We can all see what’s happening in Gaza, so why do some refuse to face the truth?
‘War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen EightyFour had a Ministry of Truth whose job it was to flood the news with propaganda, making truth and lies indiscernible.
I recently received a reminder: “Orwell Journalism Prize – entries closing.” Given more than 100, mostly Palestinian, journalists have been killed in Gaza in just six months, I was curious to know the judges’ views on the journalists’ death toll.
Such as Ayat Khadoura, who posted a video wherein, holding back tears, she said: “We had big dreams, but our dream now is to be killed in one piece so they know who we are.” Ayat was killed documenting Israel’s bombardment of her neighbourhood. Her body couldn’t be buried, it was blown to smithereens.
One Orwell Prize judge, a former Tory MP, wrote an article in November, opining that Britain objecting to a ceasefire was the right strategy. Another, a journalist, wrote a piece mocking pro-peace, anti-“genocide” (her inverted commas) marchers/“extremists”, accusing them of antisemitism because, “when they say Zionist”, she accused, “they mean Jew”. Journalism 101: report what people actually say, not what you think they mean through the lens of ideological biases. Her article airbrushed out the central role of the Jewish community in organising demonstrations against Israel’s genocidal campaign.
In January, the International Criminal Court of Justice ruled it is plausible that genocide is taking place in Gaza. Last month, UN-appointed human rights expert Francesca Albanese produced a detailed report on Gaza, concluding: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide… has been met.”
She added: “Denial of the reality and the continuation of Israel’s impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council resolution, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
According to figures from Hamas, over 34,000 Palestinians have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces, at least 13,000 of whom are children. More than 200 aid workers, mostly Palestinian, have been killed. Yet it took the horrific killing of seven international (World Central Kitchen) aid workers to provoke global outrage. The founder of WCK said Israel “systematically targeted” his aid workers.
They were travelling in clearly marked vehicles, having co-ordinated and agreed their movements with Israeli forces. Israel previously thwarted UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestine refugees) aid operations based on unsubstantiated allegations. The UN has warned Israel is deliberately starving Gaza and descent into famine is imminent.
On October 9, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” of Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no fuel.” All restraints on the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would be removed, “We are fighting human animals,” he said.
Former general Giora Eiland wrote: “In order to make the siege effective, we have to prevent others from giving assistance to Gaza.”
The UN has decried the massacre of civilians in Gaza, with its human right experts saying: “The world is witnessing the first genocide shown in real time to the world by its victims and unfathomably justified by Israel as compliant with the laws of war. In the wake of the siege and destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital, in which health workers and patients were among those reportedly killed, we urge UN member states to implement all possible diplomatic, political and economic measures, and legal processes, to stop this horror.”
The US response? “We’ve seen no evidence of Israel breaking international law.”
Former US State Department official Annelle Sheline, who resigned citing the erosion of US credibility on human rights in the Middle East due to its blind support for Israel, described president Joe Biden as “increasingly Trumpian”. Noting his disregard for reality, offering alternative facts, she said: “They just keep pretending that people can’t see with their own eyes what’s coming out of Gaza.”
The barbarous Hamas attacks on October 7, killing around 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping about 200 more, were horrendous and breached international law. The taking of hostages must also be condemned.
Israel has forced Palestinians off their land, occupying and illegally creating settlements. Controlling access to water, food, movement. Palestinians have been relentlessly persecuted.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims his priority is Israeli hostages – yet he rejects a ceasefire to secure their release. Israeli forces shot dead three Israeli hostages waving white flags, killing others in airstrikes.
Netanyahu’s far-right government has been emboldened by the West. The threatened ground invasion of Rafah is likely to happen in the absence of strong, immediate international intervention. Biden could stop Netanyahu but instead he arms him with bombs. It’s destabilising the Middle East, escalating hostilities with Iran, while making the US – and the world – a more dangerous place. In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Out of respect for George Orwell and Palestinian journalists livestreaming their own demise, I’m boycotting the Orwell Prize this year.