An article in the Irish Independent promotes a photo exhibition by Riverdance founder John McColgan, called “This is Palestine.” The photos were taken in Gaza and the West Bank, yet the article claims the photographer traveled to the region to “document the lives of Israelis and Palestinians affected by the ongoing conflict.”
In fact, judging by what the article says, the only Israelis McColgan met with were activists who campaign against the “occupation.” They are hardly going to give him a balanced view of what it’s like for Israelis living under the daily threat of Palestinian terror attacks.
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In the world of the Irish Independent and McColgan’s exhibition, every Palestinian is a victim of Israeli oppression. There are no Palestinians who harm other Palestinians, and there are no Palestinians who harm Israelis. It is the usual, one-sided, simplistic narrative that the media generally favor, where Israelis = oppressors and Palestinians = victims.
These are some of the Palestinians he photographed – along with some facts that he and the Irish Independent left out that may have been inconvenient to the narrative, but would have added some much needed context:
- West Bank Palestinians who live under the threat of house demolition
The Kaabnehs, whom he photographed, are from a Bedouin tribe, one of many that live in unrecognized villages in Area C, which is under Israel’s full control. Yet the EU has been disregarding and interfering in Israeli sovereignty by building illegal Palestinian settlements on that land without authorization, including for the Kaabneh clan. Israel is a democracy with laws and a High Court, and generally demolishes houses that are ruled as illegal, whether they are Palestinian houses, or illegal structures and outposts built by Israeli settlers.
On the subject of house demolitions, McColgan could have also visited the families of Palestinian terrorists whose houses are due to be demolished as a deterrent, like that of the terrorist who just last week shot and murdered two Israelis in Jerusalem. McColgan could have seen Palestinians celebrate the death and “martyrdom” of their family member, praise the murder of innocent Jews, decorate the house as a shrine to terrorism, and use it as a gathering point for their celebrations.
2. Palestinians “affected by the Separation Wall that has been illegally constructed on Palestinian land.”
Of course by “separation wall”, the Irish Independent is referring to the security barrier that Israel built to stop the infiltration of Palestinian suicide bombers. McColgan could have met with some would-be Palestinian terrorists and asked them how the barrier affected their plans to kill Jews. Or he could have met with Israelis who lost family members in suicide bombings. Or he could have met Israeli soldiers who have thwarted countless attacks by Palestinians. But no. That would just complicate the world in McColgan’s mind, where the only concern is how the barrier is an inconvenience for Palestinians and encroaches on “their land.”
3. Palestinians in Gaza who “lost family members during the 2014 Israeli invasion of the Strip.”
Invasion? Hamas fire thousands of rockets into Israel, terrorizing residents of Israel’s South, and built a network of tunnels with the intention of infiltrating into Israel to carry out attacks; Israel decides to act in self-defense to stop these threats and it’s called an invasion? Here are some other Palestinians in Gaza McColgan could have met with, if he really wanted to give an impression of the diversity that would depict “This is Palestine.” Hamas members. Members of other extremist groups that fire rockets into Israel. Palestinians who’ve been employed to build tunnels. Palestinians who’ve had tunnels built under their homes but can’t stop Hamas from doing it even though it endangers them. Palestinians who’ve had rockets and weapons stored in their homes, hospitals, schools. Palestinians who’ve been oppressed by Hamas but can’t speak out because they’d probably be killed for it. LGBT Palestinians in Gaza, if they aren’t all in hiding. Palestinians whose homes haven’t been rebuilt since the war because Hamas steals concrete and aid money to use for terrorism purposes instead. Palestinians who’ve been treated in Israeli hospitals.
4. A fisherman in Gaza, who, “like many others,” had his equipment “confiscated by the Israeli army.”
Now why would Israel be suspicious of innocent fishermen working off the coast of Gaza? It’s possible it may have something to do with the fact that Hamas have used Palestinian fishermen and their boats to smuggle weapons into the strip, and no doubt continue to try to do so.
If the aim of “This is Palestine” was to give an insight into the different facets of the lives of Palestinians, then it seems that McColgan failed miserably. Going by the article’s own description of it, the exhibition fails to look into Palestinian life with any real depth other to paint things as black and white. The Irish Independent, reporting on the exhibition, should have then filled in the missing context, instead of reinforcing its overtly biased narrative that demonizes Israelis while depicting all Palestinians as their innocent victims.
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