Three years after the October 7th attacks, Gaza has not only suffered the devastating human cost of Israel’s genocide, but has also exposed the failures of politicians, the media, Muslim leaders — and ourselves, writes Maria Akbar.
Today, Gaza is utterly devastated on a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend. Those who survived the genocide are now trying to survive the humanitarian crisis left behind: malnutrition, disease, life-changing injuries, displacement, grief and trauma.
Orphans, widows and families are having to rebuild their lives from the ground up, literally, with barely any resources or support.
Observing their difficulties is intolerable, and the truth is that many of us have switched off. We are so privileged here in the West that when the news becomes too unbearable, we simply stop looking.
Gaza has exposed the world around it. It has exposed the limits of an international order that constantly speaks about human rights and international law. It has exposed double standards and failures of Muslim leadership. But it has also exposed something about us: how easily we become desensitised to suffering and how powerful ordinary people can be when they refuse to accept injustice as normal.
We have become desensitised
One of the most disturbing things these last three years have shown me is just how desensitised we have become to Palestinian suffering.
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We have watched parents digging through rubble looking for their children. We have seen people collecting the remains of their loved ones into plastic bags. We have watched injured and orphaned children become a normal part of our social media feeds.
When you have witnessed horror on that scale repeatedly, the next horror does not feel as shocking. A single shooting does not seem so bad after you have seen an entire family blown up.
This desensitisation has served to dehumanise Palestinian life. We have become accustomed to their pain and suffering. However, if it were inflicted upon any other people, it would provoke immediate outrage and condemnation.
The masks that slipped
Secondly, the genocide in Gaza caused so many masks to slip. In particular, there were Muslim MPs who abstained on ceasefire votes and who remained part of political parties despite their complicity in supplying arms to Israel to kill our brethren in Gaza.
Then there were those who initially defended Israel’s decision to cut off electricity, water and essential supplies to Gaza, only to change their language later when they realised the implications of their statements for their political careers. The utter hypocrisy.
The media was another awakening, including programmes such as Piers Morgan Uncensored. There were countless interviews where Muslims were expected to condemn, explain, justify and prove their moral worth before they could even speak about what was happening to Palestinians. The suffering of Gaza seemed secondary to interrogating the person trying to talk about it.
Meanwhile, voices defending Israel’s actions were often given huge amounts of space to explain themselves and deflect all blame onto the Palestinians. The stark contrast with how Muslim voices were treated was like night and day.
Furthermore, the narrative in the media became almost surreal. We were told that the Palestine demonstrations were “hate marches”, as though hundreds of thousands of people from different ethnicities, religions and backgrounds had gathered because they were motivated by hatred rather than horror at what they were witnessing in Gaza.
Failure of Muslim leaders
Perhaps one of the most painful lessons has been the failure of the leaders of Muslim nations. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, possessing wealth, diplomatic influence and military and political power, refused to transform their words of condemnation into any sort of meaningful action.
We heard statement after statement and carefully constructed language, and watched emergency meetings and summits. Yet Palestinians continued to be killed, displaced and starved.
They recently demonstrated that they can coordinate quickly when their own interests or security are threatened with the Makkah pact. So if unity is possible when these Muslim governments perceive an immediate threat to themselves, why did they do nothing as Palestinians were being slaughtered in Gaza?
Why did their personal political motives take priority over standing with the oppressed? Is it fear of confronting Israel and its Western allies? Or have Palestinian lives just become expendable?
Courage of ordinary people
But ordinary people did not remain silent. Across the world, we protested, donated, organised, campaigned, boycotted and tried desperately to keep Gaza in the public consciousness.
Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of no faith stood together and said that Palestinian lives mattered. Students challenged their universities; workers challenged their institutions. In Gaza, doctors and aid workers continued serving in unimaginable conditions, and journalists continued documenting what was happening despite the risks.
Gaza reminded us that ordinary people still have a conscience. There is still compassion, courage and a willingness to stand with the oppressed. It reminded us that governments and media institutions do not have a monopoly on truth, and that people are capable of questioning the narratives they are given. Even when institutions fail, people do not always fail with them.
Yet three years later, Palestinians are still living with the consequences. The very least the rest of us can do is refuse to become comfortable with their suffering and refuse to allow the solidarity that Gaza awakened in so many people to disappear.
اللهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ، اللهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلامَ وَالمُسْلِمِينَ، وَأَذِلَّ الشِّرْكَ وَالمُشْرِكِينَ وَدَمِّرْ أَعْدآءَ الدِّينِ وَاحْمِ حَوْزَةَ الإسْلامِ يَا رَبَّ العَالَمِين
“O Allah! Raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims. O Allah! Raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims, and degrade the standing of Kufr and the Kaafireen, and Shirk and the Mushrikeen. Destroy the enemies of the Deen, and protect the lands of Islam, O Lord of the Worlds.”
