#DoYouCare

The below text is a translation of a public post on Facebook by the Dutch film director Abdelkarim El-Fassi.

It’s an introduction to the short yet heartbreaking video entitled: Speaking for the Children of Gaza, posted below.

My personal intention is not to blame the people of Israel nor any one else in particular for the dramas unfolding.

I am simply not smart enough to understand how this conflict has been allowed to exist for so long. I just don’t get how people can do such things to each other, to their neighbours, to other people’s children. I cannot comprehend that the parties responsible for this ongoing war do not see that behind their inflated and bloated egos there is so much suffering and pain.

That’s why I share. Hoping that one day, history will explain how this was all possible and teach us that it should never happen again.

Do you care? Will you share?

“Watch the below video—we worked hard on it last week—and let it sink in. We chose not to show bloody images. No images of collapsed buildings. No images of devastation. No images of destruction. No images of loss.

But images of life. That is the essence of the story. The right to live. The right to live like our children can live.

Ask yourself just one question. What can I do to stop this insanity. Believe me, you can. Some will do extensive research, some will write an open letter and others discuss it in the office hallways. Change will come in time, but not if you look away.

Nearly the whole of Asia, South-America and Africa have recognised Palestine and have requested an investigation into the war crimes committed by Israel. Only Europe, Australia and the US refuse to cooperate. The region we live in, the West, according to many the most free territories of the world, refuses to recognise other people’s human urge for freedom.

I will not concede.

Let’s go. Share this video as much as you can. Tell your domestic and foreign editorial news teams. Engage people with a large network. Speak to your members of parliament. For the sake of hundreds of Palestinian children that are dying—not only because of rockets, but mainly because of our indifference and apathy.”

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photos: YouTube screenshot