On June 8, the Israeli military killed at least 274 Palestinians and injured nearly 700 more in a raid in the central Gaza Strip. Concerned sectors of the international community responded with typical ineffectual hand-wringing by condemning the latest Israeli ‘massacre of civilians’.
Four Israeli captives held by Hamas were also rescued during the assault. The internet is awash with sensational accounts of the rescue and the captives with loved ones.
Indeed, the blatant disregard for Palestinian life is terrifying, and it has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza in just over eight months. The actual death toll is, without a doubt, far higher buried under the rubble.
Not that Palestinians have ever been humanized in the Israeli narrative when Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and thereby justifies Israeli military attacks on hospitals and schools.
A glance at past episodes from Israel’s perpetual “bloodbath” as per Israeli military logic, 200-plus dead Palestinians is perfectly acceptable as Israeli life is endowed with a disproportionate worth that works to distract from the fact that Israel kills Palestinians at an astronomically higher rate which remain the self-appointed “victims” throughout it all.
Recall Operation Cast Lead, which Israel launched in Gaza in December 2008 and killed more than 1,400 Palestinians over 22 days. On the Israeli side, ten soldiers and three civilians were killed.
In prisoner exchanges, the superior value accorded to Israeli life has been displayed time and again; in 2011, captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas in exchange for no fewer than 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Now, the slaughter in Nuseirat is not only the latest milestone in Israel’s quest to ensure the world, but it also symbolizes Israeli efforts to disappear the Palestinians, both literally and figuratively. US politics, Canada’s multiculturalism, South America’s geopolitical rise—we bring you the stories that matter.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Israeli military unleashed a barrage of social media posts, and the captives were held by “Hamas terrorists who only seek to cause pain and suffering.”
For its part, the Jerusalem Post went as far as to complain about Arab social media users by noting that “the heroic Israeli operation that led to the release of four hostages stirred much discourse online, and the supporters attempted to reduce the significance of the operation by claiming that the world is ignoring the alleged death toll of Gazans.”
As for one of the world’s most prominent players, United States President Joe Biden praised the return of the four captives at a news conference in Paris, which brings us to the question: How will a ceasefire ever be reached when the US president himself is essentially praising Israel for conducting said bloodbath?
Just one month ago, Biden warned that he would no longer be supplying offensive weapons to Israel because civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs”. And yet it is suddenly inconsequential that civilians continue to be killed because just three days ago, on June 6, an Israeli attack on a United Nations-run school in the Nuseirat camp killed at least 40 Palestinians sheltering there and it has revealed them to contain US-manufactured parts or perhaps genocide has just become normalized.
