Twice Displaced Palestinian On The Continued Cost Of October 7 Attack, 365 Days On

This week is the first anniversary of Hamas’ deadly terrorist attack on Israel, where more than 1100 Israelis were killed and 240 taken hostage.

It also marks one year of Israel’s military assault on Gaza – which human rights groups have described as a genocide.

Twice displaced Palestinian Lem Zakharia describes the cost of the October 7 attack on this episode of The Briefing:

Over the last 12 months, Israel’s retaliatory military assault into the occupied territory of Palestine has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, wounded 90,000 and displaced almost two million.

Twice displaced Palestinian and LiSTNR producer, Lem Zakharia explained her feelings on The Briefing podcast.

“I feel so fucking sad that it takes 40,000 of us to be dead for people to kind of wake up to what’s happening. Like at what cost?” she said.

“It just feels like our blood is so cheap.”

However, Zakharia said the October 7 attack was far from the beginning of the bloodshed in the Gaza strip.  

“When people were asking me, how are you feeling? How are you feeling? I’m like, it’s almost always been like that. So, I think a lot of people who don’t understand the historical context would assume that it all started on October 7th” 

Zakharia said while social media has allowed people to develop empathy for the struggles and anguish of other human beings on the other side of the world, media narratives have descended into racism and antisemitism.  

On a previous episode of The Briefing, Jewish Australian Dan Monheit recalls the October 7 attack:

“We’re losing the nuance that these are people…regardless of who you are,” she said. 

“Obviously, they are also going through a lot of pain right now, Jewish people are, because they have a lot to lose. We have barely something to lose that we’re holding onto, but they have a lot to lose, and they have a drive to protect.”

By Ashleigh Wyss, a Master of Journalism student at the University of Melbourne.

Subscribe to The Briefing, Australia’s fastest-growing news podcast on LiSTNR today. The Briefing serves up the latest news and deep dives on topics affecting you, all in under 20 minutes.