Think About Hind Rajab!

Turning point. Honoring Hind Rajab. 

Israel is big mad about the world turning against them. The only nation still willing to back them is the United States. The U.S. is quickly losing favor and the world is slowly moving away from Washington.

Thank Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden.

The deaths of so many people came at the hands of Israel. This apartheid ethnostate has gaslighted the world for the last time.

I am calling for the destruction of Israel and Zionism.

I want all the American lawmakers and our president to end their support for Israel. I want no more of my taxpayer money funding a country that engages in endless conflicts with its neighbors.

If they continue to back Israel, they need to be voted out, banned from public discourse and labeled as an enabler in history books. 

History will not be kind to George W. Bush, Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump.

I want Palestinians to fight to their last breathe.

Hind Rami Iyad Rajab was a five-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip who was killed by Israeli forces during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which also killed six of her family members and two paramedics coming to her rescue.

Her story was largely ignored by the Western junk food media. But thanks to online activism, the world is now listening. Hind's tragedy will be regarded as the 21st Century's version of Anne Frank.

Trapped in the car with her deceased relatives, Hind made a frantic, hour-long phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to beg for rescue. Her desperate pleas were recorded by the PRCS, and the audio, along with later forensic evidence, created a global outcry.

Her death is now in the film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab" is Oscar worthy.

The film received a long standing ovation and tears.

The impact of the story, and the audio of Hind’s voice from that call, has been vast, inspiring songs, protest movements and now a film from Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which debuted Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival, is a shattering document of the Israel-Hamas war, set entirely inside the dispatch center of the Palestine Red Crescent Society rescue service. The film uses the real audio of Hind’s call, while actors portray the first responders.

“When you hear her voice you feel powerless,” Ben Hania told The Associated Press recently.

Hind’s cousin, Layan, who was in the car, had told family members that Israeli forces were firing on them before she was killed. The Red Crescent said Israeli troops fired on its ambulance. Asked for comment, the military said the incident is “still being reviewed,” without elaborating.

Israel's actions will be its downfall.

Listening to the audio, which was shared widely on social media in the 12 days after the Red Crescent lost contact with its medics and Hind, Ben Hania said she felt like she needed to do something, to help the innocent voice she was hearing.

“I felt like she was asking me to rescue her,” Ben Hania said. “It’s not rational what I’m saying, because I knew the tragedy already happened. I asked of myself, ‘What I can do,’ and I only know one thing: how to tell stories.”

Her resolve intensified after she heard the full recordings of the calls that day. The urgent imperative to make the film meant that she would have to put another project, which she was preparing to shoot, on hold, and work more quickly than she ever had before.

For me, it wasn’t very interesting to show the images of the horror because we see them all over the internet. It doesn’t mean that they have no impact, but it’s like the world became insensitive,” Ben Hania said. “The choice to tell the story from this perspective for me was the best way. I felt like I was given something sacred, the voice of this little girl.”

The making of the film was emotional for everyone. It wasn’t uncommon for the crew members to be in tears. Then there were the actors, who were responding to Hind’s real voice, reciting nearly verbatim what their real-life counterparts said.

“They are great actors but there was a genuine reaction from them to hear this voice,” she said. “It was beyond acting.”

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” was expected to be one of the most affecting films of the festival and awards season. After the film was completed and selected for Venice, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonathan Glazer all joined as executive producers. Tunisia has also decided “The Voice of Hind Rajab” will be its candidate for best international feature at the Oscars. Ben Hania has two Oscar nominations to her name already, for best documentary (“Four Daughters”) and best international feature (“The Man Who Sold His Skin”).

The conflict in Gaza has loomed over the festival from its start, with calls to disinvite actors for their views, questions to filmmakers and actors about an indie film company’s funding ties to the Israeli military, and a large-scale protest that drew thousands this weekend.

The Health Ministry says over 63,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 22-month war, which began when Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, but 48 remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.

Ben Hania said the Hind Rajab Foundation, a legal group based in Belgium, was not involved.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” does not yet have theatrical distribution in North America, but Ben Hania hopes that it will be seen “all over the world.”

“I don’t want to tell the audience what to take away from the film,” she said. “I just want them to see it.”