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The Voice of Hind Rajab: The Film They Don’t Want You to See
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| Chris Hedges |
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| Feb 26 |
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Reaper Madness - by Mr. Fish
NEW YORK: “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” like all great pieces of art, takes a
straightforward story — the battle to save the life of a 6-year-old girl, Hind
Rajab, trapped in a car in Gaza surrounded by murdered family members — and
elevates it to an archetype. This story is as old as time. It lies at the heart
of all religious and moral literature. It pits the cruelty and heartlessness of
power against the empathy and compassion of the powerless. It asks us what kind
of a life we want to live. Is it a life defined by hubris, domination and
violence? Or is it a life defined by compassion, justice and self-sacrifice?
These are moral, not political questions.
To nurture, preserve and protect the lives of those demonized in war is to be
branded a traitor — a subversive, the enemy. It is to risk death. War, and
especially genocide, is the quintessential expression of what Sigmund Freud
called Thanatos, the death instinct that drives humans towards the destructions
of others and themselves. Those who fight for Eros, for life, are eliminated.
This schism is at the core of the film. It is the struggle between good and
evil, light and dark. And, as so often happens in war, Thanatos prevails. This
almost certain defeat gives unquestioned nobility to those who defy the forces
of death.
Israel and its supporters do not want the outside world to see the bureaucratic
machinery that perpetuates its mass slaughter, but I suspect, even more, it
does not want the world to see the humanity of the Palestinians who resist.
It was hard to find a screening. I traveled for over an hour to see it at the
Film Forum in New York City, which had just one showing at 4:45 in the
afternoon. I understood why. Despite critical acclaim, an Oscar-nominated
director and industry heavyweights like Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix behind
it, the film — directed by Tunisian filmmaker, Kaouther Ben Hania —faced major
difficulties in getting an American distributor — reportedly out of “fear” and
disagreement “with the film’s politics,” according to a report by Deadline.
It is not only devastating, not only a cinematic masterpiece, but it rips back
all the layers of rhetoric and propaganda to expose the fundamental struggle
between the Israeli occupier and the occupied. The struggle is, yes, a conflict
about the theft of Palestinian land. It is, as well, a conflict about a violent
and lethal occupation, one that has become full-blown genocide in Gaza. But it
is also the ancient struggle between the forces of life and death.
Anyone who follows Israel’s murderous rampage in Gaza knows the story of Hind
Rajab. On Jan. 29, 2024, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the Tel
al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza. Six members of the Hamadeh family, along with
their 6-year-old niece, Hind, crammed themselves into a black Kia and attempted
to flee. They did not get far. An Israeli tank fired on the car, killing
everyone except Hind and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan. Layan was able to
contact the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on her dead father’s phone.
“They are shooting at us. The tank is next to me,” Layan tells the PRCS
dispatcher, Omar Alqam, an emergency medical worker based in Ramallah.
“Are you hiding?” asks Omar, played by Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees.
“Yes, in the car, we’re in the car, the tank is right next to us,” Layan says.
“You are inside the car?” Omar asks.
There is the sound of gunfire — 62 shots in six seconds — as Layan screams.
The line goes dead.
“Hello? Hello?” Omar says.
There is no answer.
The PRCS immediately calls back.
Hind picks up the phone. She tells Omar that Layan has been shot and everyone
in the car is asleep. Hind is trapped in the vehicle surrounded by her dead
relatives, who are covered in blood.
It is raining.
For the next three hours, frantic emergency workers seek permission from
Israeli authorities to approve a route for an ambulance — which is eight
minutes away — to rescue the girl. The film focuses on the frustrations,
desperation and hopes of the rescue workers who try to move a boulder up the
Sisyphean hill of Israeli occupation.
Rather than recreating the horror of a small, terrified girl trapped in a car
with the blood-soaked bodies of her dead relatives, the film uses the recording
of Hind’s voice — shown on the screen as a spectrogram — to tell the story.
The focus is on the Red Crescent workers who try to reassure and comfort Hind.
They plead desperately with the Red Cross and later the Palestinian Ministry of
Health, who act as intermediaries with a unit from the Israeli Defense Ministry
known as Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), for
a safe passage for the ambulance into an area designated a restricted zone. The
phone line with Hind repeatedly cuts. Red Crescent workers are frantic, fearing
the worst.
The frustration and trauma of the powerless rescue workers, living under the
humiliating and oppressive boot of Israeli occupation, is overwhelming.
The emergency workers release audio from the calls and photographs of Hind on
social media, with English subtitles, in hopes of eliciting international
outrage. But, as is true for the genocide, Western governments are indifferent
to the slaughter of Palestinians, including Palestinian children.
While Hind is on the line, we hear bursts of gunfire.
Rana al-Faqih, another dispatcher — played by Palestinian-Canadian actor Saja
Kilani — assures Hind she will be rescued. She helps her recite verses from the
Quran in an attempt to comfort the girl.
“I’m so scared,” Hind says. “Please come, come take me.”
The car where Hind is sheltering is near Fares petrol station. The sun sets.
Gaza City is shrouded in darkness.
“I’m scared of the dark,” Hind tells Rana.
“Is there gunfire around you?” Rana asks.
“Yes,” Hind says. “Come get me, please.”
After three hours, the IDF gives paramedics permission to rescue Hind, with a
map of a route the ambulance must take.
“Hind!” Omar announces on the phone. “In one minute, the car will reach you.
It’s just moving slowly.”
The ambulance’s paramedics, Ahmed al-Madhoun and Yusuf Zeino, approach the
area. They get within 162 feet of the vehicle.
“Can you see the car?” a dispatcher asks.
“I can’t see a thing here,” one paramedic responds.
“Do you have your siren and flashing lights on?” the dispatcher asks.
“Just the lights, not the siren…oh there it is — ”
There is the sudden sound of gunfire and explosions.
The paramedics can no longer be reached.
Omar asks Hind if she heard an explosion. She responds that she has.
“I’m so scared, please come,” Hind repeatedly pleads.
There is a long period of silence.
“Why aren’t you speaking?” Rana asks Hind.
“I’m not speaking because my mouth is bleeding,” Hind says.
“Wipe it with your hand and then tell me if you’re still bleeding,” Rana says.
“I don’t want to get my shirt dirty, so I don’t trouble my mom,” Hind replies.
“It’s okay, wipe your mouth and I’ll wash it, my sweetheart,” Rana tells her.
“Okay,” Hind says.
Her voice fades away for the final time.
Wissam, Hind’s mother, waits anxiously at the hospital. She desperately
searches every incoming ambulance for her daughter.
The Israelis seal off Tel al-Hawa. Palestinians are unable to reach the car
until 12 days later. When they finally enter the area, they find the burned-out
shell of the ambulance that was sent to rescue Hind.
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A view of the heavy damaged ambulance going to aid Rajab family, which was
targeted by Israeli forces and became unusable, Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of
Gaza City, Gaza on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via
Getty Images)
By that time, Israel has destroyed 80 ambulances, usually killing their crews.
Further up the street from the ambulance, they find Hind’s decomposed body in
the back of the car with her relatives.
There are 335 bullet holes in the car and the windows are blown out.
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The destroyed car which 6-year-old Hind Rajab and five members of her family
were killed after targeted by Israeli forces in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of
Gaza City (Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
What were Hind’s final thoughts? Did she see the flashing lights of the
ambulance? Did she believe she would be rescued? Did she watch the tank shells
rip apart the ambulance and see the paramedics die? Did she see the Israeli
machine guns before they opened fire on her? Did she cry out in pain? Did she
linger, bloodied and wounded, like her cousin Layan? Did she realize she would
not be saved? Did she utter any final words, alone, in the darkness and horror?
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” reminds us that indifference is complicity. It mocks
the rhetoric used to dehumanize Palestinians. It unmasks the petty and deadly
tyranny of military occupation. It illustrates the powerlessness, indignity and
savage violence of occupation. It exposes the fundamental nature of war and
genocide. It is a testament to what is good and what is evil.
It asks us to make a choice.
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