Let Me Go, My Love: Brutality of the Israeli Occupation

The ongoing aggression against Gaza and the series of massacres and genocidal war targeting both people and infrastructure mark a new chapter in the brutal crimes committed by the cowardly Israeli occupation. Each new atrocity adds to the blood-soaked record of their Nazi-like violence in the relentless assault on bleeding Gaza.

Recently, a horrifying video circulated on social media showing the moment an Israeli occupation “police dog” attacked a Palestinian young man, Mohammed Bahar, who has Down syndrome.

What is the story behind the video “Let me go, my love”?

The story begins when occupation forces attacked the Palestinian family’s home in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, forcing them out. Unable to leave with his family due to his condition, Mohammed Salah Bahar, who usually sat in the middle of the house, was left behind. The family tried to take Mohammed with them, but the occupation forces refused. Instead of considering his health and humanitarian condition, they released the “occupation dog” to attack him inside the house. The dog began to maul him, and in his innocence, Mohammed stroked the dog’s head, repeating, “Let me go, my love,” thinking the dog was playing with him. They left him to bleed to death alone in the house.

What does the family say?

According to his mother and family members: “He didn’t know anything about the world. He only knew two things: he wanted water and he wanted food.”

Sarah, Mohammed’s sister, shared the horrific details of the crime, saying her brother, in his innocence, was petting the dog as it mauled him. “Mohammed said, ‘Let me go, my love,’ as he stroked the dog’s head, while the dog tore into his innocent body.”

Sarah explained that around 30 armed soldiers stayed in their house for six hours, inflicting all kinds of psychological torture on them, starting with confiscating their phones, eating and drinking in front of the hungry children, and ending with singing, dancing, breaking walls, and throwing Qur’ans on the ground.

Sarah describes what she witnessed: “The ground was turned upside down. We walked 10 meters, and there was a bulldozer and three tanks firing at us, even though we were all girls and children.” While a “quad-copter” drone pursued them, they tried to hide in an open store, fearing it might be destroyed by the bulldozer. The same scenario happened in a bombed-out house they took refuge in for an hour in the dark, with a tank firing at it. Eventually, they heard the voices of other displaced citizens who joined them, despite the tank beside them. What pains Sarah and her family the most is not knowing Mohammed’s fate. She pleads with the world to save Mohammed and return him to his family, saying, “My mother has endured a lot, including my father’s martyrdom in 2002, which deeply affected Mohammed.” But now, her mother cannot bear to be away from Mohammed.

Sarah questions what the world needs to see to end the war on Gaza, or if the suffering of Gazans has become “entertaining scenes” that no one wants to see end. She concludes, “We die slowly every day. We are tired of loss, attacks, and separation.” But the hearts of Mohammed’s mother and siblings remain broken, with no response to their pleas.

Mohammed’s brother later published a plea, appealing to the Red Crescent: “A plea to the Red Cross and relevant authorities. Mohammed Salah Bahar, a person with Down syndrome and autism, cannot eat or drink by himself or go to the bathroom alone. He needs special care and is detained in his home in Shuja’iyya after being mauled by occupation dogs.”

A few days ago, Mohammed’s brother issued a distress call after the occupation army detained his siblings, forced his family to leave, and left their beloved Mohammed, who needs special care, without knowing his fate. He wrote, “Praise be to God in all circumstances. Today, my brothers Adam and Saif were detained after the house was stormed by a large force of the occupation army and dogs that mauled my brother Mohammed, a person with special needs. They expelled my mother, sister, and all the women and children of the family towards West Gaza, after assaulting them and forcing them to leave my brother Mohammed with the occupation forces in the house. We don’t know his fate, and he needs special care. Please pray for him.”

In a subsequent post, he appealed to the Red Cross again, saying, “A plea to the Red Cross and relevant authorities. Mohammed Salah Bahar, a person with Down syndrome and autism, cannot eat or drink by himself or go to the bathroom alone. He needs special care and is detained in Shuja’iyya after being mauled by occupation dogs.”

Finally, Mohammed’s brother surprised everyone with a post announcing his brother’s martyrdom: “My brother Mohammed Salah Bahar, a person with special needs, is a martyr and a witness to the crimes of the Nazi Zionist occupation.”

The scenes of crimes and massacres we witness today, perpetrated by the Nazi occupation forces against the Palestinian people in Gaza, are a link in the chain of violence marked by escalating brutality and horror, spreading death and bloodshed across Gaza.

Thus, the occupation has fallen morally and humanely, and with it, America, the West, and the complicit Arab regimes have fallen morally and humanely by supporting the war crimes in Gaza and exposing their false and hypocritical slogans.