Democrat special: Malachi O’Doherty reports from GAZA

Last week, veteran news anchor Keren Marciano awoke from a long slumber and, on Channel 12 television’s prime-time evening broadcast, said “there’s currently a very difficult humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Many international organizations say there is genuine hunger there. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people are dying in Gaza every week – people who are killed despite being innocent.

“Yesterday, we apparently accidently killed nine children in a single home,” she continued (this incident is still under investigation). “The humanitarian cost is very high … We are stripping ourselves of our moral values time and again – whether it’s concern for the hostages, or how the situation in Gaza looks.”

Those were powerful and important statements. It’s just unfortunate that they were said so belatedly. If Marciano, one of the media’s most senior and most admired female journalists, had said what she did six months ago, perhaps we wouldn’t have reached this point – thousands of dead, including children, women and the elderly, and mass starvation.

And there’s no doubt in my mind that she knew about this but, like many in the Israeli media, kept silent. She thereby gave her consent to the killing of Gaza’s residents. Like most people in the mainstream media, Marciano collaborated through self-censorship and didn’t report on the killing Israel has been perpetrating in Gaza for a year and a half now.

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But now that this tower of death has collapsed and the picture has become clear for all to see, she has suddenly woken up. It’s often said, “better late than never.” But sometimes, late is too late. In this case, it’s after too many innocent people have been killed. Consequently, her awakening isn’t worth much.

Nevertheless, we can use Marciano’s remarks to understand something else that Israelis are beginning to grasp – that this time, things won’t end the way they always have before. This time, the ramifications of the war won’t remain obscured in the minds of people overseas. They won’t be erased and they won’t be forgotten, despite the open letter signed recently by thousands of Israeli cultural figures, academics and peace activists calling for an end to the war in Gaza under the headline “Netanyahu is not Israel – his government does not represent us!”

Those signatories also suddenly remembered to speak out against the killing, which has become too much. Their call follows a familiar pattern – belated awakening, a feeble disavowal, guarded language, almost-harsh criticism wrapped in layers of self-regard.

They are so fond of casting the blame on “Israel’s government,” as if anyone elsewhere in the world will buy this trick. Even as they send their children and their spouses and other relatives to fight, they say “it’s Benjamin Netanyahu.” They want to be applauded for their deadly delay and their long overdue recognition that this “is not the same just war that we set out to wage.” This, too, is a way to whitewash all the blood.

If Marciano – and I’m using her here as a symbol for the entire mainstream media – had mustered the courage to speak out in real time, meaning a year ago, that would have been a different story.

If that same cultural elite had issued its open letter back when Israel was bombing thousands of civilians from the air, that would have been a different story. Then, it would have been possible to talk about a collective conscience that tried to rouse itself in time.

But that didn’t happen. And it will be impossible to evade this stain. Everyone who participated in this war, everyone who gave it backing, everyone who enabled it by their silence, will not only bear historical responsibility for the disgrace, but will also bear the real-world consequences.

The boycott, when it comes, won’t distinguish between those who planned, those who perpetrated, those who collaborated and those who kept silent. There’s enough shame for all of them.