The young man on the right was Sha’ban Al Dalou. He is pictured here with his family and was a 19 year old software engineering student who spoke fluent English. He was trying to raise money to get his family evacuated from Northern Gaza to Egypt. But that never happened.

Israel murdered him along with his family this past weekend in the meager tent he had built for his family next to Al Aqsa hospital with a 2 ton American-made bomb. His last moments were captured of him in the flames on a cot with an IV still in his arm.

I will never forget that video. I will never forget the screams or the wailing. And even though I have seen a lot horror and brutality in my lifetime, I will never be the same after this one year.

Explain to me how this was self-defense. Explain to me how Western politicians can still call this a “humanitarian crisis” and not what it is: genocide. Explain how a year can go by, with thousands upon thousands of civilians dead, including thousands upon thousands of children. So many burned, blown up, shot by snipers in the head, buried under the rubble of their homes. So many starved. Suffocated. Deprived of life saving medical care, medications, anesthesia, polio vaccines. So many bakeries, shelters, universities, schools, hospitals, houses, churches, mosques flattened. Explain to me why I should care about election cycles, when almost all Western politicians either support this, applaud it, make excuses for it, or are silent. Explain why the US and Germany are still providing 99% of the bombs and armaments to Israel and how Canada, the UK, France, Australia and other Western countries provide other arms and support. Explain why most Western media still whitewashes it all, demonizes anyone who protests, and dehumanizes the victims.

If you can explain all of this you will succeed in explaining away whatever shred is left of your humanity.

Rest in peace, Sha’ban. The world failed you, your family and your people.

Kenn Orphan, October 2024