The Voice of Hind Rajab: Venice Film Festival
The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film focusing on the murder of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab by the Israeli occupation, received the longest standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
On January 29th 2024, five-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, was shot at 335 times and murdered, whilst taking cover in a car.
Evacuating Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City, Hind, her four cousins, aunt and uncle, were attempting to escape IDF soldiers. Whilst driving away in their car, an IDF unit opened fire. 15-year-old Layan Hamada, Hind’s cousin, made an urgent call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), telling them that Israeli forces were shooting at their car, and everyone but herself and Hind had been murdered. Layan was then murdered by the IDF. Five-year-old Hind was now on her own. She was a five-year-old little girl, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives, petrified as she remained on the call to the emergency services. The emergency services tried to gain permission from the IDF to send paramedics to save her.
Forensic Architecture later concluded that 335 bullets were fired at the car and the IDF soldiers had a clear view of the two children in the car. The IDF tank was only 13 to 23 meters away, in just 6 seconds 64 gunshots were fired on Layan.
At approximately 6pm, two PRCS paramedics, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun left Al-Ahil Hospital in an ambulance to rescue Hind. However once they had arrived at the scene, the IDF set off an explosion, murdering both paramedics and Hind Rajab.
Hind Rajab, her family and the two paramedics were murdered by the Israel Defense Forces.
The rhetoric of this genocidal attack on Gaza for the past two years, being about targeting Hamas is a lie. Hamas is just the scape goat narrative. Systematic murders, like that of Hind, prove that Israel is committing a genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Despite a growing global movement in solidarity with Palestine, many political leaders and institutions continue to support Israel. Yet at the Venice Film Festival, the power of global empathy for the Palestinian people was undeniable. The Voice of Hind Rajab, a deeply moving film by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, received the longest standing ovation of the entire festival, lasting an incredible 23 minutes. The film’s emotional portrayal of five-year-old Hind Rajab’s tragic story left audiences in tears, marking one of the most powerful moments in the festival’s history.
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