In Israel, as in Gaza, human rights are the last line of protection

In this part of the world, humour is one of our ways of dealing with situations that are so terribly sad. From the start of this conflict, more than 1,800 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers as well as three civilians in Israel have been killed. Each and every one of these lives lost – children, babies, elderly people, women, men, in Gaza and Israel alike – is tragic.

Public discourse in Israel seeks relativity: If you must express sadness over people dying in Gaza, at least don’t be as sad as when it’s an Israeli that is killed. And make sure to note it’s Hamas’s fault, too. Plain simple sadness means that there must be something wrong with you: you must care about them more that about your own people. Traitor.