Israelis will dance again, vows BBC film. Will Gaza's children ever get to dance?

Gaza's children have no voice. Their tears evaporate in the summer heat, and merge with the winter rain. No one comes to make a documentary about them. No one comes at all

It says much about the institutional racism of the BBC that it thinks Surviving October 7: We Will Dance Again is a suitable title for its documentary marking the first anniversary of the massacre of Israelis at the Nova rave.

Presumably the programme-makers believed it suggested healing and empowerment for those who survived October 7, rather than, as it does, continuing indifference to the horrifying plight of the people of Gaza who live – or, in so many cases, have died – just a stone’s throw from where the Nova festival was held.

At the time of the rave, Palestinians were trapped in the concentration camp of Gaza, under a medieval-style siege by land, sea and air that Israel had imposed on them for 17 years. Until, that is, Hamas broke out for one day, on October 7, briefly spreading carnage in its wake.

Like most other Israelis, the partygoers at Nova either did not know or did not care that so much suffering was happening just out of view in Gaza.

They know now. As do the programme-makers. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been slaughtered by Israel's bombs over the past year. The rest are being starved to death by an intensified Israeli siege.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that a “plausible” case has been made that Israel is committing a genocide. Though no western politicians or media ever mention it, Israel is, in fact, on trial at this very moment at the world’s highest court, charged with the ultimate crime against humanity.

So what is the title "We will dance again" meant to convey? That Israelis can get back to partying because the deaths and suffering they experienced at Hamas’ hands lasted only a day?

There is no end in sight, even a year on, for Palestinians who have been slaughtered in far, far bigger numbers and have experienced suffering on an incomparably greater scale at Israel’s hands.

Will Israelis dance again because they still have homes and families to go back to? Whereas Palestinians have nothing. Their communities have been wiped off the face of the earth, and whole families disappeared into mass graves. Gaza’s orphans will never be reunited with their parents.

Will Israelis dance again because they have food on the table and water not only to drink but to bathe in, even swim in? Because the lights work at the touch of a switch, as do their televisions and fridges?

Gaza’s children have none of that. They must scour for whatever scraps are left, fight off the feral dogs for any tidbit they can grab, eat weeds if they can find them among the rubble.

They must walk hours or days to find water. There are no televisions or fridges. There are no walls or roofs to protect them. And without walls, there are no light switches or light fittings. And even if there were, there is no electricity to turn on. The wires are dead.

Will Israelis dance again because the BBC and the rest of the western media are so invested in amplifying their voice, in making documentaries to record and honour their pain?

Gaza’s children have no voice. Their cries go unheard. Their tears evaporate in the summer heat, and merge with the winter rain. No one comes from outside to make a documentary about them. No one comes at all.

If Gaza’s children survive, will they ever get to dance?

[Many thanks to Matthew Alford for the audio reading of this article.]

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