Bombing Philly

As of October 24, Israel has dropped over 8000 bombs on Gaza, which is about the size of Philadelphia. Many of us remember the destruction in Philadelphia when the police dropped 1 bomb back in 1985 on MOVE and destroyed 60 homes.

Imagine 8000 bombs on Philadelphia. And imagine a wall around Philadelphia and a blockade that prevents anyone from leaving without special permits and permission. Imagine hostile warships patrolling the Delaware River and the Philadelphia airport destroyed and airspace controlled. And imagine no power, no electricity, no properly supplied and functional hospitals.

Imagine being told to evacuate North Philadelphia because it will not be safe for you to stay there as the bombing happens and to go to the south where you will be safe. And then being bombed on the road to the south, and then being bombed in the home, or the school, or the hospital you sought refuge in, in South Philadelphia.

And imagine surviving that bombing and being taken to the hospital where the doctors try frantically to stabilize you and operate on you to save your life. On the hospital floor. In a hallway. Without anaesthesia. Or water. Or electricity. Or, where they tell you you are going to die now, and hold your hand, for only a minute, because they have to go and see if they can save the life of the next victim.

And imagine this latest violence is on top of a history of bombing and destruction occurring every two to five years. Imagine being 25, and having survived 5 wars of aggression from the military occupying and controlling your city. The same military force that drove your grandparents off of the land and out of the home they and their ancestors lived in for centuries. Imagine living with them and their trauma and with the generational and original trauma you are experiencing now.

How would you feel? How would you want to respond? How much oppression can you endure?

Gazans don’t have to imagine this. All of them are living it. And thousands of them are being murdered as we watch.