In fact, worse still, the demonstrators have been cast as Hamas stooges.
The United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, blamed the victims under occupation, saying Israel had a right to "defend its border," while the British government claimed the protests were "hijacked by terrorists."
None of this can have passed Harb by.
When Palestinians are told they can "protest peacefully," western governments mean quietly, in ways that Israel can ignore, in ways that will not trouble consciences or require any action.
In Gaza, the Israeli army is renewing the Dahiya doctrine, this time by shattering thousands of Palestinian bodies rather than infrastructure.
Harb understood only too well the West's hypocrisy in denying Palestinians any right to meaningfully resist Israel's campaign of destruction.
The flames that engulfed him were intended also to consume us with guilt and shame. And doubtless more in Gaza will follow his example.
Will Harb be proved right? Can the West be shamed into action?
Or will we continue blaming the victims to excuse our complicity in seven decades of outrages committed against the Palestinian people?
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