The one thing all journalists working for NEIU’s newspaper, the Independent, have to follow is the AP Stylebook. Not Advanced Placement, but Associated Press. Most newspapers follow this style. AP is a great resource for many situations. But this is not the case when they suggest we state neutrality in a situation where you may not have the opportunity to be neutral. In fact, in some cases, stating neutrality means putting yourself on the wrong side of history.

A perfect example is when covering the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli government. The AP writing format recommends journalists refrain from calling the genocide a genocide, and instead call it the “Israel-Hamas war.” An Israeli real-estate company made a  “joke about them having already planned out beachfront properties in demolished parts of northern Gaza. This shows that they do not care about Hamas or the Palestinian people. This, like most genocides, is about money, power, and greed. Like the greed, some have for not wanting to give up their Starbucks, though they have been proven to fund the Israeli efforts.

Calling it a war is far from the truth. A war implies that both sides have an equal chance. What’s equal about Israeli forces plowing down children and their families? How is bombing an entire group of people, entirely unprompted, not genocide? More importantly, why are governments, ours included, supporting and funding a genocide? 

“The numbers that capture the state of Gaza after 100 days of war are staggering: Nearly 2 million displaced, thousands of homes destroyed, and nearly 24,000 dead — 10,000 of them children,” NPR reported in a recent article – though at this point these numbers are even higher. Of course, Israel has to defend itself by killing 24,000 people. This is not a war and this does not bear repeating. These people have families, lives and friends, all of which disappear under the rubble. We are going to see a new generation of children traumatized and radicalized. These children will have a valid, seeping hatred for Israel after they have been forced to watch their friends, family, and neighbors die in the most brutal ways possible.

A 4-year-old boy went to bed one night when a neighboring apartment building was hit by an Israeli airstrike. He woke up having a panic attack. His little heart just couldn’t take it, so his parents took him to an already overburdened intensive care unit. Luckily, he survived. 

This trauma will be with this poor child for the rest of his life. Forever, he will carry the weight of the fallen rubble on his shoulders, trembling at any loud noise, at the thought that this may happen again.

But this is just a war to AP Stylebook. In their eyes, Israel just bombed a building in case Hamas is in there. There is no outcome where Israel is in the right, where this isn’t all just one-sided, and perpetuating stories that do not concretely identify the perpetrators of horror won’t help.

How can you not call it a war crime when there is no sympathy for those who have passed? “All the Gazans need to be destroyed,” an Israeli ambassador told a local British radio station. AP still suggests we call it a war when it’s so apparent that it is an act of ethnic cleansing. There is no war, just a continuation of colonialism.

An Israeli real estate developer made plans to build beachfront properties in parts of Gaza that have been flattened by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). People die every day. People are being killed every day and we know why: for greed, power, and an end to collective resistance. Trying to maintain neutrality in this situation is just feeding into the hate and confusion that persist in the killing of hundreds of Palestinians each day. 

Silence is deadly. AP’s silencing is deadly. This silence leads the way to genocide. This silence has a voice that could be used to call for a ceasefire, to call for the IDF to stop their genocide. Why aren’t we all using our voices to fight for what’s right? We can use our wallets to speak, too. Don’t buy from McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coke, Pepsi, etc.. Research the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. Get involved with local organizations and go protest. We must all come together to do something.

These companies and the governments/politicians they have in their pockets have their names on bombs being dropped on boys and girls and moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Profit margins soar as innocent civilians fall. The Associated Press and all who look to obscure or distort this struggle have blood on their hands.