Children of Palestine: 3,000 Years Later, Has Humanity Lost Its Soul?

N,K,Singh April 19,2025

A Photo, A War, and the Silence of Humanity

This year’s World Press Photo of the Year was awarded to an image of 10-year-old Palestinian child Mahmoud Azour, who lost both his hands in an Israeli airstrike. The haunting photograph, taken by New York Times photographer Samar Abu Elouf, captured global attention.

Ironically, on the same page of an Indian English daily, another image appeared—Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands with a freed Russian hostage, thanking Hamas for the release. A day before Mahmoud’s photo was honored, Israel struck Gaza again, killing 22 people, including a one-year-old girl who died in her mother’s arms. Her blue frock, stained with blood, became a chilling symbol of innocence lost. Mother and daughter were buried together.

Such U.S.-backed assaults have continued for over a year and a half. The world watched another powerful photo emerge — a dying child in the arms of her injured mother, circulated globally. Perhaps it’ll win next year’s award. But what changes?

In the same attack, Israeli forces shot Palestinian doctors in the head, post-mortems confirmed. They were trying to save lives. They were targeted. And the world moved on.

Meanwhile, in a surreal twist, former U.S. President Donald Trump talks about turning Gaza into a luxury resort, as though war-torn land can be a beachfront fantasy. A land “gifted” by Israel. Don’t be surprised—be disturbed.

That same day, the Pope thanked doctors for saving his life. A spiritual leader, seen as a messenger of peace, offering gratitude to healers—while Gazan doctors are executed for healing Muslim Palestinians, with bullets from America, a country that claims to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In Trump’s America, students and professors protesting Israeli aggression are being silenced or expelled, all in the name of “Making America Great Again.” Trump, the Pope, and the majority of the American public claim allegiance to Jesus—yet no word of peace is spoken, no condemnation of violence issued, no weapons shipments halted.

The doctors who saved the Pope are blessed. The ones in Gaza are buried.

If things go as Trump imagines, Gaza will one day become a seaside playground. Palestinians will be displaced, and the land will be rebranded for “fun and enjoyment”—not peace.

The world watches in silence.

We’ve become numb—desensitized by religion, identity, and politics. The pain of a child without hands is measured by which God the child’s family worships. No cleric protested the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. In India, bearded men are forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram,” while unemployed youth are told they’ve won a war of faith. Hunger disappears in the euphoria of imagined enemies.

Thank the Supreme Court for at least one moment of humanity: A photo of a young girl running with her schoolbooks, her house razed by a bulldozer, moved the bench enough to halt this so-called “bulldozer justice.”

But why do those who lynched Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, Tavrez, and Junaid not understand — this is not a fight for religion, but against those who profit from weaponized faith and division?

Meanwhile, millions of children remain malnourished, their futures stolen while public funds are spent on the opulence of the elite.

No Pope speaks. No Mullah rises. No “protectors” of Dharma protest. Those shouting “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” search for beef in Muslim homes.

And perhaps that is the real tragedy —
That a child with no hands may crawl through life, while leaders shake hands over power,
That a baby girl in a blood-soaked frock may understand the world before anyone teaches her words.

And the rest of us?
We remain spectators to suffering—shocked, but silent.

NK Singh is a senior journalist and former general secretary of the Broadcast Editors Association.