Israel-Hamas War: Stop Using Children To Pull My Strings
Children are being used by many groups, organizations and the media as a means to influence and to win over global public opinion in the new war between Israel and Hamas, provoked by the Palestinian organization’s October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. This is certainly not new, but it is as if our humanity can only emerge when faced with emotional exhortation. This is just not right! Enough! I am tired of being implicitly told that, for the different parties involved in the new Israel-Hamas war, triggered by the killing of thousands of Israeli civilians by the Palestinian organization’s gunmen on October 7, I can only sympathize with the pain and drama of the innocent victims if they flood me with images of injured children, children in distress, with haggard looks, void of their innocence. And when it’s not that, it’s the bodies of burned babies. Since the horrific actions by Hamas, almost every story, every account, every death toll has mentioned the fate of children. Fears about the humanitarian crisis that an Israeli military response on the ground in the Gaza strip could cause, are illustrated through the angle of children. Children have become the gateway to my humanity, our humanity. It is as if I would have remained indifferent to the horror that the Israelis experienced if I had not been told, time after time, that children were killed, tortured, burned and taken as hostages. It’s as if I wouldn’t have had empathy for the Palestinians in Gaza if I hadn’t been told over and over again that the humanitarian crisis in the enclave of 2 million inhabitants was going to affect thousands of children. It’s as if the word “children” is the only one capable of touching what remains human in me, in us. It feels like we have reached the conclusion that we humans have become so numb, that nothing really affects us. Therefore, our humanity can only be awakened by maximizing the shock effect.
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