Fuck, this killed me when I read it earlier. I was just bawling, because it feels like nothing that I, or others like me, do to try to resist this inhumanity actually makes a difference, and all we can do is to bear witness.
It hurts to see such cruelty. But I’d rather witness it than turn my attention away. This is a genocide, and I will never forgive those in my own country who are actively enabling, and in some cases, endorsing this brutality.
I feel your frustration, but bearing witness is not useless. It just feels so lacking because a lot more is needed. But bearing witness is really the first part of Israel’s reckoning.
I’ve been following the conflict since I remember existing. The impunity was always a source of frustration, but it was also how most people had no clue what was happening. Talking about the conflict you’d often get well-meant replies saying “oh, that war has been going for thousands of years” and “it’s a religious conflict”. People had no clue about the Nabka, the settler violence or the whole way Israel was created.
The October 7th attack changed all that. While the initial reaction was of outrage against the Palestinians and solidarity towards Israel, as soon as the IDF’s methods became mainstream knowledge everything changed. The public relations operation Israel had which was successful so far, completely collapsed. Now the whole world is bearing witness to what Israel is. The mask of being a beacon of democracy in the region, fighting against Islamic fundamentalists has completely fell appart. Now the whole world can finally see them for what they are and there’s no going back.
Notice how only extremists and anti-islamic sentiment now defend Israel. Normal people just avoid the subject or are outright horrified. But they can’t do anything? Not for now, but the isolation towards Israel is becoming a lot real. And they are getting more desperate and erratic. Eventually they’ll make an error that will bite them in the ass: commit such an atrocity that even the US can’t justify, attack Turkey, etc.
The real question is how the Palestinians come out of this. Because, for a while now, it’s clear that Israel is doomed. They have destroyed themselves when they went full-genocide. You can’t ungenocide. The label is stuck, the isolation is real and nobody, besides the US, would lift a finger to help them if they were suddenly attacked by their neighbors or Turkey. But the US is not exactly stable right now, is it? When shit hits the fan in the US, Israel is on their own and they are doomed.
So, we have to do this. Keeping talking about it. Let everyone know and don’t let anyone forget. And when the IDF goes too far don’t allow anyone that is defending genocide to pretend they were always on the good side. Let the genocide enablers be shamed and ostracized for being the psychopaths they are.
Yeah, I do agree that witnessing it is important. I guess what I am struggling with is a sense of guilt over how much grief seeing this causes me — like, I’m not one of the people being subject to this ruthless oppression.
But I suppose that I should probably follow my own good advice that I gave to a friend recently in a different area. A mutual friend of ours had been going through a rough time, and my friend was one of the primary people supporting them. It was difficult for them, because although they were able to help a little, the problem our mutual friend was faced with was a bunch of big, concrete systemic problems that no-one could do much about besides lament the unfairness and offer emotional solidarity.
When I was checking in with the friend who had been doing the supporting, with the comment that “it’s never easy to see someone you care about suffering”, she handwaved away her own feelings and exhaustion at first. I reminded her that even if she wasn’t the “primary victim” of the injustices our friend was facing, she was still someone harmed by it all, and that her own feelings were valid — that her upset at bearing witness to injustice was not taking away from our friend, but rather a distinct facet of the problem that deserved space to process.
Of course, it’s necessary to do that processing in an appropriate context; it wouldn’t have been appropriate to vent to our mutual friend about how difficult she’d been finding it. Instead, one should carve out dedicated space for emotional processing whenever one has bore witness to injustices.
I think it was very good advice in this small, interpersonal context, and maybe I should try applying it in this context — because feeling guilty about how upset this makes me feel doesn’t help anyone
Fuck, this killed me when I read it earlier. I was just bawling, because it feels like nothing that I, or others like me, do to try to resist this inhumanity actually makes a difference, and all we can do is to bear witness.
It hurts to see such cruelty. But I’d rather witness it than turn my attention away. This is a genocide, and I will never forgive those in my own country who are actively enabling, and in some cases, endorsing this brutality.
I feel your frustration, but bearing witness is not useless. It just feels so lacking because a lot more is needed. But bearing witness is really the first part of Israel’s reckoning.
I’ve been following the conflict since I remember existing. The impunity was always a source of frustration, but it was also how most people had no clue what was happening. Talking about the conflict you’d often get well-meant replies saying “oh, that war has been going for thousands of years” and “it’s a religious conflict”. People had no clue about the Nabka, the settler violence or the whole way Israel was created.
The October 7th attack changed all that. While the initial reaction was of outrage against the Palestinians and solidarity towards Israel, as soon as the IDF’s methods became mainstream knowledge everything changed. The public relations operation Israel had which was successful so far, completely collapsed. Now the whole world is bearing witness to what Israel is. The mask of being a beacon of democracy in the region, fighting against Islamic fundamentalists has completely fell appart. Now the whole world can finally see them for what they are and there’s no going back.
Notice how only extremists and anti-islamic sentiment now defend Israel. Normal people just avoid the subject or are outright horrified. But they can’t do anything? Not for now, but the isolation towards Israel is becoming a lot real. And they are getting more desperate and erratic. Eventually they’ll make an error that will bite them in the ass: commit such an atrocity that even the US can’t justify, attack Turkey, etc.
The real question is how the Palestinians come out of this. Because, for a while now, it’s clear that Israel is doomed. They have destroyed themselves when they went full-genocide. You can’t ungenocide. The label is stuck, the isolation is real and nobody, besides the US, would lift a finger to help them if they were suddenly attacked by their neighbors or Turkey. But the US is not exactly stable right now, is it? When shit hits the fan in the US, Israel is on their own and they are doomed.
So, we have to do this. Keeping talking about it. Let everyone know and don’t let anyone forget. And when the IDF goes too far don’t allow anyone that is defending genocide to pretend they were always on the good side. Let the genocide enablers be shamed and ostracized for being the psychopaths they are.
Bear witness. Information is everything.
Yeah, I do agree that witnessing it is important. I guess what I am struggling with is a sense of guilt over how much grief seeing this causes me — like, I’m not one of the people being subject to this ruthless oppression.
But I suppose that I should probably follow my own good advice that I gave to a friend recently in a different area. A mutual friend of ours had been going through a rough time, and my friend was one of the primary people supporting them. It was difficult for them, because although they were able to help a little, the problem our mutual friend was faced with was a bunch of big, concrete systemic problems that no-one could do much about besides lament the unfairness and offer emotional solidarity.
When I was checking in with the friend who had been doing the supporting, with the comment that “it’s never easy to see someone you care about suffering”, she handwaved away her own feelings and exhaustion at first. I reminded her that even if she wasn’t the “primary victim” of the injustices our friend was facing, she was still someone harmed by it all, and that her own feelings were valid — that her upset at bearing witness to injustice was not taking away from our friend, but rather a distinct facet of the problem that deserved space to process.
Of course, it’s necessary to do that processing in an appropriate context; it wouldn’t have been appropriate to vent to our mutual friend about how difficult she’d been finding it. Instead, one should carve out dedicated space for emotional processing whenever one has bore witness to injustices.
I think it was very good advice in this small, interpersonal context, and maybe I should try applying it in this context — because feeling guilty about how upset this makes me feel doesn’t help anyone