Opinion piece by Aaron Palmer
A protester carries a sign during a demonstration by Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign protesters against the newly opened Route 4370, in the West Bank, on Jan. 23, 2019. ABBAS MOMANI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES – from foreign policy’s article on Israel and apartheid.
Last week the independent rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), released a damning report on treatment of Palestinians within Israel and occupied areas of Palestine in which they stated that ‘Israel has crossed the threshold’ and is committing ‘apartheid’. HRW made posts on their Instagram since then elaborating on the claims that they made, with examples of differences between what an Israeli citizen could do that a Palestinian could not do under the law. With such outstanding claims made the report obviously hit the news on the BBC, Guardian, Independent and several others. However, the report was never once on the front page on any of the news outlets with the BBC, for example, displaying news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and football on the front page rather than the HRW report that found Israel guilty of Apartheid. This shows a lack of care for such matters by the Media due to a lack of reporting over the issue at hand and even where there was reporting it was neglected and shunted towards the shadows rather than being displayed on the front page.
Social media has similarly acted apathetically towards this issue with, from what I’ve seen, not a single ‘activist’ commenting on the situation or sharing it to raise awareness. Instead, people are fawning over Billie Eilish and her vouge cover and Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s pregnancy which the media was likewise going crazy for only 2 days after the report was released. Social media treated the report as if it was never released with almost zero mention of the report at all, not even a discussion appeared on my feed, unless it was from the HRWs Instagram account.
The possibility of apartheid and persecution being carried out against Palestinians in Israel and occupied zones is something that rather than being dismissed, like during the crimes comitted during Nazi Germany. The US has but rather further discussed and investigated into rather than being ignored and brushed over by the media. In recent days however footage of what has been happening in Israel has started to hit social media, causing talk of Israel to be shared yet still none to very little talk about the possibility of the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution being discussed. Such attitudes towards this instance could lead to authoritarian countries across the world believing that such actions are ok as neither the media or governments of the ‘free world’ will condemn them for their crimes but rather shrug them off or completely ignore them.
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