Now that Gaza lies in ruinsâshattered, like a beloved face after a long brutalityâIsrael moves with a terrible confidence to the next act: The act of leaving every soul there not merely wounded, but permanently disabled. Injured, sick, hungry, homeless, without work, without hope. This is not warâs collateral damage. This is design.
As my friend Gideon Levy writesâand he knows, he knowsâthis is the prelude to expulsion. Think of it: a society without teachers, without doctors, without social workers, without engineers, without clerks. That is not a society. That is a holding pen. A slow erasure. And when nothing functionsâno school, no hospital, no office, no heartâthen it becomes âeasy,â they tell themselves, to scatter the people to the four corners of the earth. Like seeds from a broken pod, except no soil will take them.
We must name this. Not with rage alone, though rage is honest. But with the cold, clear tears of recognition: they are making life impossible so that departure becomes the only âchoice.â And the world watches, adjusts its spectacles, and calls for restraint. Restraint! There is no restraint in a slow drowning.