It’s amazing that condemning the murder of more than 50 people is now dependent on which side of the (religious) political spectrum you sit.

Yesterday saw the US open their new embassy in Jerusalem, with the likes of Jared and Ivanka beaming from ear to ear.

Cool, except for the fact that at the same time Israeli soldiers were killing Palestinian protesters without an iota of compassion.

Yes, murder. It’s OK to say it. Look:

Don’t hold your breath on any kind of condemnation from the US government, though.

Here’s White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah not giving a single shred of f*ck:

WH Deputy Press Sec. Raj Shah asserts responsibility for Gaza deaths “rests squarely with Hamas” and adds “Israel has the right to defend itself.” https://t.co/dFEhFybS6R pic.twitter.com/FrWvo0ntpq

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) May 14, 2018

‘But Hamas’ is the new ‘but her emails’.

Nice how Donald tweets about the terrorist stabbing in Paris, but all this just whizzes by in silence.

OK, let’s leave that for a second and get to the Hector Pieterson comparison.

On Saturday night legendary photographer Sam Nzima passed away at the age of 83, with his famous photo of Hector from the 1976 Soweto Uprising being widely shared on social media once more.

Fast forward to yesterday, and a tragic comparison emerges. Hector on the left, and right a wounded Palestinian from the protest:

It’s worth looking at both in their entirety:

Yeah, we recognise injustice when we see it:

This photo has been widely shared, along with the news from yesterday:

I tell you who wasn’t taking any prisoners – the New York Daily News:

Smile and wave, Ivanka, smile and wave.

The Daily Maverick have a superb compilation of photos from yesterday, so let’s take a look at a few of those:

Some video showing Israeli forces using drones to drop tear gas into the crowds of protesters, as well as some scenes on the ground:

As we said up front, your take on this matter depends very heavily on which side of the fence (or wall) you sit.

The final word, though, can go to the Guardian’s editorial team:

It is inexcusable for soldiers of a military, especially those under democratic civilian control, to shoot and kill protesters, almost all of whom were unarmed, and who pose no credible threat. Yet at the boundary between Gaza and Israel today Israeli soldiers seem to have done just that.

It should make Israelis quail that demonstrators were sprayed with live ammunition with apparent impunity. There were dozens of deaths and hundreds of maimings among the Palestinians who had marched to the border to make a point about their right to return to their ancestral homes. Israel’s army evinced no shame in committing what looks like a war crime. These are serious accusations. Yet they were greeted with little more than a shrug.

By blockading Gaza, Israel imprisoned 2 million people behind barbed wire and military towers. Israel treated the violence as a jailer might a prison riot: a tragic fault of the inmates…

The conflict in the Holy Land is not a zero-sum game, where there is just one winner. The opposite is more likely to be true. Either both will fail – and continue with one civilian population humiliating and terrorising the other. Or they find a way to live side by side in two states, one that affords each people their own independence and security. If happily such an outcome was achieved, it would make sense for west Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel and east Jerusalem to be the Palestinian capital.

This is obvious to everyone but Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu, who instead have capitulated to a vision of brutal domination over a benighted people.

Trump’s supporter base will hail the new embassy as a massive win, and Netanyahu will sing his praises, but when you kill people in broad daylight it’s really our shared humanity that loses.

[sources:dailymav&guardian]