The smallest coffins

Edward Said had said that the West inherently sees itself through the binary of the West and the ‘Other’. And nothing spells that out more than when the world stands divided between the West and those they have termed the ‘Orient’ – or the Other. The spillover of the Israeli war on Palestinians was never really going to stay in Palestine; we have already seen European countries arresting protestors merely for being pro-Palestine. In a particularly gruesome hate crime against Palestinians, this past Saturday a Palestinian-American child – a six-year-old boy – was killed and his mother was injured after they were stabbed by their landlord in the state of Illinois. Their crime: being Palestinian (and Muslim). The perpetrator – a 71-year-old man – has been charged with murder and hate crime for allegedly stabbing the six-year-old child named Wadea Al-Fayoume, and his 32-year-old mother. What makes it even more horrific – not that more horror was needed – is the fact that the child was stabbed 26 times.

The reaction from the US leadership was quick, US President Biden posting on X (formerly Twitter) that he and his wife were “sickened” by the attack on the mother and her son and that this "horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are...As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred." There were already fears running across the world that Muslims would face hate crimes and violence given the hysteria whipped up by Western media on Palestine.

Commentators and academics have over the years questioned the West on how it has weaponized racism against the Arab world, in particular against anyone who speaks up for the Palestinians. Already, one Cambridge University professor has been accused of racism for comments about a pro-Palestine demonstration. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this may be the tip of the iceberg with activists facing doxxing and threats just for speaking out against the terror being unleashed on the people of Gaza. In a statement on X (Twitter) after Wadea’s murder, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) has asked that “the Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop. Now.” Gaza is currently under siege and its inhabitants are saying they may just have 24 hours left of water. With nearly 3000 people killed and 10,859 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks, the people of Gaza have nowhere to turn. Children make up at least 750 of the dead. And now it seems not even American citizens are safe, for the mere crime of being of Palestinian origin. The West needs to rethink the way it looks at the world around it. Brown bodies are not fodder for war, or proxy for Great Game strategies. The Palestinians have a right to live – whether in Gaza or Illinois. No tweets or posts can help after a child has been so brutally murdered.