On June 8, the Israeli army massacred at least 274 Palestinians and injured nearly 700 more in a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The concerned sectors of the international community responded with the typical ineffective gesture; European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the latest Israeli “massacre of civilians” and declared that “the bloodbath must end immediately.”
Four Israeli captives held by Hamas were also rescued during the attack, which has sent Israeli social media into an uproar of complacency and genocidal fanfare. The Internet is awash with sensational accounts of the rescue and tearful reunification of the captives with their loved ones, let alone with all those dead Palestinians.
Indeed, the blatant disregard for Palestinian life is not surprising in the context of a war that has officially killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza in just over eight months. The real death toll is undoubtedly much higher considering the number of bodies remaining under the rubble.
Not that Palestinians have ever been humanized in the Israeli narrative – except, of course, when they can be exploited for propaganda purposes, as when Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and thus justifies military attacks. Israelis against hospitals and schools. .
A look at past episodes of Israel's perpetual “bloodbath” in Gaza would seem to confirm that, according to Israeli military logic, more than 200 dead Palestinians is perfectly acceptable “collateral damage” in the recovery of four living Israelis. After all, Israeli life is endowed with a disproportionate value that distracts from the fact that Israel kills Palestinians at an astronomically higher rate than Palestinians kill Israelis – who, however, remain the self-proclaimed “victims.” ” throughout all of this.
Recall, for example, Operation Cast Lead, which Israel launched in Gaza in December 2008 and which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in a period of 22 days, the vast majority of them civilians and 400 of them children. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians were killed.
Then in 2014, Israel's 50-day Operation Protective Edge reduced Gaza's population by 2,251 people, including 551 children, while Israel lost 67 soldiers and six civilians.
The superior value placed on Israeli life has also been demonstrated time and again in prisoner exchanges; In 2011, Hamas freed captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for no fewer than 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Now, the massacre in Nuseirat is not just the latest milestone in Israel's quest to accustom the world to unbridled depravity. It also symbolizes Israeli efforts to erase Palestinians, both literally and figuratively, as the victims of Saturday's attack are effectively erased through the celebratory uproar.
Call it collateral genocide.
After the attack, the Israeli army unleashed an avalanche of posts on social media that made no mention of the Palestinian victims but offered such compelling analysis that the captives were in the hands of “Hamas terrorists who only seek to cause pain and suffering.” ”. .
For its part, the Jerusalem Post even went so far as to complain about Arab social media users who had vowed to ruin Israel's parade. Noting that “the heroic Israeli operation that led to the release of four hostages sparked much discourse online,” the Post lamented that “some Hamas supporters attempted to downplay the operation, accusing Israel of using humanitarian apparatuses to infiltrate the zone”. [around Nuseirat] or claim that the world is ignoring the alleged death toll of Gazans.”
As for one of the world's most important players, US President Joe Biden praised the return of the four captives at a press conference in Paris, adding: “We will not stop working until all the hostages are returned to house and a ceasefire is reached.
Which brings us to the question: How will a ceasefire be reached – or an end to the “bloodbath,” to borrow Borrell’s words – when the president of the United States himself is essentially praising Israel for bringing out said bloodbath?
Just a month ago, Biden warned that he would no longer supply offensive weapons to Israel in the event of an all-out attack on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, because, he said, “civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of those bombs.” ”. And yet, it suddenly becomes inconsequential that civilians continue to be killed, because what matters are the captives.
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. An Al Jazeera analysis of the weapons fragments revealed that they contained parts manufactured in the United States.
It appears that Biden's warning has also become collateral damage. Or maybe genocide has just become completely normalized.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
