Israeli Writer Exposes Double Standards in Coverage: Blood Amplified in Bondi and Erased in Gaza

SadaNews - An Israeli writer positions the Bondi massacre in Sydney in direct contrast with the daily tragedy in Gaza, revealing the workings of media and politics when the identities of the victims diverge.

Gideon Levy compares the two events in his article in Haaretz to highlight how the world's attention suddenly shifts from daily tragedies in the sector to a single incident when the victims are Jewish.

He explains that while gunfire erupted on Bondi Beach during a Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, leaving 15 dead in a shocking attack that shook Australia and the world, another image unfolded in the background without cameras: that of a Palestinian mother in Khan Younis trying to sweep away the rainwater that flooded her tent, screaming as her children shivered from the cold in their tattered clothes, but no one listens to her as the world has turned its gaze away to Sydney, according to Levy.

While the massacre there "deserves condemnation," the author notes, the condemnation has turned into a tool of hypocrisy and double standards used to erase the continuously flowing Palestinian blood. The global shock was immediate in Sydney, but completely absent from Gaza, where death has become a routine news item.

The article criticizes the Israeli government's political and propaganda investment in the attack, from accusing foreign leaders to waving the specter of the Mossad, culminating in the use of "anti-Semitism" rhetoric to unite Jews and Israelis in a "single basket of persecution."

The article adds a revealing touch when it pauses at the “hero” who saved Jews during the attack, only to clarify that he is a Syrian Arab, which momentarily disrupted the prevailing narrative of “the innate violence of Muslims.” Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to speak about the "heroism of Jews" until embarrassing information about Ahmad Al-Ahmad’s identity surfaced.

Levy notes that discussions quickly reverted to allegations of anti-Semitism, even though the attackers belong to ISIS, Iran’s arch enemy, which even disrupted the narrative of blaming Tehran. Here, the writer delivers his most bitter line: "What a shame if the assailants were Palestinians… the propaganda would have been easier and the gains greater."

There were two killers on Bondi Beach, the writer states, while in Gaza, an entire country and army stand behind the massacres, where at least 36 people, including 18 children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Beit Hanoun last May, which was merely one massacre among many similar atrocities in the sector.

While Palestinians stare from their collapsed tents at a world preoccupied with a distant shock, Levy asserts in his final paragraph that what happened epitomizes the most horrific images of double standards: Blood counted as a universal tragedy, and blood left to dry in silence.

Source: Haaretz