The death of seven members of the humanitarian organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) on April 3 following an Israeli airstrike provoked massive international outrage.
It prompted the Israeli Prime Minister to attempt to justify the unjustifiable, stating “Those things happen in wartime,” while the country’s military conducted an investigation that resulted in the dismissal of two officers and the reprimand of seven others.
“The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity.,” said Jose Andres, the organisation’s founder, denouncing their murder.
On the other hand, the death toll in the Gaza Strip is approaching 40,000. It is only a matter of days before this number is surpassed. The Israelis are relentless, and if the reports by The Guardian about the use of Artificial Intelligence systems that simply choose targets while also calculating the number of collateral casualties are true, then we have entered a dark, uncharted territory.
What remains, however, is the observation that the discrimination that exists in life also exists in death. Or, to put it differently, not all deaths are considered equal.
The death of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was not enough to prompt an investigation or corner Israel. It took the deaths of six Westerners to fuel the outrage. This is not to say that there were no reactions before. There were, but they were not strong enough to lead to condemnations within the Israeli military and put Israel in a difficult position.
Some accuse Westerners of hypocrisy and only caring about their own. This may be true to an extent, and it is somewhat understandable. People usually operate this way, looking after and defending the interests of their own.
However, how can one explain the indifference of the other Arab states? Where is the anger, the reactions, and the support for the plight of the Palestinians?
The reactions, like the anger, have been subdued, especially at the state level. The same goes for solidarity. No Arab country has opened its borders to welcome Palestinian refugees, instead, they have been doubly sealed. Nor have they sent volunteers to help, care for, and feed those who are suffering. Strong condemnations have not been heard, and business with Israel continues as usual.
The Arab tears for the deaths of Palestinians and the levelling of the Gaza Strip are too few. Both for those who were killed and for those struggling to stay alive.
