How Long Can the Victim Narrative Prevail?

by Aibike Esenalieva

On January 20th, 2024 I attended the Pro-Palestine demonstration in Stockholm which is held every Saturday. We walked from Odenplan toward the Israeli Embassy. It was timely and empowering. It felt important, like one's “showing up” matters, to use one's voice together to bring about change. 

Thousands of people are dying in Gaza, where half the population consists of children, many of whom will never get to grow up, and even if they do, they will be traumatized for life by the unfolding events, the violence and despair they have experienced. The despair that comes with starvation, displacement and homelessness, due to their homes getting destroyed or being deemed unsafe, seeing their loved ones die or get heavily injured, and on top of it all having to stay strong through everything. 

The picture of a young girl hanging off a house gained traction on the internet in February 2024. Her head injured and her blood running down the wall behind her portrayed a horrific image. Her name was Sidra. She was just 12 years old, and just like any child, she had hopes and dreams. Hind Rajab, a 6 year-old who was killed by the Israeli army the same month after having managed to call for help also had dreams. Hind was forced to sit in a car with her loved ones who had been shot by Israeli soldiers, and managed to call for help before being killed. Because of her heroic call, the whole world heard it. When people came to try and help her, they were shot too, and in the end so was Hind. 

Listen to that recording if you want to hear heartbreaking despair and fear. That is not something any child, or human for that matter, should have to experience. BBC news reported Hind to be “found dead. ” When other news sites report on the Russo-Ukrainian war, the reports say that a Ukrainian child has “been killed. ” We may ask, why do only Western children and people receive sympathy? Why can’t Western media recognize and call out the aggressor? We cannot get numb. We must recognize the tragedy of what is happening and not turn our eyes away. All children deserve to live. They deserve to be happy and to grow up to experience a good life. Children should not have to be so brave at merely six years old to have to call for help in a car full of the dead bodies of their relatives, or be one of the bodies hanging off the wall. 

On the night of the Super Bowl 2024, when much of the world was watching the half- time show, Israel bombed Rafah, the southernmost point of Gaza, after having told civilians to evacuate there, and that they would be safe. Being only 63 square kilometers, and with a population of 1,7 million people, Rafah is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. That did not stop Israel from carpet bombing it on February 12th. Netanyahu has been calling for the Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate after having made most of Gaza uninhabitable and by targeting Rafah, a supposed place of refuge, afterhaving said it is safe. This means Palestinians must leave their homes and all of its history behind or die trying. 

Destroyed building in Rafah, Gaza Strip Photo by Emad El Byed on Unsplash

The far-right Israeli government uses an attack on their population, such as the hostages taken in October 2023 to excuse the killing of more than 30,000 Palestinians, 10,000 of them being minors. Although I do not condone the violence committed against Israeli civilians on October 7th, I still believe that the counterattack is immeasurable and not at all justified and has genocidal qualities considering Israel has blatantly attacked thousands of civilians. South Africa has even taken the state of Israel to trial at the ICJ and received support to make Israel take humanitarian measures to stop the violence and initiate a cease fire – more of a slap on the hand than a real measure in my opinion, but nevertheless. The humanitarian consequences of Israel’s actions have gone too far to say that they are simply looking for Hamas in Gaza. A report by Amnesty International, which investigated the situation in Rafah, said that Israel is not simply targeting military bases as they claim, but that they are targeting civilians too. 

The justification for Israel’s actions is too often dependent on the victim narrative. If we criticize the actions of the state or the army, it can often be dismissed as antisemitism and deemed to be discriminating; as if criticizing Israel as a state means discriminating against Jewish people all over the world. Clearly this is an erroneous perspective, as there are Jewish people worldwide standing with Palestine and against the aggression of the Israeli state towards the peaceful Palestinian population. We cannot assume all Jewish people are Zionists, or that they should be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli state, as many worldwide are distancing themselves from that narrative and are expressing their condemnation of the apartheid-state of Israel and its actions. 

Clearly not all Israeli people support the actions of the regime, as just recently an anti- government protest in Tel Aviv got violently shut down by the local police. Netanyahu is trying to portray that there is unwavering support for his actions. However, this is not necessarily true. I personally condemn the increased attacks on Jewish people worldwide. Any sort of discrimination is unjustifiable, as the government and its people are separate entities that shouldn’t be lumped together. Anti-semitism is a real issue and shouldn’t be diminished either, as historically, Jewish people have been persecuted and treated inhumanely, as during the Holocaust. Jewish people deserve to be protected, just as the Palestinians deserve to also be protected. Just as we cannot equate the Jewish population to the Israeli government, not all Palestinians support Hamas either. 

Although Zionism predates Nazism, the sovereign state of Israel was created in 1948 after the Second World War largely thanks to Western states feeling guilty for not ending the Holocaust sooner and needing somewhere to send the millions of displaced Jewish people in Europe. However, Israel could be accused of misusing the tragedy of the Holocaust and Jewish suffering for their benefit. This approach has been overdone and undermines the suffering of other groups that have been persecuted, weakening their argument. The fact is that Israel can no longer objectively call itself a victim when referring to the human rights violations Israel has committed against Palestinians for decades. When looking at the data, Israel, which is a country, averages a higher military strength compared to Palestine which is not even recognized as an independent state. Yet, Israel is continually portrayed as a victim, based on the historical background of its Jewish population.

How long can the victim narrative prevail? Is it not time for the world to realize that this story no longer holds up? How can one of the most “moral” and strong armies in the world want to be seen as weak and vulnerable and not accept receiving backlash for their actions? 

There is no neutrality when such an atrocity is occurring. We cannot just stand and watch and be on the wrong side of history again, just like when the world let the Holocaust happen. Too many people are unwilling to confront the facts and prefer to "be neutral" out of ignorance or passivity. Too many would rather close their eyes and just not think about it. 

I get it; sometimes it feels like so much is happening in the world, and one cannot be educated on everything. Specifically, the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa can seem much more complex, causing people to avoid educating themselves on these conflicts. We may ask why were a majority of Europe and the West able to unite with Ukraine when Russia invaded? Is it because Ukraine is part of Europe, or due to lingering animosity towards Russia? Perhaps it's easier for Western nations to empathize with Ukrainians, who may share similar cultural and physical features, or there's a fear that a Russian victory could threaten the rest of Europe. The principle of proximity, of course, plays a role, but historical figures such as Olof Palme could clearly sympathize with distant causes, such as Palestine. How come people are so apprehensive today? 

I myself am a hypocrite like every other human being; it took me time to become active in world affairs and conflicts. A post from my neighbor, who is active in the pro- Palestine movement, woke me up: "Get a grip, do you think that a post on social media is enough as a form of activism? 'Go out to a demonstration, do something!' She was absolutely right, I thought. I had posted things on my social media but had not done anything substantial, while she and several friends did much more. I felt guilt; was I a bad person, did I not do enough? The fear of publicly taking a stance on a controversial issue is understandable; will I lose followers, or worse, friends or acquaintances because we disagree on politics? But I overcame these fears, as my little discomfort is not a priority when it comes to such an important matter. I cannot be silent when a genocide is happening out of fear of what someone thinks or does not agree with me on. 

I must act, and I want to encourage those of you reading this to do so too. If you see yourself as neutral, do the research, seek the facts, get involved however you can. The Palestinian children ask and wonder if the world has forgotten them, but we must not forget them, all those who have not yet had the chance to grow up. Just in the beginning of March they protested while holding a starved to death child, one of them, is that how far children have to go in order for the world to finally listen? 

We must fight until Palestine is free, so that these children can grow up to see the world they deserve.