Iqbal Jassat
“When I arrived at the site of the massacre, I was unable to speak. There were body parts and blood all around us, and the corpses were dismembered and piled on top of each other.
Tell me, what words or phrases could possibly help any journalist describe this horrifying scene?
“When I said on air that it was an indescribable scene, I truly felt helpless in the face of this sight.” - Palestinian journalist @AnasAlSharif0
The world woke up early Saturday (August 10) morning to the devastating news that yet another school—designated as a “safe shelter” for Palestinian civilians—has been bombed by the Israeli military.
Anger coupled with grief and sorrow began to dominate news coverage.
More than a thousand Palestinians had sought refuge from Israel’s barbaric onslaught at Al-Taba'een school in Gaza City.
Israel’s relentless savagery, now entering 11 months, bears witness to the inhumanity of zionist terrorism.
The building which also has a mosque, was struck at dawn while many people were engaged in Fajr (dawn) prayers.
Estimates of casualties point to more than 100 martyred and many more severely injured.
The majority of people killed were women, children and the elderly.
It exposes the lie by the illegal Polish immigrant Mileikowsky who goes by the name of Netanyahu to hide his origin.
His occupation thugs justified the massacre on the grounds that the school was a Hamas and Islamic Jihad “military facility”.
To their credit, both the BBC and CNN were careful to report that the IOF had failed to provide proof of their fake allegation.
It speaks volumes for media platforms perceived to be biased against Palestinians, to question and interrogate the integrity of the Netanyahu regime.
Most media platforms who are denied access to Gaza by the IOF, have relied on footage taken by relief aid workers showing gruesome pictures of wounded children as well as scenes of the bloody carnage.
Journalists at Al Jazeera described the aftermath of the massacre and provided accounts by witnesses who spoke about the tragic task of collecting body parts of victims scattered in pieces.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) Francesca Albanese reminded the world that Gaza is the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century.
“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time. With US and European weapons. And amid the indifference of all ‘civilised nations’,” she tweeted.
EU Chief Josep Borell said he is horrified by images from a sheltering school in Gaza hit by an Israeli strike.
“At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There’s no justification for these massacres.”
Indeed, there cannot be any justification for the gruesome savagery inflicted upon Gaza’s innocent population.
If Gaza is a tragedy, America is complicit.
The war of annihilation conducted by the apartheid colonial regime is possible only with the military, political and financial support of the US.
So, notwithstanding the fake propaganda emanating from the corridors of power at the White House, no one can deny US complicity in the targeted killings of Palestinian mothers and infants at tent encampments, schools, mosques and hospitals.
For Israel, the aid and backing provided by the US is indispensable.
Without American support, not only will the zionist project grind to a standstill, the entire edifice built on usurped Palestinian land, will collapse like a house of cards.
October 7 opened the eyes of the world to the fact that Palestinians have lived under Israeli military occupation and apartheid for decades.
And that the US has given and continues to give Israel tens of billions of dollars in military funding.
America’s disconnect from the imperatives prescribed by international law is clearly evident in its unconditional support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Many commentators have concluded that instead of adherence to international law, the US acts in complete defiance of it.
The current massacre at Al-Tab‘aeen, turning Gaza cities into rubble and starving to death men, women and children, is a zionist playbook entirely in sync with the Biden regime’s policy.
“The US & allies are claiming a ceasefire is near. But all Palestinians see is more death, dislocation, & despair. The genocide continues,” James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, wrote on social media.
“It’s past time to end the charade. Israel doesn’t want peace or a ceasefire. Why are we still sending Israel weapons?”
On August 10, CNN journalist Allegra Goodwin said in a post on X that the US news network had confirmed a “US-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb” was used in the deadly Israeli attack on Al-Taba'een school.
The attack comes as US President Joe Biden has faced months of public pressure to cut off the supply of weapons to Israel amid its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,700 Palestinians since early October.
In contrast to the outrage against Israel’s ongoing genocide, it is vile that the US has announced an additional $3.5 billion to Israel to spend on US-made weapons and military equipment.
The massacre at Al-Taba'een school may have jolted the world and ensured that more and more people see through the lies put out by the war criminals led by Netanyahu, but the widespread military abuses leading to death and destruction continue unabated.
Iqbal Jassat is Executive Member at Media Review Network in Johannesburg, South Africa
