The conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza is excellent news. It has come too late, but it would still be good news even if no one but a lonely crying infant was left there.
However, to assess the world's reaction, we must not forget or ignore the devastating material and psychological aftermath. Nothing attests to the death of the world’s conscience more powerfully than the terror and death endured by the children of Gaza.
Unfortunately, some see addressing such matters as an exercise in impractical idealism, believing that it does nothing to change reality. I admit that I, too, have quietly fallen into this kind of despair in private. However: are we required to only be realistic? Isn’t realism the domain of politicians driven by the need to surrender to reality, without leaving their own mark on history?
If everyone becomes a realist, who would defend truth, ideals, values, and rights?
Even from a purely utilitarian perspective, the role of writing, culture, thought, and the media is to defend ethics- at least to a minimal extent that allows humanity to remain distinct and not fall into the brutal laws of domination, survival, and death in the animal kingdom.
As we know from financial crises assessments, they unfold in stages. Crises that begin with a financial problem escalate into a full-blown crisis, and ultimately result in bankruptcy. Each stage has particular indicators. Applying this understanding of finance to the suffering of Gaza’s children, it is a direct indication of bankruptcy, not only Israel’s but the entire world’s.
Sometimes, the real problem lies not in the disaster, the crime, or the tragedy itself, but in how it is confronted, responded to, and addressed. Crimes implicate only the perpetrator, but all of us are responsible for how we deal with it.
I will not get into a debate about Israel's assault on Gaza; we could place that within the context of conflict and war. However, does this imply that we should remain silent about the killing of 17,000 Palestinian children in Gaza?
Never in human history have children been targeted as they have been between October 7, 2023, and the announcement of the ceasefire agreement yesterday.
The result is clear: the world failed to prioritize this issue. In fact, we saw deliberate negligence and indifference, with the deaths of children seen as nothing more than collateral damage.
Every war has its limits, and every game has its red lines, but not in Gaza. None of this could have happened if Israel had not internalized the world’s passive attitude and the normalization of Israel’s crimes.
A question: what is the purpose of international organizations and their armies of senior officials, who receive exorbitant salaries and enjoy extraordinary privileges but have proven incapable of protecting Gaza's children from the slaughter?
In addition to the innocent people who lost their lives simply because they are Palestinian, another indicator of moral and humanitarian bankruptcy is the number of disabled children in Gaza, which now exceeds 10,000. Approximately 98,000 children with disabilities are suffering immensely due to the destruction left by Israel’s aggression, which has compounded the challenges of their disabilities a thousandfold. This is without mentioning the children who have been orphaned, losing either their mother, father, or both because of Israel’s crimes against defenseless men and women. The number of orphans has risen to around 25,000 children.
These are horrific figures. Even more horrific is the indifference. The true driver of Israel’s war on children is no secret: it is to physically liquidate a generation of Palestinians, an attempt to eradicate the Palestinian people and the cause by killing as many children as possible and rendering as many of them as possible disabled and incapacitated.
In reality, this is not a war or a conflict so much as a new holocaust whose primary victims are children. It would never have happened without the world’s blind complicity. The lion’s share of this moral bankruptcy lies not only with Israel but with the global and regional powers that, for dubious interests, turned a blind eye.
Thus, the world will not find peace, and the conflict in the Middle East will not subside, so long as Gaza’s children are being killed. Peace and national security cannot be written with children’s blood and tears. We have lived through an era of violence on Gaza’s children, and the mark of shame will never disappear.
A ceasefire was reached only after Israel had achieved its objectives. Today, Israel has become a mirror for the entire world.
