Drowning by Numbers
I never had any aspirations when it comes to mathematics. Moreover, in this ongoing war, different reports mention different numbers of dead and injured in Gaza at the same time. Even if some would argue that, these numbers are psychological warfare disinformation, these are formal Israeli reports that acknowledge that the large majority of the casualties are civilians [H].
Apparently, the IDF is not as selective in its attacks as they’d like to claim. But, on the other hand, the Hamas is also cynically using the civilian population and infrastructures in Gaza for its fighting needs and therefore endangering innocent lives. This way or another, I’d never want to be in the shoes of Dr. Hassanein.
But I tend to refrain from all these counts. This is also the reason I hate this kind of cold-blooded comparisons between the two sides. Practically speaking, numbers of (dead) people is something difficult to truly conceive, and therefore leads to indifference and the wrongdoing of comparing body-counts. In my view, the death of one person is a lot more than any numeric equivalence, no matter what his/hers religion, nationality, age, gender, profession – you name it – is.
Yeah, I’m completely aware for those reactions persistently arguing, that’s wartime and I’m naïve. However, there’s really nothing more hypocrite than trying to broadcast the image of being the most humane and moral army, while practically approving the fact that more and more civilians are dead, and more and more homes are demolished. And, back to the death toll, how apathetic can one be when it really comes to a person’s face, story, life? In contrast to the numbers, ARTE was trying to make people feel and think in their Gaza-Sderot project, broadcasted only a few days prior to the beginning of this war.
?
This brings me back to my criticism toward the Israeli TV coverage of the war. Frankly, more and more such criticism now appears on the Israeli media – mostly crticial with the coverage, and still less with the offensive itself. It might be just me being sensitive to this issue, as I recently wrote to a Jordanian colleague of mine. But it could also be the fact that some journalists feel that during wartime they are committed to delivering news to the public 24/7, but they are also fed up with recycling the same narrowed-perspective reports over and over again – especially since the army provides very little information, and practically prohibits publication of most of additional reports.
And so, this gradually growing tension also meets the fact that the people back home are also slowly getting tired with hearing so many sophisticated commentaries and creative opinions instead of plain facts and real news. And that, apparently, turns out to be another fertile ground for some (healthy?) criticism. However, it is also these times of such biased journalism when a TV piece like the one by The Media Line’s David Harris that actually excels in bringing a balanced news item (thanks for the link goes to Lisa Goldman’s blog).
So now, when combining the number of the dead on the Palestinian and the Israeli side (but without forgeting all the people who will be baring the horrific, physical and mental, scurs of this war for the rest of their lives), it’s tragically no longer a matter of time, but instead a matter of who – who is the 1000th person killed. Or, in this war: who are all these 1000th person? Will one of them be the last one?
