Like so many people over the last seven months, I am mortified by the the genocide in Gaza. I’ve felt hopeless and unable to help in a way that felt like enough. The moral debt we are in as a society is gross and unthinkable and disgusting, and in many instances it is swept under the rug because it is intangible. I didn’t know what to do besides talk about it, boycott Israeli/Zionist companies, repost and interact with social media content (to prompt the algorithm to promote posts about Palestine), donate when I can. I do all of these things, and you should too, and it is unfortunately not enough. The civilian death toll in Gaza is currently at 33,137 as I write this (7/4/2024). That level of violence is impossible to conceptualise when you consider the way these civilians were murdered, using airstrikes targeting civilian homes, tearing children apart at the limbs, forcing children to watch their mothers and fathers burn to death, forcing orphaned children to live in fear, shooting fathers as they chase after aid trucks, of which very few have been allowed into the Gaza strip. Israeli civilians protest the entry of aid trucks by blocking their path, sitting in front of them holding Israeli flags, meanwhile other Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv protest Netanyahu’s maniacal ‘war’ strategies and call for him to be removed. In Rafah Gazans endure forced starvation, disease, bombing, sniping, rape, siege, raids, and attack dogs, meanwhile a couple of hours away, Ellie Zeiler (American Israel-sponsored influencer, Charli D’Amelio impersonator, and full time flop) is staying in beautiful hotels and making tiktoks about the plight of her people. We call this white audacity. It is the feeling of being so utterly comfortable, so utterly coddled, so utterly justified in your colonisation and violence because it is white and it is ‘clean’ and morally untouchable. It is dehumanisation and othering and race-wide delusions of grandeur, white supremacy, and getting on your soapbox about your feelings, despite being somebody who is, endlessly and without reservation, protected by the world we live in and its cruel laws. It is Rishi Sunak starting to care because 3 white British men were killed, meanwhile refusing to speak the names of the Palestinians also killed in that same attack on World Central Kitchen aid workers (because white audacity is not exclusive to white people, but also those begging to be rid of their non-white heritage).
In the face of these flagrant injustices and violations of international law, I have felt helpless, so I started doing what I always do: keeping a record. I have been keeping score, taking note of the most blatant and horrifying moments of white audacity, and of Zionist aggression, I have seen on the internet over the last couple of months to show my grandchildren, to be able to make a case when I need to, to make sure I am never desensitised. I am going to share these records with you now in case you still need to be convinced.
1. This is the news that started it all- Israel calling for a UN secretary general to resign because too much of his time was dedicated to Gaza’s aid situation. Israel, a country younger than the United Nations, calling for anyone to resign is so audacious it’s almost funny. Almost.
Meanwhile, civilians are being targeted in their own homes, and those who survived are left traumatised, orphaned, and many children as young as 6 have been reported as being suicidal, wishing they had died with their family members.
3. Israelis have monetised the trauma they cause, the severe struggle, the loss, lives taken, women raped, homes demolished, providing other Israelis the chance to ‘kick some Arabs’s ass’. Usually in war, the victims don’t have time to go to escape rooms.
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian author in Gaza sharing the reality of living in the strip during the genocide, I would recommend following him for more resources and info. Pictured above is a group of young men tied up upon capture at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, taken to be tortured, beaten, and killed- as if the torture of calling them terrorists, then subjecting them to terrorism at the hands of the IOF wasn’t enough. This post was from 20th March and Al Shifa Hospital has since been levelled.
And in the West we are upset about people using the Palestinian flag emoji apparently. This one made me reconsider naming this article ‘Gaza and Western Audacity’, but then you have to dig a little deeper, and question what is at the root of these Western attitudes. It is always white supremacy.
This is petrifying and the reason why I refuse to be desensitised to these horrors as long as they go on. The response to these events will expose your actual feelings towards feminism; the only thing between you and this woman at Al Shifa is circumstance.
We grant Israelis the right to be separated from their governing group, and the grace to be believed when they claim it: a privilege that must not be underestimated. Being Israeli, being white, gives you the privilege of forging your own identity and being treated accordingly, as a Muslim woman I have not always been granted this pleasure, even being born and raised in the West.
This is self-explanatory and boils my blood. This level of greed makes me want to disappear
I have less and less to say as these go on
Reverse the roles and imagine the outrage
A tiktok screenshot- insensitive, shameless, and drenched in audacity.
Ending on a positive note- these little updates never fail to make me emotional. These people have had everything taken and are still so grateful. Gaza, in all its loss, pain, destruction, has proven itself to be a beacon of humanity I could only dream of encountering. It would be devastating to see Gaza go, to see it repackaged and sold off at auctions, the waterfront rebuilt for your Western pleasure, the places and names forgotten and the map reflecting this.
If you would like to donate to help evacuate families out of the Gaza Strip, I urge you to visit Operation Olive Branch on social media.