I heard they were taking boat tours
to watch Gaza burn, checking out
the real estate, waiting for the moment
when they can occupy the few homes
still left standing.
Say the words: genocide tourism.
Seeing rockets fired into once-
vibrant communities, intentionally
watching the horrors of destruction,
turning it into spectacle; they bring
popcorn and sunflower seeds.
Say the words: Sderot cinema.
It’s no longer enough to view
the remnants of war—Auschwitz
at least has a lesson to impart. Now
instead settlers and visitors alike
cheer as they watch people die.
Say the words: war pornography.
And the long starvation, hospitals
in rubble, tens of thousands displaced,
and the settlers watching, cackling, using
the same hateful words once directed
at their forebears. Where does it end?
Say the words, all the words. And weep.