Opinion: Home is where the heart is, but what if you can’t find either anymore?
A year since October 7th
CONTENT WARNING: War, violence, destruction
I lost my mum unexpectedly at the beginning of last year. I was dragged into a new chapter that day. And home, nor my perception of it, will never be the same.
And yet every day since October 7th, I accepted the absolute privilege of not having lost my home in the way that so many Gazans have lost theirs.
To hold a loved one’s hand, as they pass away in dignity, is something so many dream of. As hundreds of thousands of mothers, fathers, daughters, sons and friends, die - all at the hands of another's bullets, machinery and ideology.
As you read this, the death toll in Gaza will be higher than the roughly 43,000 it stands at as of October 1st. Today marks exactly 365 days of constant, inhumane war in Gaza.
That 43,000 is made up of around 41,431 Palestinians, and 1,706 Israeli deaths, according to Al Jazeera (although the injury toll and firm numbers are unclear).
To be sitting and reading this, without the background echo of shelling and gunfire, is a ‘normalcy’ of ours that so many can only fantasise about.
Many believe what's happening is nothing to do with us, or think that the genocide in Gaza came out of the blue. However, there is a long history that led us here.
In the 1930’s a movement emerged within factions of the Jewish community, called Political Zionism, where the desire was to create a solely Jewish state following years of unfathomable prosecution. Today, Zionism is often associated with far-right, extremist politics, and the Israeli Defence Force (I.D.F).
Following the tragedies of the Holocaust, with the desire to find home, roughly 60,000 Jewish people migrated to Palestine following the war – which was mostly populated by Muslim-Palestinians at the time. Palestine has historically been home to many due to the religious significance of the land.
Following internal disputes, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 1947 partitioning the state into two. The Muslim-Palestinian population didn’t agree with the proposal presented, and so neighbouring allies began arriving in support.
When Israel declared its independence on May 14th, 1948, after Britain's departure, a two-year conflict began the following day. This conflict garnered the name ‘Nakba’, which translates to ‘catastrophe’.
The Times claims that 15,000 people were killed during the Nakba. With 531 Muslim-Palestinian towns and historic cultural sites destroyed, and new towns built over top. Allegedly, the I.D.F also used biological warfare to poison human drinking water.
The horrors of this mass expulsion are still mourned today. Many academics draw connections between the 1940s Nakba and the current genocide in Gaza.
As of September 2024, 76 years after the Nakba, the United Nations reported that 9 out of 10 Gazans have been displaced at least once. That's roughly 1.9 million people.
Home is where the heart is, but what if you can’t find either anymore?
I guess we mustn't forget that when money’s involved, it becomes that much more complicated for governments and institutions to remove investments with the perpetrator; despite consistent calls to do so from protesters across the globe.
Al Jazeera reported in August that the US was investing $3.5 billion in Israel for it to invest in American-made weapons and military equipment. I’m no genius, but that seems rather circular and win-win for both Israel and the US... not the people on the other end of said weaponry.
At what point does the extreme loss of human life become more important than the loss of money, power, and bragging rights?
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintains that any notions of the war in Gaza being a 'genocide' are false, and that Israel’s movements in Gaza and Lebanon are far from over.
A statement from Israel on October 1st highlighted its planned advancements of “limited, localised, and targeted” ground raids directed at the militant group ‘Hezbollah’, in Lebanon. This force thousands to evacuate to Syria.
Al Jazeera reports that 60% of the people currently fleeing the place they called home, are Syrian refugees, who must now return to the space they traumatically left behind.
On day 12 of Israel's advancement in Lebanon, over 1,000 people have been killed, including some key militant leaders. And yes, Gaza is still facing relentless attacks, despite additional I.D.F attacks in Yemen and Syria.
This comes down to a complex kōrero around home, and the privilege of having somewhere secure to call home.
I've always been thirsty for justice, and it only feels fair that we demand our Government, representatives, and institutions to be educated on the past, to be humane, and to not only listen - but take a stand.
This piece was written in memory of my beautiful mother, Gillian Marie Hodgson-Hogan. Thank you for always encouraging me to move through this world with empathy and passion.