A 2001 redux?

The past fortnight is a stark reminder that while Palestinian narratives in the west have changed, they have not changed quickly enough to save the Palestinian people.

For people old enough to remember September 2001, the past fortnight has been one of déjà vu. A horrific attack of violence perpetrated on civilians, followed by a near hysterical period of rhetorical scrambling by western politicians about “self defence” and the myriad actions that might be brought under the umbrella of this term.

In 2001, as the world watched, the laws of self-defence were expanded to include the non state actor, Al Qaeda, and Afghanistan, the state harbouring the non state actor. The American invasion also upended what the west said they believed were universal human rights - torture, extra territorial rendition (the kidnap and the export of prisoners to other jurisdictions for interrogation) and the indefinite detention of prisoners without trial or release became commonplace. In 2003, America and the UK convinced everyone and themselves that Saddam Hussein was sitting on a pile of “weapons of mass destruction”. An invasion of Iraq, they said, was the only way for them to “defend” themselves. Self defence was stretched once more (good bye, imminence) and Iraq was invaded.

Last week, many western leaders outdid themselves in a “what war crime is actually just self defence” contest. UK Labour Party leader Kier Starmer, went on live television and said that the Israelis had the right to turn off water and power to civilians in Gaza. And when asked if he would ask the Israelis to end the collective punishment of Gaza civilians by Israel, British PM Rishi Sunak responded with

“I actually believe that we should support Israel's right to defend itself and to go after Hamas and recognizing that they (Israel) face a vicious enemy that embeds itself behind civilians.”

American President Joe Biden, whose rhetoric about “freedom” and the role of America in the world has sounded increasingly like a throwback tape out of 2001, has refused to hold Israel accountable for any actions that human rights groups have termed war crimes and seems to have no ability or will to influence Israel to respect even the most basic humanitarian norms for Palestinian civilians.

But while the rhetoric is reminiscent of the post 9/11 days, it is useful to remember that the world is not the same. The United States never fully recovered its pre 9/11 position or credibility and its own internal systemic brutality is less hidden than it used to be. Young Americans, well versed in analysing the expressions of this systemic brutality in print, have become far more savvy than previous generations in sifting through propaganda. Social media nitpicking has also made people hyper aware of the tricks newspapers use to dehumanise, like using passive voice when reporting people killed by airstrikes, or routinely holding only one side accountable for acts of violence against civilians. People getting their Palestinian history from TikTok may not quite be getting the full picture, they are still getting more than they otherwise would have in the United States.

I had written in 2021 about social media changing Palestinian narratives in the US. In Gallup polling conducted in March 2023, 49% of democrats said their sympathies lay with the Palestinian people and only 38% said their sympathies lay with Israel. This marks a significant shift in American public opinion which had hitherto uncritically supported Israel across party lines.

In the aftermath of October 7, despite heavy crackdowns in which students have been accused of anti-semitism, doxxed and have lost job offers, and immigrants have been threatened with the cancellation of their visas, the pushback against Israeli narratives in the west has been strong. And it has gone beyond Palestinian or Arab voices. Jewish anti-zionist groups have organised sit-ins in the Capitol demanding a ceasefire and a series of pro-Palestinian rallies in New York and other American cities have drawn unprecedented numbers. Across Europe, governments have done their best to curb expressions of support for the Palestinian people, and yet, these have largely failed. France banned pro-Palestine protests, and a yet protest held in the aftermath of the ban drew immense crowds. Yesterday, the London metropolitan police confirmed that at least 100,000 attended a protest London to show their support for the Palestinian cause.

In comparison, the famed Israeli hasbara has this time been reduced to fighting with Greta Thunberg online, sharing AI morphed photographs of Hamas leaders, and documents supposedly seized from captured Hamas fighters watermarked “top secret” all of which have been somewhat less than effective. Unproven media narratives of the brutality of the Hamas attacks (“beheaded babies”) have also quickly been challenged despite being run on major news networks, and some have resulted in public apologies (unheard of in previous eras). Even with the United States publicly backing the Israeli explanation of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital strike, there is still skepticism about Israel’s denials.

And added to all of this has been the constant and extremely painful documentation of the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza by journalists based in Gaza who have not stopped telling their stories despite facing bombardment, hunger, thirst and homelessness. Despite the longstanding dehumanisation of the Palestinian people in the western media narrative, this has not been without impact. In a poll conducted on October 20 in the United States, 66% of voters across party lines said that they supported the US calling for an immediate ceasefire and a deescalation of violence in Gaza.

And yet, none of this has managed to call a halt to ongoing brutality faced by Palestinian civilians. 25% of all civilian houses in Gaza have been destroyed. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 4,385 civilians have been killed, including 1,750 children in the last two weeks alone and close to a million people have been internally displaced. Food, water, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza remain entirely cut (with the exception of 20 trucks of humanitarian aid that passed through the Egyptian border) and Israeli airstrikes have severely damaged cultural heritage including one of the oldest churches in the world. The western world terms this “a humanitarian crisis”  but it is increasingly difficult to argue that this is not an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Is is a stark reminder that while narratives can and do change over time, they have not changed quickly enough for the Palestinian people.