The BBC has taken great care to dehumanise a Palestinian writer who was murdered by Israel by calling him “controversial”. The BBC takes its obligation to report in a neutral manner (that doesn’t upset the Israeli government or its supporters in the British government) very seriously.
If they ever failed to do this, the licence fee would be scrapped quicker than you can say ceasefire. This is why the BBC spent half the article attacking the character of Refaat Alareer, rather than the people who murdered him. In fact, they didn’t even say who murdered Refaat, which is rather lazy journalism when you think about it, so let me set the record straight…
Renowned poet, Refaat Alareer, who was known as “the voice of Gaza” and was beloved by his students, was killed by Israel in a surgical airstrike that targeted the apartment where he was staying. The airstrike killed Refaat, his brother, his sister and four of her children, but left the apartment building intact. Israel says this proves it always minimises civilian casualties, apart from all the times it doesn’t bother to.
In the spirit of minimising civilians, Israel destroyed the university at which Refaat taught, claiming it was the Hamas command centre that was also under Al-Shifa hospital. They destroyed every other university in Gaza just to be safe and explained they consider these actions “proportionate”. However, others have suggested that killing four children to get revenge on their uncle for getting likes on Twitter might be a war crime. Perhaps we need a Question Time debate to figure this one out.
BBC guidelines currently state that wanting children to stay alive is needlessly divisive, hence, the emphasis of their article. An Israeli spokesman explained it was wrong that a man who had only known brutal occupation for 44 years of his life might side with his people in this conflict. Others have an alternative view, but we’re going to ignore them.
Refaat was controversial because he said insensitive things like “Please don’t kill us” and there is concern at the BBC that this was racist. Refaat was even guilty of suggesting Palestinians are human beings who deserve to be free of an illegal blockade so they can live prosperous and fulfilling lives on their native soil without the constant worry of being killed. An investigation is underway to ascertain how such a man was ever allowed to appear on the BBC.
One of Refaat’s biggest crimes was responding to a propaganda story about an Israeli baby being cooked alive in an oven. Rather than pretend the fake story was real, Refaat showed it the contempt it deserved and this was unforgivable.
Everyone knows you’re not allowed to mock Netanyahu’s ridiculous propaganda stories. You’re supposed to pretend they don’t insult our intelligence. No wonder social media influencers decided to put a target on Refaat’s head. They must be so proud of themselves.
The biggest crime that Refaat committed was to show the world the humanity of the Palestinian people through the beauty of words. Or as Refaat put it, “a way to break free from Gaza's prolonged siege, a teleportation device that defied Israel's fences and the intellectual, academic, and cultural blockade of Gaza”.
Inexplicably, the UN doesn’t consider Palestinian poetry to be a war crime, but Netanyahu can’t destroy a city block these days without people calling the International Criminal Court. Thankfully, the Israeli PM has responded in a sane and rational manner by accusing the UN of anti-Semitism for suggesting international law should apply to Israel.
There has been a longstanding agreement that Israel is above international law and the only possible reason that legal experts across the globe want to change that is because they hate Jews. This is much more rational than suggesting they are upset that children are waking up to find they have no parents.
Refaat was often accused of being an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist because he predicted that Israel would kill him, including in a recent poem:
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale.
The fact that Refaat predicted Israel would kill him, and then Israel killed him, shows that the poetry is the problem here. If we allow Palestinians to make poetry, next thing we know they will be making music and art and baring the souls we pretend they don’t have.
I remember the time Palestinian children made some art and it was removed from display in a British hospital because apartheid supporters felt “vulnerable, harassed and victimised” by painted paper plates. Obviously, their vulnerability and victimisation was much more pronounced than that of Palestinian children hoping bombs don’t land on them.
If we allow Palestinian children to make art, who knows what they might grow up to be? Artists? The last thing the world needs is Palestinian artists because that would force people to see them as human beings. The much more rational approach is to ensure Palestinians are allowed no form of artistic expression. This is bound to ensure they have a healthy relationship with their neighbours and turn away from Hamas.
Sensibly, Israel has confirmed it is targeting only Hamas which is why it’s targeting journalists, doctors, writers, artists, academics, and teenage boys. If you’re one of the best and brightest in Gaza or look like you might throw a stone, they will have no choice but to consider you Hamas. This is the law x
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Sadly you have nailed it... heartbreaking and maddening this insanity! And my d@mned government is supporting this 😡
I think we should all buy a piece of cloth and some strings, and make a kite, and fly it in honor and memory of Refaat Alareer, so children can see that even those who perpetrate evil cannot murder the soul of a poet.