The death machine’s hunger is eternal. The death machine is hungry and its insatiable appetite must be satisfied. To satisfy itself temporarily it needs: food (Palestinian death and suffering), cutlery (weaponry), constant feeders (the West’s unconditional support) and money (legitimacy in the ‘international community.’)
The death machine knows that if it is not fed, it will die. Thus, it continuously finds ways to make money. Since October 7th, its money-making ventures have been simplified. The death machine is rich: the myth of the beheaded babies, self defence and defeating Hamas keep its gluttony alive. The death machine remains hungry. It never has enough and it never will.
The death machine is permitted to eat whatever it desires, so long as its plate isn’t too bloody. The death machine’s plate seems bloodier recently, but it simply stopped hiding its plate. Its plate has remained the same from start to finish.
The bloody plate is the Palestinian Corpse. To the feeders, the corpse of Hind (the soul of my soul) is acceptable because her limbs were intact. The corpses lying under the doctors of Al Shifa hospital in October were acceptable because they were in white bags. The corpses lying underneath the rubble are acceptable because they cannot be found. The feeders did not mind the death machine’s attempts to hide its bloody plate in these instances.
But then the death machine got greedy: the beheaded baby. The headless corpse of a toddler, Ahmad Al-Najjar, becomes the worthy Palestinian Corpse. For a moment, the death machine is reprimanded. Its plate is too bloody and it’s leaking onto the floor. The West pats the death machine on the head, ‘Keep the heads on the children. They only need to be limbless.’
On the floor lie the West’s citizens, that complain the rain tastes more bloody than usual. The death machine smiles. Its plan is working. It knew all along, that if it stopped hiding how truly bloody its plate was, the citizens would stop caring what the rain tasted like. That they would learn to wipe the blood smears off their new iPhones.
The death machine knows how to haggle: 4 hostages for 274 Palestinians, what a deal! The plate remains bloody. The feeders are beginning to lick the blood clean off the plate. Congratulations to Israel for the rescue.
The death machine knows that for the settler colonial regime to remain, Palestinians must remain non-human. Its insatiable appetite is sustained through its favourite hobby: learning new ways to control and determine Palestinian birth, livelihood and death. The feeders laugh off its insatiable appetite under the guise that the death machine ‘has the right to exist’ and ‘has the right to defend itself.’
That is what brings the death machine true satisfaction: knowing it has successfully built a state predicated on Palestinian death and that its feeders are eternal.