On November 9 2023, I went to the Disability Rights gala with my partner. It felt weird to be at a Gala dressed in a gold-sequined dress, enjoying a fancy meal in a glamorous hotel, all the while knowing that there’s a part of the world where bombs are raining every minute and people are being killed. Whilst we were there fundraising for disability rights, there were people actively being made disabled. Still, I set out that evening determined to not constantly think about Palestine. We had a babysitter for our toddler, and it was our date night. I was excited to learn more about disability rights.
You see, my heart is in Palestine most of the time. I need a break. But the heartbreak and guilt don’t let me have a break. The people of Palestine don’t get a break from their suffering, why should I? I have only become educated about their long history of trauma recently. There were major sieges on Gaza in 2008, 2012, 20141, 2021, with the 2014 one causing a massive 2,200 Palestinian civilian casualties, including 551 children, and 6 Israeli civilian casualties. The Israeli Government has been promoting settler expansion in the West Bank for decades, displacing Palestinians from their homes. Gaza has been under an air, sea, land blockade since 2007, that has restricted movement of people, imports and exports with such severity, it’s worth researching in its own right (references below). Somehow up until a couple of months ago, I didn’t know much about Palestine and didn’t do much activism for it2. The “somehow”, of course, is actually a concerted effort of western media to under-report, minimize, obfuscate and simply ignore any crimes committed by western allies on people it deems unimportant – often those who are poor, people of color, Muslim or all of the above. The crimes that get media attention are overwhelmingly those committed by others to allies3.
But I digress. That night, I was at the gala for another cause. Other causes in the world haven’t ceased to exist. There were many inspirational speakers and artists at the Disability Rights Advocates Gala: blind people, people in wheelchairs, people using sign language, people with canes. The event was happening live in New York City and in San Francisco and people from one stage were live-streamed onto the other. I sipped my wine and smiled after watching a musical performance, for a moment easing away from the pain of Gaza.
Then onto the stage, wheeled on the dynamic NYC Emcee, Maysoon Zayid. Each person who came to the stage described themselves for the audience, and had a sign language interpreter next to them. Maysoon opened with a funny note about her “cerebral palsy kerfuffle” to get up on stage. ‘She’s so funny, she could be a standup’ I commented to my partner, not knowing that indeed she is a comic and a fantastic speaker (check out her Ted talk here).
“Oh I forgot to describe myself,” she said “I am a Palestinian woman, with mid-length black hair. I’m in a wheelchair. wearing a green dress..”.
I felt there was a moment of silence across the rooms as she identified herself.
And I will be very honest with my readers about my less-than-good thoughts. These thoughts just go to show how much the media and propaganda has infiltrated all of us. There was a jumble of thoughts; I thought: Wow, I didn’t expect that. She looks Indian. Or Pakistani. I’m so glad she’s here. And then my inner Karen (we all have one):
Why did she have to say she was Palestinian? She’s a brown woman. She could have described herself in other ways. Why make a political statement?
This was a thought I bet many people were having and for different reasons. Quickly, I self-dialogued and coached myself out of my bias. Why shouldn’t she describe herself as what she is? Why is just saying the word “Palestine” such a taboo? Palestinians are people, and some people are Palestinian. These are just facts. It’s hardly a political statement to say where you are from. She didn’t mention anything about Palestine after her introduction, and it’s actually cruel that she couldn’t have. At a time when her people—all of our people in the humanitarian worldview—are undergoing immense suffering, she understood and respected the social norms and etiquette which are to not bring up genocide in polite company. It ruins the good times.
Upon reflection, I can see why a visceral fearful/awkward reaction to “Palestine” was one of the feelings and thoughts in my head. It’s been planted there by the mainstream media. The media have tried in every way possible to link the word “Palestinian” with “terrorist” and with “anti-Semitic”. They’ve been trying to make it a bad word by repeated association. It’s been a relentless campaign, and it affects even the most discerning critical thinkers in our subconscious and in subtle ways. For some Jewish people, the word triggers a primal fear for their safety, cemented by the atrocities of October 7. The constant lack of distinction between Palestinian civilians and the terrorists that perpetrated those horrendous attacks, and the active encouragement of the media to fuel division has not helped. But the division and controversy in talking about Palestine is not new either – it’s been the case long before October 7 so we cannot point to October 7 alone2.
“Supporting freedom and peace shouldn’t be that controversial. When one group’s safety depends on another’s subjugation, you know something just isn’t right”.
— A wise internet friend. She has a degree in Middle Eastern studies and like me, has been feeling the silencing.
For those of us who recognize and hold appropriately sacred the humanity of Palestinians, the media campaign has still succeeded in creating this sense that it is risky to talk about Palestinians and Palestine. And it kind of sadly is — especially in countries like Germany, the UK, the US. In France, pro-Palestinian protests are outright banned! Kenan Malik documents the many violations of free speech that have occurred, in many cases against statements that are very reasonable, or as light as reposting an Onion article, and in many cases against the many loud Jewish voices campaigning for an end to the occupation as the path to peace. It is a WILD, crazy world, and not in a good way.
“People are being sacked and cancelled not for promoting violence but ‘calling for a ceasefire’“
— Kenan Malik, in article “Solidarity with Palestinians is not hate speech, whatever would-be censors say“
For those of us who are a bit on the cautious side, it means we don’t feel like saying “Palestine” as much. The goal of the media campaign is to erase the word “Palestine”, erase the concept, erase the culture, erase the people, and empty the land for more settler-colonialism exploits. Which is why I had to bite the fear bullet and put it boldly in this blog post heading. Yes, after many failed drafts on the many angles of this issue, I blogged about Palestine. And I have Maysoon Zayid to thank for it.
References
Maysoon has blogged about her visit in DC to talk with Blinken about Palestine. I highly recommend it!
Gaza blockade links:
A United Nations factsheet: https://www.un.org/unispal/humanitarian-situation-in-the-gaza-strip-fast-facts-ocha-factsheet/
The calorie count and banning of certain foods from 2007-2010:
The Guardian: Israel used ‘calorie count’ to limit Gaza food during blockade, critics claim https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/17/israeli-military-calorie-limit-gaza
Footnotes
1 I asked ChatGPT to generate this table for me. It lines up with figures for the Operations from 2008 onwards that I’ve cross-referenced in a few sources and heard from Dr Norman Finkelstein who has meticulously been documenting all the atrocities in Gaza for 15+ years, long before October 7. His interviews with Chris Hedges, and with Amy Goodman are worth watching. I don’t have the same views as Dr Norman Finkelstein on everything, but his factual accuracy is commendable.
The chart below is an important reminder that it’s not just deaths that matter, but all the many severe injuries, losses of limbs and body and brain functions that happen in conflict zones. The red bars are injuries, which are far greater than deaths for Israelis and Palestinians.
2 I remember posting about the bombings in Gaza on social media in 2014 and losing two Jewish friends who were offended by my posts.
3 It would take too long to list out evidence for the many times America has killed people abroad and it’s not gotten much media attention. For example, when American forces shot down a clearly civilian plane Iran Air Flight 655, killing all the civilians aboard, including many children. Please consult Dr. Noam Chomsky’s book “Who Rules the World?” for more examples. It’s an excellent book; it should be mandatory reading.
4 The other ways the media tries to erase the word “Palestine” is by referencing “Gaza” and “The West Bank”, when they are both Palestine. By avoiding the word “Palestine”, they hope to kill the concept of Palestine, and the reality that it may one day be a state. Which is all the more odd because Palestine is older than Israel as a concept. You can look up in National Geographic maps going back before 1948 and very clearly there is a chunk of land labeled “Palestine” there. Racists have often said and say “Palestinians are an invented people” – which is why trying to have a discussion with these people is fruitless. I have to wonder: Who’s getting killed and maimed? Ghosts? These ‘invented people’ made of flesh and blood are very good apparitions, if so.
P.S. In case it is in doubt and needs saying explicitly, I think October 7 was a terrible tragedy. It was a crime against humanity. I condemn the killing of civilians anywhere from any ethnic/religious/cultural group. There’s never any justification for killing innocent people in my books.
