Katie, you and I have talked about this, the actual number, the actual death toll. The official numbers are demonstrably a gross underestimation of the true death toll. And they have arrived at this carnage through extreme violence. That would corrode any society. In so many ways I find Israel soulless.
We have never been surprised by the amount of violence that they inflict on us. But I have to say it has come as a surprise - and a very bitter surprise - to see the the the level of sadism on nearly the entirety of the Israeli society. That they can look at our children utterly mutilated, torn, burned alive... and they see that as a cause of celebration. As they see that as images to set to music and post on Tik Tok.
There was a point in my life - and I think in the in the lives of all Palestinians - where we conceded to, you know, okay, this is our reality. We have to find a way to live with them. I think we're all willing to do that.
But I personally, after seeing what we have seen: the level of sadism, (I know that I speak for a lot of Palestinians), like how do we live with these monsters? How can we ever consider them neighbors and feel safe next to them? I don't know where to go with that.
And I think that's the deeper moral collapse, denial and a world cheering genocide, that's the part that is unprecedented in human history. There have been atrocities throughout history. There have been genocides that were horrific and brutal and violent. But I don't think there's ever been a moment where the entire society or the entire world saw, and heard, and in some cases smelled what was happening in the true face of genocide. And not only just looked away but supported and cheered it on. That is the part for me as a Palestinian that is something I will never get over. And I know that I know that all Palestinians, the level of betrayal that we all feel, the nothingness that the world has made us feel like is really something. It's a hell of a thing. It really is.