Selah Hajras, aged 3, has already experienced more horrors than most of us will live through in an entire lifetime.
She survived a bombing but was badly injured. She lost her mother and brother. She was separated from her father for days.
It seems that she has not suffered enough: having come to Malta for medical treatment, she must now put up with being paraded and passed around by politicians eager for a photo op.
Robert Abela, Bernard Grech, Anġlu Farrugia all made it a point to be photographed with the poor child. MEP candidate Claudette Abela Baldacchino did her best to ensure she was in the shot.
It began when Selah was carried out of the Malta International Airport arrivals hall on Tuesday. The man carrying the wounded three-year-old girl was not her father. It was Palestine’s ambassador to Malta.
As the ambassador smiled and held the child up for the cameras, Selah’s father stood meekly in the background. He would reappear in some other photos with local politicians, smiling and polite. In others, he was completely absent.
The politicians who sought to bask in Selah’s reflected glory might argue that the child and her father were happy to be photographed while they kissed and carried the child.
That misses the point. Neither the child nor her father were in any position to decline the requests. The power disparity is just too great: the family came to Malta at the invitation of Malta’s government, and effectively has nowhere to go.
Malta's government paid for the family's visas and medical treatment. The Palestinian embassy raised money, including from its own staff, to cover their other expenses.
It is hard for anyone in such a situation to decline a request made by benefactors.
If Abela, Grech and co. knew this but went ahead anyway, they should feel guilty. If it did not cross their minds, they are insensitive
If Abela, Grech and co. knew this but went ahead anyway, they should feel guilty. If it did not cross their minds, they are insensitive.
Of course, the government should be commended for offering to host the child and pay for her medical treatment. The prime minister said Selah will not be the only girl who will come to Malta from Gaza for treatment. The government is making such a pledge knowing that it faces the criticism of many ruthless people who believe citizens in war-torn countries should deal with their own problems, even if their future meant guaranteed suffering or death.
But it’s a shame we couldn’t resist the temptation of milking that for every last drop of publicity. What was a genuinely noble gesture ended up morphing into a tasteless spectacle.
The chest-thumping charade surrounding Selah brings to mind another, very public display of charity showboating by Malta’s politicians: the annual L-Istrina charity fundraiser.
In that case, the end may well justify the means. The day-long spectacle encourages people to be generous and help those in need, even if it ends up being a convenient excuse for politicians and businesses to promote themselves.
There is no such justification in Selah’s case. The photos of politicians cozying up to her did not serve any higher purpose. She stood to gain nothing from being made to smile while strange men held her.
The issue becomes even more disconcerting knowing that the government has repeatedly turned a blind eye to dozens of other children when they faced distress in our seas. Suffice to mention the case of Loujin Ahmed Nasif, the four-year-old Syrian refugee who died of thirst at sea in Malta’s search and rescue zone in 2022. Will Maltese politicians be willing to pose for a picture with the next desperate Palestinian toddler who arrives in Malta on a rickety boat?
Sadly, this exploitation of children is not exclusive to Malta. But this spectacle of PR exploitation needs to stop.
Correction February 27, 2024: A previous version implied that the government paid for all expenses. It only covered visa and healthcare fees.