It's unclear exactly what the image is. A series of tents? Trucks against a rust orange background? Multicolored rectangles?
Mountains are visible in the background, and in the foreground are the following words: “All eyes on Rafah” – a reference to the southernmost city of Gaza that has become the center of war coverage this week.
After the Israeli attack on a refugee camp in the city, in what had been labeled a safe zone, killed dozens of Palestinian refugees, the aforementioned image was seemingly everywhere.
Probably created using artificial intelligence, the image – which is not a real image of Rafah or the war in Gaza – was shared more than 46 million times on Instagram alone.
But the popularity of the image has raised questions and criticism about the passivity of the act. The “eyes on Rafah” did not stop the violence, scientist Ayesha Khan wrote on Instagram.
Simply posting an image is performative, Khan and others noted.
Still, the momentum of the post continued. See where the phrase comes from, where it originated and what it can signal.
Where did 'All eyes on Rafah' come from?
The phrase “All eyes on Rafah” has been appearing in various graphics and images associated with the war in Gaza for months and is not necessarily linked to this specific viral image.
It likely originated from comments made in February by Rik Peeperkorn, who leads the World Health Organization (WHO) office in the West Bank and Gaza.
At that time, more than 1.5 million Palestinian refugees, many of whom were fleeing northern and central Gaza, were crammed into the southernmost city of Rafah, which was also being targeted by a wave of Israeli airstrikes – attempts to “target Hamas terrorists in the area,” an IDF spokesman said.
“All eyes” were on Rafah, Peeperkorn said, a phrase that later became widely used by activists and found its way into illustrations, like the one going viral.
Instagram credits user @shahv4012 as the creator of the Instagram Stories template, which includes a watermark for the account “@chaa.my,” listed as his second account. The user behind the accounts did not respond to the company's requests for comment. CNN .
What makes this image so popular?
There are some aspects of this image that may have contributed to its popularity, noted Faiza Hirji, an associate professor at Ontario's McMaster University who studies race, religion and media.
One of them is the inherent shareability of the image.
As it is not a real image of the violence, it is instead a more “sanitized” representation, Hirji told CNN , meaning there is less risk of social media platforms preventing the image from being shared. This allows the image to circulate more easily than actual images of war.
Plus, the way the image is being shared on Instagram – with a handy “add to your stories” feature that allows users to easily repost the image on their own profile – only helps its viral success.
The easier it is to share, the more likely people are to do so.
Still, there was some criticism of the image. To understand the illustration, the user would need to have some idea of what is actually happening in Rafah and would therefore know that the shared image does not actually depict the violence and scale of destruction that is occurring.
For some, this could make the image more appealing, while others have argued that the image distances itself from what is actually happening on the ground.
“I think for some people it also causes a kind of discomfort,” Hirji said. “Because you are directing everyone’s gaze to an image that doesn’t really show the horror of what happens in conflict zones.”
What does 'All Eyes on Rafah' mean?
Others pointed out that the image does not actually include the words “Palestine” or “Gaza” – names that were widely politicized even before October 7th.
“Rafah doesn’t have immediate name recognition for people who haven’t been paying attention,” said writer Heben Nigatu on X (formerly Twitter). “Are people Googling Rafah? Sharing without searching?”
Everyone probably has different motivations for sharing an image.
For some, sharing the image could be a call for others to investigate what is happening in the region, and specifically in Rafah, Hirji said.
Reposting the image can be a way of telling the public: “Don’t look away. You can’t pretend this isn’t happening.”
Other interpretations are less charitable. Take, for example, the argument that the illustration is a performative gesture, an image that doesn't bother to show the reality in Gaza with a vaguely political statement slapped on top – not unlike the black squares posted on social media during the “Black Lives Matter” protests of 2020.
But unlike the debates over racism that followed the murder of George Floyd, for many people in the West the war in Gaza is not close to home.
This could make it difficult for people to feel empowered, Hirji said – in terms of their direct ability to affect the outcome of the war.
“I think a lot of people are powerless and feel that powerlessness,” she said. “Some of this may be performative, but perhaps they feel the only action they can really take at this point is to at least raise awareness. And so this notion of ‘All eyes on Rafah,’ if it can be somewhat informative or educational, then maybe there is a sense that this is the action they can take.”
And yet, there are concerns about “slacktivism,” the notion that all we need to do to change the world is share an image enough times.
“We need much more than performative rallies and symbolic protests that are not intended to disrupt anything,” Khan wrote. “Giving testimony is still a passive act. And we shouldn’t spoil ourselves by pretending that one post a day is substantial.”
The phrase itself – keeping “eyes” on one place – inherently prioritizes the public over Rafah, creating a distance between bystanders and victims. And yet, Hirji said, even amid pleas not to look away, the world often does it anyway.
“You could say it’s important that we at least acknowledge our complicity or acknowledge our inaction,” Hirji said. “That’s one interpretation.”
But there is also another interpretation, which could be that the public is positioning itself as an observer of this trauma, Hirji noted, becoming both indifferent and inactive.
The history and investigation of past conflicts in parts of the Middle East or the Global South speak for themselves, Hirji said — “often, a lot of what we do is observe, judge, comment,” even without knowing enough about the places. . we are watching or commenting.
“And this is also a point that some people are trying to emphasize by making this appeal? To say: so we are watching, what now?”, said Hirji. “What happens after watching?”
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
