Super Bowl Massacre in Rafah
Content warning: This article contains graphic images and content depicting and describing acts of genocide.
While Americans watched and celebrated the Super Bowl this past Sunday, Israel ramped up its attacks and bombed Rafah – the last “safe” place left for Palestinian refugees seeking shelter.
With roughly 1.4 million Palestinian refugees sheltering in what Israel claimed to be a “safe” place for them to seek refuge after forcing them to relocate, Rafah is now under attack by Israel.
Dubbed the Super Bowl Massacre, Israel killed more than 100 people on Monday, including children who sought refuge in Rafah. All while people watched the game, which featured TWO ad spots bought by Israel to support their attacks.
At $7 million an ad, that means Israel spent $14 million on pushing propaganda to Americans during the Super Bowl with OUR tax dollars. And while the Senate passed yet another aid package to Israel to send them more billions of dollars to fund their genocide.
The bill has yet to pass the house at this time, but the fact the Senate passed it amid Israel’s attack on Rafah while advertising propaganda for their genocide is really on the nose about the state of things. You’d think that if a country supposedly so desperately needs aid, that means it wouldn’t be able to afford to spend it on advertising.
It’s maddening to watch.
Our money is funding the slaughter of tens of thousands of men, women, and children. We can’t afford to house or feed people in our country or provide health care and education, but we can afford to fund a genocide.
The State of Rafah Before the Recent Attacks
Rafah was the LAST “safe” place for Gazan refugees to flee to. Israel directed 1.4 million people to this area after displacing them in the first place, sometimes multiple times in the last four months of attacks since October 7.
People here are sheltering in makeshift tents, are reportedly eating grass and drinking polluted water to survive, and have no access to substantial food, clean water, electricity, or other resources. Disease, famine, and overcrowding are rampant in this 23-square-mile area.
By comparison, the Las Vegas-Henderson area is roughly 142 square miles and holds a population of more than 2.2 million people. Vegas is six times larger than Rafah and has double the number of people residing here. Imagine half of our valley’s population crammed into an area a 1/6th of the size of the Las Vegas area, with no access to adequate food, water, shelter, fuel, or other resources. You’re there because your home was destroyed, your family was slaughtered, and you were forced to flee to a place where you were told you’d be safe.
Then, imagine that area under attack while instructed that you need to evacuate, with nowhere else to flee to.
That is the state of Rafah right now.
Evacuate Rafah or Perish
With the recent attacks in Rafah and the impending ground invasion by Israeli forces, refugees are once again being told they need to evacuate. But to where?
Again, Israel specifically directed these people here. Many already left their homes behind after being bombed, some relocating several times. North Gaza has almost entirely been destroyed, and Egypt refuses to accept refugees.
In addition, the understanding is that Israel won’t allow the Palestinian people that they’ve displaced to return to these areas cleared out from the attacks. According to Al Jazeera, “Many in Gaza are the descendants of Nakba refugees and do not want to leave Palestine because they know it will be impossible to return – Israel won’t let them.”
Activists closely following the genocide have said for a long time that this has been Israel’s plan all along: to continually force people off more and more Palestinian land as their forces push farther into Gaza, round them up in one place, and either force them out of Palestine entirely or wipe them out en masse because there is nowhere else to run.
They’re trapped like cattle in a pen waiting for slaughter. We are watching a genocide and ethnic cleansing unfold right before our eyes.
Do Not Turn Away from the Horror
In the hours following the attacks in Rafah, images and videos of the devastation wrought by the latest atrocities carried out in the continued genocide flooded social media. You might’ve seen one especially heart-wrenching image: a photo or video of a young girl dangling from the roof of a building; her legs blasted off at the knee and shreds of what was left of her legs hanging down like red ribbons.
Her name was Sidra Hassouna. She was seven years old. She and her family were relatives of the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, who shared the image to the right of Sidra, along with information about her horrific death. Displaced from Northern Gaza, her family sought shelter in Rafah when the massacre happened.
This image, shared by Gazan photographer Ezzedine Al-Muasher, is graphic, and I am making a point of describing it graphically for a reason. When I viewed that image, I was horrified and haunted, and then further sickened by reading the comments of people who, despite seeing that image, STILL excused the slaughter of innocent people and STILL excused the slaughter of children like Sidra.
This is your additional content warning – I am posting the unblurred image below.
I think everyone needs to see this photo, and see the horror in it. Humanity needs to meet with reality right now, more than ever. We cannot turn away from this moment.
Whether you are burnout from everything happening and need your fire relit from the anger and disgust this image will invoke, or you are somehow still refusing to acknowledge the genocide or take action to stop it this late into the genocide and need to see this image to finally WAKE THE FUCK UP, look at it.
Look at it, and then look at the image of Sidra above. Look at both pictures. Sit with the emotions they invoke. Imagine your daughter, sister, or whoever Sidra might remind you of. Imagine their hope and dreams and the bright future they have in front of them. And then imagine their dead body ripped apart and mutilated, hanging from a building.
Does that make you feel sick? Is it upsetting? Does it fill you with rage? GOOD. Take those emotions and fucking do something about it.
Being silent while witnessing a genocide is being complicit in it. Start speaking up and calling out the silence of those around you, the people you follow, and your elected officials who are funding this genocide with taxpayer money.
More Blatant War Crimes
For those who somehow ended up on this article or who follow the magazine and support Israel’s active genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people, I have one more recent atrocity to discuss.
I can’t imagine that it will change anyone’s mind who isn’t already trying to help stop the genocide or those who are excusing it. But it’s an essential piece of overlooked news that needs to be highlighted.
A Call for Help
Last week, six-year-old Hind Rajab attempted to flee heavy fighting Gaza City with her aunt, uncle, and four of her cousins. They never made it to safety, as Israeli forces struck their vehicle with gunfire. Hind and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan, tried calling an emergency line for help. During this first call for help, the line cut out with the sound of gunfire as the car was shot at once again. This time, gunfire struck Layan, who died in the car next to her cousin, Hind.
Hind called the emergency line back, pleading for help. Emergency dispatchers sought permission from the Israeli military to allow paramedics into the area to rescue Hind. With permission granted by the IDF, two first respondents deployed to rescue the little girl. Their names were Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun. They never made it.
A Tragic Loss of Life
Despite granting permission, Israeli forces proceeded to fire upon the ambulance. They also shot at the vehicle where Hind waited desperately for the responders to rescue her, now firing on the car for at least the third time.
Hind and both of the paramedics were later found dead in the wreckage of the vehicles targeted in the attack: a car riddled with bullets and a burnt ambulance almost unrecognizable from the bomb it was hit with.
“They killed her twice,” said Wissam Hamadah, Hind’s mother. “And killed the paramedics that were trying to save her.”
Palestinian activist groups and journalists have called out the incident as yet another of Israel’s blatant war crimes.
The murders of Hind, Yousef, and Zeino add to the growing number of Palestinians slaughtered in the ongoing genocide. At the time of this publication, Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinian civilian men, women, and children. Nearly half of those deaths alone were just children.
Are you filled with rage or despair? Turn those emotions into action.
Watching a Genocide Unfold Live
It has been one of the past few months’ most difficult and devastating weeks for many watching these recent events. The evils we’ve witnessed have grown incomprehensibly and increasingly worse. It is, unfortunately, unsurprising but devastating nonetheless.
To be a human, watching other humans suffer to such horrendous magnitudes is beyond traumatic. Watching everything unfold over the past few months and a few days and being constantly bombarded by the horror on television and social media is exhausting. And for the Palestinian people in Gaza and Rafah right now fighting for their very lives and existence while being bombed, starved, and left to die, their experiences and grief are unimaginable.
It is a privilege for us to be able to sit at home and feel safe while watching what’s happening. And it’s even more of a privilege to be able to tap out of the movement and give up or to be able to ignore or mute what’s happening and continue like business as usual.
Yet, while many people are succumbing to the exhaustion of watching a genocide live and are giving up or still refusing to act, others continue to shine a light on the evils carried out against the Palestinians by Israel. And the movement continues to grow stronger every day as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza.
Take Emergency Action to Stop the Genocide and the Massacre in Rafah
Now more than ever, we must be vigilant in the fight to end Israel’s genocide and occupation of Palestine. Take your anger, disgust, and grief and turn it into action. Don’t let despair overwhelm you. Take a moment to breathe if you need to, but whatever you do, don’t give in; don’t give up. Do not ignore what’s happening. And do not be silent. Our moral responsibility is to act and not be silent in the face of such evil.
And, if you haven’t already acted, it is not too late. But the window is quickly closing, not only to save people in Rafah but for people to understand the real depth and severity of all of this. It’s been more than four months. After all of the horrors we’ve witnessed and information that’s been shared, if nothing so far has swayed you, made you feel anything, or encouraged you to act, I don’t know what will.
If someone’s made it this far and still doesn’t care, doesn’t believe genocide is happening or is actively excusing it, it doesn’t sound like there’s any humanity left in them.
History will remember this moment and what we each choose to do or not do. Our children and grandchildren will ask us what we did to stop a genocide. Did we decide to act, or did we choose to ignore it?
Choose wisely.
General Advocacy Opportunities
There are several ways to take part in Advocating for Palestine. In addition, Protect Palestine | A Resource Guide for Action is another comprehensive list to check out.
Call and write to your representatives in the House and Senate. Attend a protest, rally, or other liberation event. Talk to your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Educate yourself on the history of the occupation of the Palestinian people. Follow and support Palestinian journalists, artists, and other creators, and share their content. And continue to call out those who excuse genocide and slaughtering innocent people.
Here are some of the additional pages/people on Instagram I’ve personally been following who’ve been actively vocal and informative about what’s happening and how to help:
- @ProtectPalestineorg
- @OurMoralImperative
- @PalestinianYouthMovement
- @Counseling4AllSeasons
- @TheSlowFactory
- @Yaffasutopia
Local Actions
If you’re a Las Vegas resident, follow groups and creators like Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation (NPL), Fifth Sun Project, Mojada_inc, Vegas DSA, and Jacque 4 Liberation.
You can also attend local upcoming events to support Gaza.
Art As Resistance
On February 22nd, join ‘Art As Resistance,’ a free community fundraising event at Coffee Madness, a Palestinian-owned coffee shop on 335 E. Silverado Road. Hosted by @RadiantWildHeart, this event will feature the inspiring work of Yaffa, a queer & trans Palestinian poet (@yaffasutopia).
“This one-of-a-kind event will include:
🍉 Poetry reading from Yaffa’s latest collection, “Blood Orange” an exquisite book of poems about Palestine
🍉 An interview/talk about using Art as a form of Utopia Building and Resistance
🍉 A community open mic night: please bring art, stories, or poetry to share
🍉a raffle of prizes from local community artists & organizations you can win
This will be a beautiful community-building evening filled with art & inspiration. We’ll be fundraising to support queer & trans Palestinians on the ground and in the diaspora. 100% of the proceeds from the book “Blood Orange” are also being donated to support evacuation efforts and more.” – Radiant Wild Heart’s event post.
The doors to this free event open at 7 PM with limited capacity, so register at the Eventbrite link.
This event is brought to the community by @yaffasutopia, @themasgd, @radiantwildheart, @npl_palestine, @fifthsunproject, @coffeemadnesslv.
A Loverz Affair – La Raza 4 Gaza
In addition, on February 25th, Fifth Sun Project, in partnership with Death Drop Skates, is hosting the third annual ‘A Loverz Affair’ cultural & awareness gathering to support street vendors. This year, they also support Palestine, titling the event ‘La Raza 4 Gaza.’
“COME OUT AND CELEBRATE THE LOVE FOR CULTURE AND RESISTANCE. El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido ✊🏽” – FSP event post.
This event will be outdoors at Death Drop Skates on 238 South Decatur Blvd from 12 to 5 PM. People of all ages are invited to enjoy craft vendors, live art/workshops, a car show, and a skate ramp for skater foos, as well as take photos in the Loverz n Friends Photo Booth and participate in the event’s fundraiser and raffle.
The event will also feature the following:
- Words and music by @olmecaofficial and @elboogieman
- Car Show Hosts @motion_cc and @las.adelitas.sc
- Food served by @cheflouies_veganfood_
- Event art by @miri_nosh, @mojada_inc, @dani.daniela.13, and @roseoverchaos
Read the Magazine’s Other Articles Related to the Genocide in Gaza
Lastly, you can also read the recent articles I’ve written about the genocide and published in the magazine.
In particular, I encourage you to read our in-depth article with NPL to learn more.
Thank you for getting in motion to stop the genocide. Free Palestine.
Thank you to our supporters and sponsors!
As always, we want to thank our Patreon ‘Cultivator’ supporters and sponsors who help make content like this possible.
The following Patron(s) supported the production of this article:
Crystal Gropp
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Viva La Compost & LunaKai Lash
