.”
Sidra and her family were sheltering in makeshift tents when the attack began on those who sought refuge in what was meant to be a safe zone. Israel’s justification: they freed two hostages. They claimed it was a successful mission. It is certainly not a success when innocent children are murdered in such a brutal and inhumane way. Their lives have no less intrinsic value if they do not get multi-million dollar ads run on one of the most financially lucrative American television nights of the year, or if their stories don’t air on CNN, or Fox News.
There is a video of Sidra and her sister, Suzan, mere hours before the heinous scene was uncovered, playing and running together. They wave to the camera, their beauty and innocence in the setting sun, poignant; the last depiction of those girls alive. To know what their fate was to be, not long after the moment between the two was captured, is utterly heartbreaking. There is something eerily ominous about the video, in the light of the reality of what happened to them, as sometimes it’s shared set in slow motion, and we watch them essentially leave a goodbye for us.
Sidra was the cousin of the wife of Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK. His wife’s aunt Suzan, her husband Fouzy, two of their sons, Muhammad and Karam, Karam’s wife Amouna and her three children: Sidra and Suzan, 7, and 15 month old Malik, were all slain. Husam shared with Al Jazeera: “We must make sure that this will never, ever happen again to our children. Never again to our mothers, to our families, to our people. And the only way to do so, is to see these people responsible, behind bars. The hand holding Sidra from that building, was her mothers, Amouna’s, trying to rescue her daughter, but of course, they were both lifeless.”
If law enforcement were to respond to a scene like this one, in any other context, the only thing that would matter would be the prosecution of the criminals who inflicted that level of barbarity onto a mere child. Yet, in the context of Gaza: “war is war,” a sentiment which I was reminded of when I shared my condolences with Mr. Zomlot and his family, on X (formerly Twitter).
The only thing I said to warrant such a response, was that those responsible for their deaths, must be held to account. That the photo affected me so deeply it took me days to recover my senses after the initial shock. I said nothing about my thoughts or feelings on Hamas, who I havhumanity that people cannot even express grief for Palestinian lives, without the inevitable “but Hamas.” In what universe do the actions of Hamas justify war crimes against little girls, who did nothing wrong? The psychopathy of anyone who thinks Gazan children deserve to be slaughtered by the tens of thousands is on full display on social media: “I hope they do to you what they did to Israeli’s on black Shabbat.”
I don’t wish for any harm to come to non-combatants, Israeli or Palestinian alike. I condemn unequivocally any action taken to harm an innocent human being. I, of course, want the release of all hostages. However it doesn’t actually seem like this is about regaining them for Netanyahu and his far right administration, not really. The goal is ethnic cleansing, and worse, genocide, seen clearly in the harrowing story of a family being shot by the IDF, and the ambulance being targeted as it was on its way to rescue their last surviving member, 6 year old Hind. We’ve even had to come up with a new acronym: WCNSF, Wounded Child, No Living Family.
And as the Superbowl was underway, that particularly American display of patriotism and capitalism, someone in Joe Biden's administration thought it fitting to tweet this photo of him:
The assumption being it was to imply that the “powers that be” rigged the Superbowl, as a cheeky way to appeal to young people by harkening back to the “Dark Brandon” meme that was circulating of Biden online. However, in light of what actually took place in Palestine that night, with the full sanction of the United States government and the backing of billions of dollars of weaponry made in, and supplied by, the USA, the tone is being read as more sinister in nature. And rightly so.
Though we know Joe, (who is in severe cognitive decline), does not run his twitter, people in his administration do, and I would posit that they knew exactly what they were doing when they posted something like that on a night when 67 Palestinians were killed in Rafah. A ground assault, likely to materialize in the coming weeks. Ghada al-Kurd, who was sheltering in Rafah, told the NYT: I swear to God it was an indescribable night.”
We cannot let these girls stories recede into our collective memory, for they are not just stories, they were living breathing human beings who deserved to grow up and share their light with this world. They were robbed of that, and the world was robbed of them by the machinations of governments who care not for the sanctity of each and every life, lives more precious than the House of God itself. Those girls should be playing together right now, in the peace and safety we would afford anyone in the West. They should have had the chance to age, to fall in love, to create, to simply be. But they, and thousands of other children, will not get that opportunity. And many think that is perfectly fine. I, for one, am terrified for this world. We need to course correct, and we need to do it soon, as if the heart of our collective humanity depends on it, because it does.
“The truth laid bare for all the see. The shame of an eternity. Those profiting off sorrow and death. The greatest sin; their souls bereft. To look into the eyes of a child is to see God: clear. Humanity, what happened here?
Bodies desecrated, they lie in pain, do we even know their names? However far apart that we may be, in my heart it seems to be, that everyone of them is me. And everyone of them is you. For we are One, though our numbers grew. The reigns of power taken by a few, who do not know the secret true: that there is none but me and you.
The sacred lands of Palestine, will be liberated, in due time, and their lament will testify, for they endured the evil eye, for all of those who stood to gain from war and tragedy, and children slain.”
Though we likely won’t see reporting of what happened to the Houssana’s featured prominently on websites like the New York Times, the light of history will accurately convey the depths of this tragedy and the dangerous line we cross when we lack the moral courage to collectively stand up in the face of such global tyranny. When we look back on some of the worst stories coming out of this Genocide, we will forever remember those two girls. Let’s hope it’s not too late for us to have the clarity to stop what may happen next, before humanity hurtles towards the point of no return.
“As far as the Palestinian’s specifically, they were there, they need their land, and Israel is the satellite of this country. We sell them nuclear weapons. You can just imagine, what kind of deal the Palestinians are gonna get” – Bill Hicks, 30 years ago, in 1993
Speaking of the point of no return..
There are no words for what happened to Yazan Al-Kafarneh. Except: I’m sorry. I am so unbelievably sorry.
A ten year old boy with cerebral palsy was starved to death last week. Yazan’s family was displaced and he could not access the medical care he needed to maintain his condition, resulting in its complete deterioration due to lack of proper nourishment.
Where have we seen an image like this before?
It is not hyperbole to make comparisons between Zionism and Nazism. I do so now, to shock you, to disturb you. To hopefully wake you up.
It’s the same ideology, dressed in different garb. Historical context is important, of course. But tell me? Is there much of a fundamental difference between those two photos? Is the dehumanization not the same?
This is a historic shame for Israel, just as Nazi Germany was a historic shame for Germans. There was no social media or apps on smart phones back in the 40’s, though we do have Telegram now. This is how this little boys death was received on one Israeli channel.
Can you imagine, his parents grief?
Pretty soon people who up until now supported this blockade, are likely going to be calling for the end to the starvation in Gaza once the truth starts coming to light more and more. People will be back peddling, claiming they didn’t support this. We won’t forget those who justified this genocide, and who manufactured consent for some of the worst crimes in human history.
Yazan, as he should be remembered:
