When the supporters of Neyanyahu, Smotrich and G’vir
were asked “are there not innocents in Gaza?”
87% replied “No, there are no innocents!”
But can it really be true
that there are no innocents in Gaza?
Not even the children?
No, they are not innocent.
That is why
like a modern day Herod the Great
or the Pharaohs of Moses’s time
orders are given that
the children must be killed
by bombs, by bullets
used as target practice at aid sites
(as the surgeons report)
and starved
Not even the women?
No, they are not innocent
They give birth
they raise and feed the children.
Without women there could be no life,
The women must die
and they do.
Not even the men?
No, they are not innocent.
All men of “military age” are terrorists
Legitimate targets.
So long as they breath
they are the enemy.
Not even the journalists?
No, they are no innocent.
For by reporting, they expose your actions
and question your motives
and thereby give comfort to your enemies.
The journalists are not innocent.
They are legitimate target
269 times so far.
Not even the aid workers?
No, they are not innocent.
for with no food
there can be no resistance
no life
and they travel with guards
we label as “terrorists”.
No, they are not innocent and
they too must die.
Not even the doctors?
No, they are not innocent.
For they treat the wounded
and are humane.
They will die in their homes and hospitals like Dr Marwan al-Sultan
or be taken hostage
and die in detention like Dr Adnan Al-Bursh
Not even the footballers?
No, they are not innocent.
For they are men of military age
and when they come
half-starved and weak
to seek food for their families
they too must die.
And whilst Suleiman al-Obeid’s passing is acknowledged by FIFA
only brave Mohamed Salah will ask
“can you tell us how he died, where and why?”
Not even the hostages?
No, they are not innocent.
And whilst their return
is raised as the justification for all that is done
but 8 have been returned for all this carnage
whilst many times that number have been killed by their “liberators”
including 4 waving a white flag.
And cabinet rejected Major General Alon’s advice
to continue a peace that had released 140
Smotrich declaring that returning hostages was “not the most important thing”.
And what of the 9,000 in administrative detention?
When will they be released?
Not even the buildings?
No, they are not innocent.
That is why 92% of all houses have been damaged or destroyed
rendered uninhabitable
the bodies of the missing rotting beneath the rubble,
why the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood
home to 120,000 people
has been erased.
Not even the Mosques?
No, they are not innocent.
That is why 79% have been destroyed.
Bombs have fallen too
on Christian churches.
For such actions, “regret” has been expressed
3 Catholics killed
who were, at least, acknowledged by the IDF as “innocent”
whilst those who shelter in mosques are not.
Not even the schools?
No, they are not innocent.
97% of schools have been rendered unusable
though the others lay idle
as to learn requires peace
and a full belly.
Not even the universities?
No, they are not innocent.
They have all been destroyed
razed to the ground
for learning is for the civilized and the innocent
And there are no innocents in Gaza.
Not even the hospitals?
No, they are not innocent.
Hospitals treat “terrorists”
and all who are not innocent are “terrorists”
a label Gazans attracts too conveniently.
That is why 94% of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed
why they have been attacked 1,844 times
laid siege
and subject to forced evacuations
the critically ill and vulnerable dying
their staff abducted and interrogated
placed in detention
some to not return
some to die.
Not even the fishing boats?
No, they are not innocent.
That is why fishing boats are destroyed and fishermen killed
and even when, with 70% of fishing boats destroyed
desperate Rafah fishermen bury the boats that remain,
in the sand,
IDF Bulldozers dig them out and destroy them.
Not even the fields?
No, they are not innocent.
For fields grow food
and since 2007
nothing can enter blockaded Gaza
without permission.
Now food cannot even be grown
with tanks and bombs having destroyed 99% of arable land
and access to the remaining 1% forbidden.
Not even the chickens, the sheep, the cows and the goats?
No, they are no innocent.
And so, 97% have been killed
as though such animals were an existential threat.
Not even the donkeys?
No, they are not innocent.
And they have also been killed
so that, were Mary to now seek
to travel to occupied Bethlehem
heavy with the child Jesus
she could not find a donkey to take her to
the separation wall.
Or perhaps there are innocents in Gaza?
Perhaps there are many.
Perhaps it is, as Italian Minister Guido Crosetto opines
that the Israeli government has lost its sanity and humanity regarding Gaza
and that what is happening is not a military operation
with unintended damage
but deliberate, a denial of law and
the values of our civilisation.
