Hedges praised Qatar’s role in reducing escalation, bringing aid into Gaza

The Qatar Press Center (QPC) hosted on Thursday 'The war in Gaza: international contexts and journalistic biases” seminar addressed by the American journalist writer Chris Hedges, and moderated by Al Jazeera journalist Badr al-Din Tawfiq.
The moderator thanked the QPC president Saad Mohamed al-Rumaihi and the director general Sadiq al-Amari for organising the seminar, after introducing Hedges, who formerly served as the Times Middle East Bureau Chief. His books include War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2007); Death of the Liberal Class (2010); and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012).
In Hedges’ view October 7 was reported in an incomprehensible way to the West and “was worthy only for eradication, hence the use of offensive language such as animals, new Nazis and regarded Palestinians as evil and the Israelis don’t distinguish between children, women all must be eradicated. Hedges said “the US democratic party is a war party and they are using the language of war. Starting with Clinton the party is no longer the same, it shifted to the republican right. That’s why we see that the US and Europe – while we are all appalled and choked here – stand insensible to this horrific death of 160 children a day, 39 journalists killed, and who were really targeted.”
Hedges praised the great role played by Qatar in reducing the escalation and bringing aid into the Gaza Strip, explaining that Qatar is making great efforts to implement a number of humanitarian interventions to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza. Pointing also to the major role played by Al Jazeera in revealing the truth and confronting suspicious journalistic campaigns that attempt to hide the reality of the tragic situation within Gaza.
He expressed his admiration for the network's journalists and correspondents who carry out their work with all courage, despite the systematic killing policy practised by the occupation authorities towards journalists and their families.
Hedges added that there are major restrictions imposed on the Western press, as Western journalists who cover the events face threats to try to prevent them from broadcasting the truth about the genocide that is taking place. He expressed his regret at the Israeli narrative's control over public opinion in the US, which now rejects any news coming from the Palestinian side.
He added: "CNN describes Hamas as Palestine's number one enemy, and this is part of the media ignorance that makes this mass massacre take a turning point."
Hedges stressed that the events of September 11 were the beginning of the campaign launched by the US to demonise the Islamic world, increasing the tone of racism in the language of dialogue directed to the Arab and Islamic worlds, which was something that the Israeli occupation exploited as a pretext for the war on Palestine, and to silence all human rights organisations that were defending the Palestinian cause. With the beginning of American interventions in the Middle East and the wars it launched in Afghanistan and Iraq, the world was divided between good and evil. So that good is what the American point of view represents, and evil is every point of view that contradicts it. At that time, there was no logical context for global events, and the media arms were directed to demonize Islamic movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
Hedges explained that since that time, the American and Western public has been negatively motivated to eradicate these Islamic movements. This is clearly evident in Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of the Palestinians as absolute evil, to justify the genocide he is currently carrying out against the Palestinian people with the support of the US, which not only provided $13bn to support the war on Gaza, but also prevented a vote for a cease fire at the United Nations.
Hedges pointed out that the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Gaza now is a project that the Israeli occupation has worked to implement for decades. What we see now is not just a reaction to the events of October 7, but rather a dream that the occupation has always wanted to achieve for a long time. As the Nakba did not end in the year 1948, when thousands of Palestinians were killed, and in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and carried out a massive ethnic cleansing operation. Now it has decided to eradicate the people of Gaza and does not care about any international criticism. What is most worrying is that America has lost control of events and no longer has a plan to stop this mass massacre.
The former New York Times bureau chief in the Middle East believes that there is a Zionist lobby that strongly controls the American political system, as there is an elite of wealthy Zionists who support candidates in the US House of Representatives, finance their election campaigns, and use their influence to exclude any voice that supports the Palestinian cause. Pointing out that this bad political system has in turn spread to the press, where journalists are being harassed and the professional career of any media person who tries to talk about the truth about the practices of the Israeli occupation is ended. He added: I spent 10 days in the refugee camp in Khan Yunis, and when I decided to reveal the truth about the bad situation of Israeli practices, the newspaper (New York Times) responded by depriving me of any coverage related to the Palestinian issue.
At the end of the seminar Chris read out to the audience “A letter to the children of Gaza” of which Gulf Times publishes some excerpts: “Dear child it’s past mid-night I am flying a hundred of miles an hour in the darkness, thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean, I am travelling to Egypt, I would go to the boarders of Gaza in Rafah, I go because of you. You have never been in a plane, you have never left Gaza, and you know only the densely packed streets and alleys, the concrete cobbles... Planes for you are terrifying, fire jets, attack helicopters, drones, they circle above you, they drop missiles and bombs, deafening explosions, the ground shakes, buildings fall, the dead, the screams, the muffled calls for help from beneath the rubble do not stop night and day, trapped under a pile of a smashed concrete your play mates, your school mates, your neighbours bombed in seconds... I am a reporter, it is my job to see this, you are a child you should never see this. The stench of death and the broken concrete, you hold your breath, you cover your mouth with cloth, you walk faster, and your neighbourhood has become a graveyard...You are afraid, explosion after explosion, you cry, you cling to your mother or father, you cover your ears, you see the white light of a missile, and wait for the blast. Why do they kill children? What did you do? Why can’t anyone protect you? Will you be wounded? Will you lose a leg or an arm? Will you be blind or in a wheelchair? Why were you born? Was it for something good or was it for this? Will you grow up? Will you be happy? What will it be like without your friends? Who will die next, your mother? Your father, your brothers and sisters? Someone you love will be injured soon. Someone you love will die soon.
When your father or mother hunts for water or foods you wait with a terrible fury in your stomach, will they come back? Will you see them again? Will your tiny home be next? Will the bombs find you? Are these your last moments on earth? You drink salty dirty water that makes you sick, your stomach hurts, the bakeries are destroyed, there is no bread, you eat one meal a day, a cucumber. Soon this will seem like a feast. You do not play with your soccer ball, made of rugs, you do not fly your kite made from old newspapers...
I have been bombed by jets in Gaza, I have been bombed in other wars, wars that happened before you were born. I am too was very scared. I still have dreams about it.
When I see the pictures of Gaza, these wars return to me in the force of thunder. In the lightening, I think of you.” Hedges choked to stifle his tears.