A deadly double standard

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/03/2025 (386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The title of Omar El Akkad’s powerful memoir originated in a tweet written three weeks after the bombardment of Gaza began in October 2023. It’s his parting of ways with the western ideals he embraced as a hopeful young immigrant, ideals which he says are betrayed by the very people who purport to uphold them.

El Akkad is a former Globe and Mail reporter turned novelist and short story writer. His second novel, What Strange Paradise, about a refugee child who is the sole survivor of a sunken migrant ship, was awarded the Giller Prize in 2021. Born in Egypt, he was raised in Qatar and Canada and now lives near Portland, Ore.

In parallel with his own life experiences, El Akkad recounts the hypocrisy of a society that enshrines the principles of equality and justice in constitutions, declarations and charters, but then unleashes economic and physical violence when Black, brown and Indigenous people expect these lofty words to be applied to them. Truth is turned on its head and all the institutions of society are invoked to blame the victims for their plight, which in the case of the conflict in Gaza justifies the displacement of millions and the murder of tens of thousands of people in the name of preserving all that is right and moral.

Any crime is acceptable to exact revenge and maintain order, no matter that the horrific attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 were the result of a “near-century occupation, and easily the most well documented,” El Akkad writes. The killing spree that ensued, financed by the West, spawned a campaign to distort reality — Palestinians deserve to be bombed because they voted for Hamas, even though the 15,000 or more children who’ve been murdered didn’t vote for them. The subtext is that Palestinian children are the terrorists of the future, and the 35,000 men and women killed are already presumed terrorists. Palestinians are “human animals” according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Therefore, Palestinians are non-human, their lives of no value, their deaths perfectly reasonable.

El Akkad juxtaposes the increasing body count to the banal response of politicians who mouth concern about innocent people being annihilated in their apartments, schools and hospitals, while at the same time offering unconditional support for Israel and voting to send more bombs to destroy more buildings and people. These defenders of the rules-based order equivocate when asked to use the words “apartheid” and “genocide” because these words are uncomfortable and, writes El Akkad, “usage is attached to obligation… it’s just so much safer to look away.”

Readers are reminded by El Akkad that the unjust imprisonment of a single American reporter in Russia engendered indignation and substantial airtime by a myriad of western media outlets. These same outlets affected a cognitive dissonance, however, toward the Israeli Defence Force’s deliberate campaign to thwart information getting out of Gaza by killing more than 100 Palestinian journalists. Journalists are supposed to hold power to account, but an “an utter fog” descends when advertisers can pull their money, when careers can be upended for an article that challenges the dominant narrative.

In returning to document and analyze current events, El Akkad holds up a mirror for our supposed liberal society to examine. What we see is a disturbing reflection.

Still, he keeps a ledger of brave people who stand up for what’s right, despite the consequences. He has hope that “courage is the more potent contagion.”

Events that have unfolded since Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency only a few weeks ago show that much courage will be needed to avoid hurtling toward the abyss.

 

Omar El Akkad will launch One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This in Winnipeg on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location, where he’ll be joined in conversation by David Bergen.

 

Harriet Zaidman is an award-winning children’s writer in Winnipeg. Her next novel, What Friends Are For, will be released this fall.