What’s bothering you? That the Palestinians aren’t crying, but are smiling and singing?
The Israeli tantrum mainly exposes the depth of dehumanisation of Palestinians, which has become mainstream among liberals and democrats in Israel since October 7. When scarred, limbless, orphaned and widowed people returned north, walking through the ruins of their lives and yet singing, Israelis saw this not as evidence of the human endurance of Gaza’s residents, but as “wretchedness”
By Hanin Majadli • Translated by Sol Salbe
The tantrum that took hold of many Israelis in the face of the ceasefire agreement, especially after the release of the Palestinian prisoners and the touching images of the return of Gaza residents to the northern Gaza Strip, almost overshadowed the moments of joy over the release of the abducted female soldiers. As far as those Israelis are concerned, any outcome short of the extermination of the residents of the Gaza Strip, encompassing breaking their spirit and trampling it, is perceived as defeat.
As far as the residents of Gaza are concerned, their very survival and return home, despite everything, is a victory. As far as news anchor Danny Kushmaro is concerned, “let them choke on their baklavas,” and as far as Haaretz reporter Chaim Levinson is concerned, they are “distilled essence of garbage,” and the performance staged at the release of the abductees in the Gaza Strip is “evil cynicism.” I reiterate the fact that they are soldiers because large parts of the Israeli public, especially those who understand the difference between the abduction of soldiers and the abduction of civilians, are trying to obscure this fact. So yes, Hamas, in its “evil cynicism,” is trying to emphasise the fact that they are soldiers.
Several feminists including some with a Ph D in gender studies went gone so far as to write that “totalitarian regimes [like] Hamas use rituals as a tool to control, oppress, and enslave the masses. These regimes demonstrate their absolute control through grandiose displays of power designed to oppress their citizens, intimidate them, and instil blind loyalty. The cynical handover ceremony of Hamas guntotters with members of the Red Cross and the abducted women, held on a stage adorned with symbols and slogans, demonstrates the sick and destructive ideology that produces the psychosis of the masses in Gaza. The ceremony for the release of the abductees emphasises the difference between Hamas (ie Gaza) and humanity and pluralism, and the commitment to human life and the values that guide Israel as a society” (Dr Shlomit Aharoni Lir — a real text.)
I understand the frustration. A rather unsuccessful war, goals that were not achieved, Hamas hasn’t been decisively defeated, the abductees deal is the same deal that was already on the table in May and could have saved the unnecessary deaths of Palestinians and abductees. What’s more, Israelis have been labelled “genociders” around the world because of Benjamin Netanyahu (and also because Israelis have loosened the reins as far as their vengeance is concerned and developed apathy). Maybe they could have handled the label being applied, had Hamas been decisively defeated and the war aims achieved, but just like that, “for nothing”? And then they take their bitterness on the heroic residents of the Gaza Strip who survived the inferno.
The Israeli tantrum mainly exposes the depth of dehumanisation, which has become mainstream among liberals and democrats in Israel since October 7. When scarred, limbless, orphaned and widowed people returned north, walking through the ruins of their lives and yet singing, Israelis saw this not as evidence of the human endurance of Gaza’s residents, but as “wretchedness.”
What exactly bothered all those Israelis who spent the past week with mockery and outrage? Is it the fact that the Palestinians are not crying, but smiling and singing? Is it the fact that they are still standing on their feet or crutches after surviving for many months?
The future is not rosy because the reality in the Gaza Strip is still terrible, the danger of war is still hovering overhead, and destruction and ruins are everywhere. Residents who returned to the northern Gaza Strip have had to dig through the rubble with their bare hands in an attempt to locate the remains of their loved ones who had been killed.
But this is the first time since the Nakba that Palestinians expelled by the State of Israel have managed to return. The return of Gaza refugees to the northern Gaza Strip is evidence of the defeat of Israeli fantasies about transfer and ethnic cleansing. This is their victory over the Generals’ Plan and [Smotrich’s] the Decisive Victory plan. It’s a miracle. The miracle of the return that Israel has been denying the Palestinians by force of arms, weapons and tyranny since 1948. Gaza’s residents broken the pattern.
