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January 1, 2021. My aunt Rasmiya Mohammad, 75, began her year with the news that her grandson, my cousin Harun Abu Aram, had been seriously wounded during an Israeli army raid in the Tiwani village in the South Hebron Hills. It was his birthday, and he was turning 24.
A few hours later, and more than 5,550 miles away, I started my morning in Brooklyn by calling my mother, Rasmiya’s younger sister. I wanted to wish her a happy 2021 and share my hope that this year would be more kind to all of us. Instead, she asked, “Did you see what happened to Harun?” I didn’t need to look far to find out, as footage of Israeli apartheid forces, backed by US money and might, shooting Harun in the neck at point-blank range flooded Facebook groups in Yatta, Palestine.