The world heard her voice. A five-year-old girl, trapped in a car with the bodies of her family members, pleading desperately for rescue that would never come. Hind Rajab's final hours have become the centerpiece of an award-winning film that received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
Her story is devastating. Every child's death is a tragedy. I am personally opposed to all warfare—I believe that killing can never bring lasting solutions, and that conflicts must be resolved through dialogue, negotiation and international pressure, not violence.
Hind Rajab's double tragedy: Hamas’s role in Gaza’s civilian suffering
(Video: Hadar Galron)
But as the world mourns Hind, we must ask uncomfortable questions. Why did she not evacuate with her family?
Israel gives notice and enough time to evacuate civilians from conflict zones. But Hamas prevents civilians from evacuating to safety. On the contrary, they use their own people as human shields. Audio recordings from Gaza residents document Hamas blocking evacuation routes, directing people to "go back home" instead of seeking shelter.
Evidence shows Hamas has deliberately weaponized and operated from hospitals, schools, kindergartens and private homes, making these civilian locations military targets and increasing civilian casualties. The United States confirmed that "Hamas has repeatedly misused civilian infrastructure like schools and hospitals to store weapons, house fighters and coordinate attacks against Israel." The organization invests billions in underground tunnel networks for warfare while building no bomb shelters for civilians.
Hamas also prevents food and humanitarian aid from reaching those who refuse to join Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing them on the spot with a bullet to their head.
Hind died not only because she was tragically caught in the fire, but because she was prevented from reaching safety by the very organization that claims to represent her.
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A destroyed ambulance is seen in Gaza alongside a handout photo of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed in the fighting along with two paramedics who came to assist her, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society
(Photo: Palestine Red Crescent Society/ Family Handout via REUTERS)
And the more difficult question is, what if she had survived? What kind of life awaited her under Hamas rule?
As a girl growing up in Hamas-controlled Gaza, Hind would have faced forced marriage as young as her family decided, severely restricted education and career opportunities, legal status as property of male relatives, death threats for "dishonoring" the family by seeking independence and a justice system that considers her father's right to kill her legal.
Hamas is not just Israel's enemy—they are their own people's enemy. They have created a society where Palestinian children, especially girls, cannot dream freely or live with dignity.
The proof the West refuses to see: Israeli Muslim Arabs—over 1.7 million of them—did not revolt against Israel from within. Why? Because they understand what life under extremist Islamic rule actually means. They have seen what Hamas does to its own people. They choose to live in Israel because here they can be doctors, judges, professors and politicians. Their daughters can go to university, choose their husbands, and live freely.
I teach Arab students at university in Israel. These young women attend classes freely, pursue degrees, debate ideas and plan careers. The very freedom that is prohibited under Hamas rule.
The moment Hamas declares they will no longer rule Gaza, this war ends! For Israelis and for the Gazan people. But the West prefers to expel extreme Muslims from their own countries, discreetly, then wash their hands by boycotting Israel, our only tiny homeland. For what? For defending itself against the very extremism they refuse to confront. This is not Islamophobia—this is survival!
The irony is breathtaking: Hollywood celebrities shed tears for Hind at film festivals while ignoring the thousands of girls murdered by their own families. The same activists who march for Palestinian "liberation" would rather see Palestinian girls trapped under Hamas than free in a Hamas-free Gaza.
And let's not forget who decapitated Israeli babies in cold blood on October 7, in rejoicing and laughter. I will never rejoice in the death of a Palestinian child. I pray for freedom, for peace and for life.
The truth we refuse to face
Here's what the world won't acknowledge: If she had been spared that day, if she had grown up and later sought education, refused an arranged marriage or simply chosen to remove her hijab—and was then murdered by her family for these "transgressions"—the world would never have learned of her death.
Her voice would have been silenced forever, with no films, no festivals, no standing ovations, no tears from Hollywood celebrities. Just another girl whose dreams were deemed too dangerous for the society that raised her.
Hadar Galron Video: Roni TernovskyJust like the countless girls killed by their brothers and fathers across the Muslim world, her death would have been met with silence.
This isn't speculation—it's documented reality. In Gaza itself, honor killings happen with disturbing regularity. In Turkey, 1 in 4 people support honor killings. In Jordan, 70% support stoning for adultery. These are values estranged from the Western world.
Stop the double standard
Until we stop the double standards that make some children's suffering more visible than others, our grief for Hind remains performative—while the next generation of girls continues to live under systems designed to silence them.
The same extremist ideology that threatens Palestinian girls like Hind also fuels the boycotts against Israel, the hate crimes against Jews on campuses and the violence in our streets. We face the same enemy: those who murder children for seeking freedom, whether they're Palestinian girls "dishonoring" their families or Israeli babies on October 7.
A legacy worth fighting for
Until the world realizes we're fighting the same battle for the same values—freedom, dignity and the right to live—children like Hind will continue to die twice: once from bullets that make headlines, and once from honor killings that the world ignores.
And the Western World will continue to play the part of the useful idiots of extreme ideological Islam, that, I must hand it to them, knows how to manipulate your minds with social media.
- Hadar Galron is an Anglo-Israeli playwright, screenwriter, comedian, director, actress and teacher of dramatic writing at several Academic Institutes