Most of us woke up today to the sad news of a Kerala woman getting killed in the rocket attack of Hamas in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. That would have been a piece of news we usually ignore, had it didn’t have the Kerala / India connection. The dead woman, identified as Soumya Santhosh from the Idukki district of Kerala has a 9-year-old son. But when we look at it thoroughly, there is no denying that we too have a role in enabling this tragic killing.
To understand this, we may have to change the way we paint Palestinians in our minds. We picture them as poor people who cannot even afford food or healthcare, struggling for their existence. But the fact is, the top leadership of Hamas is filthy rich. Most of them were born in refugee camps. And there are no big fortune 5 companies in Palestine for these guys to be super-rich overnight. It doesn’t have many natural resources either. Much of Palestine’s economy depends on agriculture, and a large number of its population is unemployed. Then how does that happen? Every time there is a #SaveGaza / #SavePalestine campaign, the world donates generously. And there is no better time than Ramadan month to get maximum impact. To make some quick money, all the Hamas top leadership has to do is fire a few rockets to the civilian areas of Israel, wait for Israel to strike back, sit back and relax while you undertake the marketing campaign on social media and fill his coffers. This happens like a ritual every year. Knowingly or unknowingly, we also become a part of it.
When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us
Golda Meir, The fourth Prime Minister of Israel
It’s not about just one Soumya Santhosh. Every year, when the Israel Palestine clashes break out, newspapers are full of news about dead Palestinian children. Have you ever thought about how there are so many civilian casualties on the Palestinian side? Hamas is well known for using children and women as human shields. That serves two purposes. First, it will deter IDF attacks as they wouldn’t want to kill children. Second, if they die somehow, it will create a sympathy wave and fetch more money for the Hamas leadership.
Photo by Eyasu Etsub on Unsplash
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