Every valiant, successful effort to rally the audience, to remind us of how much power average people have in swaying governments and affecting change, was countered with a reminder of how little people who live in the West, from politicians to journalists to civilians, have done to support Palestine

In a refreshing change of pace from the average star-studded benefit, no attempts were made to act like we are not living in desolate times. The 25-year-old Palestinian journalist Yara Eid spoke about the death of her “soulmate” and fellow journalist, Ibrahim, before introducing a video montage paying tribute to all the Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces in Palestine

Drawings of each journalist, along with details of how and when they were killed—often alongside family, or while reporting—faded in onto the screen at an increasingly rapid clip, until there were so many deceased onscreen that it all became static.