To be male and in Gaza
Humiliating civilians arises from hate, not anger
While news and footage of the battering and torturing of prisoners of war (POWs) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), abhorrent and brutal as they are, are nothing new, the occupying army always finds new lows to sink to.
Dozens of Palestinians have been pictured stripped to their underwear, bound, and lined up on their knees after reportedly being captured by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, according to the Daily Mail.
The men are believed to have surrendered in the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas around northern Gaza, with Israeli outlet Walla saying they were stripped “to rule out the possibility that they were carrying weapons”. Dozens of captives are reported to have been paraded through Palestine Square in Gaza City, with shoes and sandals strewn across the street in one image.
When asked about the images, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari seemed to confirm that the men had been taken prisoner but did not clarify whether those pictured were members of Hamas or civilians.
The last point seems to be the worst. It’s not even clear to the IDF itself whether those Palestinians were simple, hardworking men. Nevertheless, they were paraded around their hometown in front of the eyes of their neighbors and the world in the most humiliating way, with all their discerning features visible.
It’s probably beating a dead horse to mention that even if these men were all Hamas members, this is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, which both Israel and Hamas ratified as ruling political bodies. According to Article 3 of the universally accepted convention, “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment” shall “remain prohibited”. But if there was an ear that listened to Israeli transgressions of international law, it must have been convinced by now.
Legalities aside, this cries hatred. It is hatred toward each and every Palestinian. It is a generational, systematic, and much deeper-seated hatred that can’t conceivably be traced back to the October 7 attack alone.
Since October 7, Hamas fighters have killed 1,200 people in Israel. This still pales in comparison to the over 17,000 individuals that were killed indiscriminately by the IDF in response, but still, Hamas must have naturally stirred anger within many Israelis, IDF soldiers included.
We’ll tell you why this is hatred and not anger. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle provided timeless, comprehensive definitions for many emotions. In his seminal book, Rhetoric, he distinguishes hatred sharply from anger.
“Anger derives from what happens to oneself, whereas enmity arises also without [the offense] being directed at oneself. For if we believe that someone is a certain kind of person, we hate him. Also, anger is always about individuals… whereas hatred (misos) is also felt toward types: for everyone hates a thief and an informer.”
If we contend that once again, Aristotle’s observations have hit the mark, we can see why Palestinian civilians may have well been given the same inhumane treatment as members of anti-Israeli resistance movements. These men fit the criteria of being “a certain kind of person,” that is, a brown-skinned, able-bodied Palestinian man in Gaza. Even the IDF admits that it has not yet conducted investigations to prove the guilt of those men. So, they have not committed any “offense” directed at anyone unless proven otherwise and, as such, should not be subject to any anger.
It is as heartbreaking to write this as I imagine it is to read it. The reason is simple: what if we were born in Gaza? We, or our loved ones, could have well matched that insanely general criteria. I assume this is a harder pill for some to swallow, but it’s difficult to find fault with this argument.
To be sure, Aristotle does not forget to say that there is hatred toward individuals who have slighted us as well. But, even so, who, in their right mind, goes willy-nilly to a neighborhood and arrests and humiliates everyone in sight just because they were slighted by some unidentified men?
I challenge those soldiers to tell us what the man in the front row did, what the man beside him did, and what any of the other ones did to deserve this. And don’t give us the “They have at least supported Hamas” argument. Every citizen of every country supports their ruling bodies by paying taxes and working in the public or private sectors. You have to do better than that argument, for your own sake, when you inevitably stand in front of a court, whether it be in this life or the other.