Hind Rajab’s Car

Sheffielders were surprised to see a car outside the Town Hall on Saturday, whose bodywork was covered in bullet holes. What was going on?

Annie O’Gara from Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign explained.

We’re really pleased to welcome this Hind Rajab exhibit to Sheffield. It’s been touring cities across England, and it’s fantastic that it’s come here to Sheffield to support our work for justice for Palestine. The story of Hind is very well known. A little girl is trying to flee to safety with six members of her family from the Israeli bombardment of Gaza City. But then her car was attacked, and all the relatives inside were killed, leaving just Hind alive. She had a telephone, and she placed a desperate call for assistance. And many hours later, many hours later, the rescuers were given the permission which they had to seek from the Israeli army to go to rescue her, and an ambulance went with two paramedics inside. A desperate call was placed by Hind, who was the last person alive in the car to get rescue and help. And the people in the office in Ramula had to contact the Israeli army, and it took them many hours to get a green light, a safe route for the ambulance crew. But when the ambulance crew arrived, they too were bombed and killed, and Hind was probably the last person surviving. 300-plus bullets were riddling her car. The story is terrible, and we’re proud to represent that story in Sheffield. But one point that’s really important that we want to make is that Hind is just one of the children of Palestine, one of the children of Gaza. her family are just among the many thousands, tens of thousands who’ve been slaughtered in this genocide. And what our exhibition and our leaflet try to point out is that Hind is a representative. She’s a voice. She’s an example of what’s going on across Palestine from the river to the sea. And we think that people who are captured by her story, hopefully, will progress to look at the story of Palestine in its entire history of 70-odd years of settler colonialism.”

Over at Union Street, there were free showings of the short film “Hind Under Siege”, where the last moments of Hind’s life and those trying to rescue her were recreated. An incredibly moving film, which touched many hearts.There is also a full-length feature film, The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is currently showing at The Light.

Khaled told me. “We’ve had the honour of putting this Hind Rajab exhibition together in Coventry and then since then it’s been doing the tours around the country to raise awareness for this and raise awareness not just for the murder of Hind Rajab but also for the genocide that’s happening and for all the children that have been killed in Palestine. So that’s why we’re here in Sheffield today. This is our seventh city, I believe that we visited and inshallah long may it continue. “

The original idea was to have an actual car to take to the city centres. Bureaucracy and politicians made that difficult, so eventually they made a car that can easily be transported and reconstructed at different sites, built from wood and parts from scrapyards. The car has pictures of many of the children who have been killed. And also, it’s a memorial as well as an art form.

Muhammad Amar told me, “I’m from Derby, and alongside Khalid, we started this campaign after the difficult events that we witnessed with regard to Hind Rajab. We thought is going to be an ideal representation of all the children that have lost their lives under the current genocide that’s taking place. So yes, it was something that we thought was important for us to do to keep active, to remain active, to keep the memories of all those who’ve lost their lives in Gaza.”

The exhibition will soon be appearing in Norwich, York, Edinburgh and Rotherham. After Ramadan, the plan is to visit a different city every Saturday.

Musheir El-FarraI spoke by the car and said “Hind was one of more than 20,000 Palestinian children who lost their lives in similar circumstances. They were bombed inside their tented camps. They were bombed inside their houses after they were ordered to leave by the Israeli army. They were killed by fire or gunfire. They were even sniped. There are many, many cases of snipers killing Palestinians. So it’s more than 20,000 Palestinian children similar to Hind. Now, in the case of Hind, we have to learn something. This is a clearcut a case study of a war crime. Johnny mentioned Leanne speaking to the Palestinian Crescent, and she’s saying, “Uncle, Auntie, we are being fired on, the tank is next to us”, and then suddenly there was like extensive fire at this small vehicle, and then there was silence. Then Hind, as we all know, picked up the phone only to be talking to them after that silence. The second war crime is that the Palestinian Crescent got approval from the Israeli army to reach, to recover, the injured or the bodies and then when they arrived, they were bombed and killed. And we must remember that the paramedics who were killed with Hind, Ahmed al-Madhoun and Yusuf al-Zeino. “

Musheir went on to criticise the selection of the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu for the so-called “Board of Peace” to control the Gaza Strip when he is wanted by the International Criminal Court, and there’s a warrant for his arrest.