Issued: 25 September 2015
The Media Review Network South Africa mourns the loss of the young life, Hadeel Alhashlamoun, 18 at the hands of the demonic israeli defence force. The wanton murder of Hadeel as is depicted by the photographic evidence amplifies the brutality and dehumanisation the israeli colonial, apartheid state subjects Palestinians to, in their own lands. Her martyrdom highlights two issues that are a blemish on the record of justice and is a travesty thereof. These being, dehumanisation and Islamophobia. Hadeel exercised here right to dress in a manner she felt best protected her dignity. She was forced by the iOF (israeli Occupation Forces) to lift her veil at an internal checkout within Hebron. She refused to be dehumanised, to be forced to unveil herself and to allow her religious convictions to be subjugated by occupation. She was murdered because she exercised her personal right to human dignity. True to the modus operandi of colonialists, the iOF sought to dehumanise a young Palestinian female. Not surprisingly, the protection of her dignity carried the penalty of death. This dehumanisation conjures up painful memories of our own South African Apartheid with interrogations by the security branch, the dehumanisation by apartheid police and the abhorrent passbook. The violation of dignity being the landmark of Apartheid in South Africa and is the landmark of the israeli colonial Apartheid state.
The second issue is that of evident islamophobia. Hadeel exercised her right to religious conviction, the right to freedom of expression and her right to dignity. The wearing of her veil as per her religious inclinations became a threat to her occupiers and fermented the notion of Islamic attire equating to a security threat. This evident racism feeds the projection of dehumanisation and thus legitimised her cold blooded murder in the minds of her killers. This prevalent racism has laid the foundation for the unspeakable horrors in the numerous wars launched against the occupied & largely defenseless Palestinian population by the behemoth known as the israeli military state. It is this same racism that underpins colonial projects of occupation and Apartheid.
As the Media Review Network South Africa, we mourn the passing of a young, vibrant life cut down by israeli thuggery. We are also inspired by young Hadeel’s steadfastness to preserve her dignity and die on her feet than to fall to her knees, dehumanised and broken. Her memory and martyrdom exposes israeli crimes and unmasks their falsehoods. We as the Media Review Network South Africa support the Palestinian resistance against occupation in the forms of popular boycott, the armed resistance and the individual acts of bravery by ordinary people such as those of Hadeel, Rachael Corrie and many others. We support the Palestinians as we supported our own means of resistance in the form of boycotts, MK and the sacrifices of ordinary South Africans for the liberation of their land.
We shout, Let Justice Reign and salute our fallen Sister
Issued by:
Zaakir Ahmed Mayet
Chairman, Media Review Network
Cell: 084 786 4003
Email: zaakirahmed@gmail.com
