How lucky am I that I live in a safe country?

I live in a safe country. It’s a country seen as safe by locals and tourists alike, it’s seen as safe by white people as well. It’s one of the destinations in the Middle East for Europeans, Britishers and Americans for well paid jobs. There are lots of expatriates here, especially white expatriates, we’ve got an American Naval support base as well as a British Naval support base. We’ve got pretty easy travel and visa regulations between the UK, the USA and ourselves.

I live in Bahrain, it’s a very safe country, I was born and raised here and can attest to that, I was lucky to be raised here. My parents were raised in India but moved here after marriage to support my father’s family business that has been going strong here for over 100 years. No matter what has happened, I always knew I was safe in Bahrain.

On Monday the 23rd of June, Iran targeted the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, our neighbouring country, and the emergency sirens in Bahrain rang out. We had already had a test siren a few days previously, we knew what it sounded like, we knew the guidelines of what to do if the sirens were sounded, if there was a nuclear explosion, or if we were dragged into war. We even knew where our closest bomb shelters were. None of us expected to ever actually hear the siren.

When the siren rang out, I didn’t even hear it, I only found out because a friend in another town had heard it and messaged me. The first thing I did was ask my dad to call my mum and ask her to come back home, she was out and not far from the US Naval base. At that point, we had no idea what was happening, we didn’t know if Bahrain had been hit or if it was next. We already had go bags ready in case we needed to go to a shelter if our house was no longer safe. I rang and messaged friends, to check they were okay, that themselves and their families were safe, to open up our house to anyone who might need shelter, and other friends did the same back. In that moment of fear, we all came together as a community, nothing but care for each other, and this spanned generations as my parents had the same experiences.

After the second siren was sounded to signal the all clear and things calmed down, it hit me then that even though I was so scared from the sirens, I was still blessed, because I lived in a country where I have never before had to fear for my life, where I have the freedom of movement, I could have run to Saudi, or flown out when the airspace opened again. I was not going to be trapped there indefinitely, there were safe places for me to go. The Palestinians in Gaza do not have any of that. Their homes and towns have never been safe from Israeli’s, they could never be sure when they’d be the next to be abducted by the IDF just for existing, they can’t leave because they are in an open air prison. If they do manage to leave, they can never come back.

The current genocide of Palestinians has gone on for over 600 days, it is the Nakba of the current ages. The first Nakba took place from 1947-1949 and approximately 750,000 - 1 million Palestinians were expelled from their homeland and made into refugees by Israel and their new militia ⁽¹⁾.

The stats I am about to mention are almost 3 months old now, the numbers have done nothing but increase since then, I’d say I’d keep it short but that would be a disservice to Palestinians. An estimated 60,000+ people have been killed, out of which it’s estimated that 32% are children, over 40,000 children have been orphaned, 210 journalists have been targeted and killed, 121,000 people have been injured with over 10,000 children losing at least 1 leg, that number isn’t even including the children who have lost 1 or both arms. 90% of hospitals and 90% of schools and universities have been destroyed or damaged ⁽²⁾.

If these numbers and the countless videos online from Gaza have not moved you and made you see that the Zionism of Israel, the genocide they are commiting, is not horrific, if you can still defend Israel, then I have no words for you. Criticising Israel, criticising Zionism and calling a genocide a genocide does not make you anti-semitic.

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of Semite is:

“a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs. Or a descendent of these peoples”⁽³⁾

This is a quote directly from the United Nations website:

“The population of Palestine was mostly Semitic Arab, both Moslem and Christian. There were also small numbers of Semitic Jews.” ⁽⁴⁾

As per these definitions and evidence, wouldn’t the genocide being committed by Israel also be labelled as anti-semitic since Palestinians are Semites?

I am lucky and blessed to have been born and raised in Bahrain, where I know that a ceasefire is an actual ceasefire, that I am safe again and can continue to live a regular life. A ceasefire for Palestinians has never been a true ceasefire as Israel has constantly violated the ceasefires. I hope this makes you reconsider your stance.

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