Earlier in July, Muhammad Bhar, a 24-year-old Autistic, Palestinian man with Down Syndrome was violently murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in his home in Gaza. We do not know enough about Muhammed, but what we do know is that before the war he had lived a life in community, surrounded by his family, often relaxing in his favourite, comfortable chair. 

In a particularly cruel form of torture, the IOF made his family watch as their Oketz Unit set an attack dog on Muhammad. Before he died, soldiers removed him from the room and his family was forced to leave. What did the soldiers do to this disabled man as he bled to death? We will never know what further horrors the IOF inflicted upon Muhammad, only that two days later, Muhammad’s family found him dead, with his decomposing body being eaten by worms. Muhammad—a beloved member of his family and community—was abandoned and his family left with the image of him suffering. 

This complete disregard for human life, and the callous cruelty that the IOF carried out is in stark contrast to the elaborate military funerals that the IOF gives its Oketz Unit’s attack dogs. Meanwhile, it was too dangerous to bury Muhammad anywhere but the alley near his former home.

We at the Disability Justice Network of Ontario are enraged, disgusted, and devastated by this murder and the ongoing atrocities against Indigenous people everywhere. We know that Muhammad’s brutal murder is fully representative of Israel's genocidal project of colonialism and mass disablement—inherently rooted in eugenicist practices that disproportionately target disabled bodyminds. 

However, we have been troubled by the responses to Muhammad’s murder that infantilize and further dehumanize him, particularly the ableist language that evokes the trope of “mental age” and “capacity of a 1-year-old/toddler”. We should be as equally furious in our response to Muhammad’s death as the countless other  24-year-old adults who have suffered similar fates. It seems that the anger responding to Muhammad’s death comes from the ableist and anti-Palestinian racist assumption that a child’s life deserves our rage, while a Palestinian young man’s life should be assumed as fair game for violent acts and death. 

This infantilization is part of the larger project which dehumanizes Palestinian men as part of Israel’s colonial ambitions. To Israel, all Palestinians are targets of violence and oppression, yes, but it sells its image of “self-defense” through dehumanizing adults and, in particular, adult men. Only some Palestinians, rarely, are given the space to be valued, to be considered worthy of life in the minds and media of the Global Minority. But, this project of dehumanization actively aids and furthers the Apartheid regime.

As the BBC has rightly noted, in response to IOF complaints about the original story, the core facts of this story are not even disputed by the IOF itself and these acts against Muhammad Bhar clearly violate international law—a commonplace reality regarding the IOF and Israel. We need all levels of government, all corporations, and all non-profit organizations complicit in this genocide to act now, to respect the recent ICJ ruling regarding the Israeli Apartheid Regime and end their relationships there. As we have said before, we particularly encourage the broader disability movement to engage in solidarity with Palestinians and denounce the Israeli settler occupation. Such organizations must critically evaluate their financial and institutional ties to Zionist organizations. 

In particular, organizations that claim to support research on cognitive disabilities such as autism, Down Syndrome, as well as organizations that house, and provide direct support work for disabled people need to do so with haste. Israel and Zionist organizations internationally have long evoked disability-washing as a means to legitimize the nation-state. This includes its claims to be international leaders in identifying and intervening in Autism. However, this attempt to legitimize itself instead makes clear the intentionality of this horrific murder

We know—and will speak further on soon—the ties between beneficiaries of the Apartheid Regime and so-called charitable activities here in so-called Canada to work in these areas of support and research. But, you cannot be complicit in the death of Disabled Palestinians and hide behind charity for Disabled Peoples in these territories.

Many claim to support Disability Justice and to stand with Disabled People. But we know that true Disability Justice requires anti-Zionism and requires Land Back. We will never stop engaging in Internationalism and solidarity with Disabled People of oppressed nations around the world. We can and must demand better from those who purport to be with or of Disabled communities, be it the media, non-profit organizations, and governments throughout these territories.

Justice for Muhammad Bhar and all Disabled/non-Disabled Palestinians.

For a free Palestine, now and forever.

Disability Justice Network of Ontario, a Provincial Organization centered on the territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas (so-called Hamilton, Ontario) that aims to build a just and accessible world, hold the powerful to account, and create a world where disabled people are free to be. DJNO is an abolitionist, anti-imperialist organization and encourages all Disability organizations to take strong stances to support Disabled Palestinians and all nations around the world struggling against colonialism.

Please check out djno.ca/gaza for more resources or sign on to the Disability Divest Statement (disabilitydivest.org)