The apartheid state of Israel is conducting a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, aided and abetted by the governments of America, Australia, Canada, the UK, and much of the European Union (with the exception of Spain and Ireland). This aiding and abetting comes in the form of economic, military, media and political support. The US has vetoed UN resolutions that called for a ceasefire; they are actively maintaining, funding, and arming this genocide. The full scope of this betrayal of human rights, human decency, and international legal obligations will take years to manifest; they have made blatant in the ugliest way the lie of equality, the lie of any belief in the law. They have made blatant that the subjugation of the global South by Western imperialism continues today, and while many of us knew it, I would argue it has never been this clearly broadcast to the masses, and the consequences will be dire. Instead of condemning Israel’s blatant war crimes and crimes against humanity, Western politicians from the so-called left and right alike have instead given their full-throated support, and directed their ire and condemnation at any who dare to stand against this wholesale slaughter. This is what fascism looks like, and it is upon us all to resist it in whatever way we can.
Israel controls Gaza by land, air, and sea. It is referred to as “the world’s largest open air prison” for this reason. The two million people who live there are trapped. This is the area that Israel has dropped over 6000 bombs on this past fortnight. They are bombing a prison. What we are seeing is not a war between countries, not a religious conflict, has nothing to do with Islam or anti-Semitism—it is an occupying power attempting to brutally suppress another prison revolt. The attack by Hamas on October 7th, which killed some 1,400 Israelis, including civilians and children, was undoubtedly horrific. It comes in a year the UN said was the deadliest for Palestinians in over 17 years, with 200 murdered, 47 of them children.
The attack was repelled, with some 1,500 Hamas soldiers killed.
What has occurred since is nothing more than vicious reprisal in the form of collective punishment, and has been nothing less than evil. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this evil is dual-natured, not just in the genocidal actions taken, but in the way it obscures and buries the catalysing tragedy. Who has been given room to mourn the dead? This is true not just for those Israeli civilians who lost loved ones, but true for Palestinians these past 75 years. What does justice look like here? What is the end goal? Do you not find it strange that these questions are not even asked? I promise you there is no such thing as justice that involves the mass slaughter of children. You would think this is a common sense position, and yet here we are—Israeli politician Merav Ben-Ari went so far as to say “The children in Gaza brought it upon themselves.”
Though this is an inconvenient fact for the leaders of Western governments—there is no legal, moral, or ethical justification for genocide. There never has been, there never will be. Though it is an inconvenient fact for the leaders of Western governments, who want nothing more than to maintain their strategic imperial outpost in the Middle East—Israel does not have an “absolute” right to defy international laws and human decency whenever it wants. Nobody does, and the same is true for any state. I’ve said before and I’ll say again that their illegal occupation and brutal enforcement of apartheid ensures violence is the only recourse; atrocity births atrocity. Since no Arab word is ever seen as trustworthy, since we are entirely reliant on Jewish mouth-pieces to be heard in the West, allow me to share this advertisement by Matzpen in Haaretz, in 1967, which sums up what has occurred in the decades since: “keeping the occupied territories will make us a nation of murderers and the murdered.”
The stream of information and misinformation has been relentless, and like many, I’ve found it overwhelming. I am writing these notes to try to cut through the noise:
The following is true as I write it but will no doubt be worse by the time you read it: 1,661 Palestinian children are confirmed killed by the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Ministry of Health. More than 4,000 Palestinian children are injured and some 1500 are still missing under the rubble. The total death toll of Palestinian civilians is 4,137 with 13,300 injured.
We are two weeks in to Israel cutting Gaza off from food, electricity, water, and medical aid. There are over 1 million children under 18 in Gaza who, in addition to being indiscriminately bombed, are also being starved. 2.3 million people total. They are drinking sea water. They have little to no food. Doctors are performing surgeries with flashlights, in the dark, and without anaesthetic. This is obviously, heinously criminal but don’t take my word for it. Listen to the UN experts:
Israel bombed one of the largest hospitals in Gaza, Al-Ahli, where thousands had sought refuge, killing an estimated 471 desperate people in one strike. For some reason, the scale of this attack, the horror was too much for mainstream media to swallow, and this led to Israel attempting to obscure their role in it, despite having already bombed four hospitals—Beit Hanoun, Hamad, Karama and Durrah—out of service, and damaged 25 others. 44 medical professionals have been killed, and 70 injured. A further 14 health facilities have been forced to shut after running out of fuel.
The World Health Organisation notes that Israel has conducted more than 136 attacks on health care services in the occupied Palestinian territory, including 59 attacks on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death of at least 16 health workers since the beginning of recent hostilities on 7 October. 15 staff of the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) and four Palestine Red Crescent paramedics in an ambulance have also been killed by Israel.
Days ago, Hamas offered to release the 200 hostages they are holding in exchange for the end of Gaza’s bombardment and the release of Palestinian prisoners; Israel holds over 1,100 Palestinians in “administrative detention” without charges, without trial, hundreds of whom are children. They are held hostage. Israel refused.
There has been a sharp rise in Islamophobia and anti-Arab attacks, which includes the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy. He was stabbed 26 times as he went to hug his murderer.
There has also been a rise in anti-Semitism, as in the case of this senseless attack on a Tunisian synagogue. The president of a Detroit synagogue was also found murdered recently; no suspect or motive has yet been made known.
This Israeli man’s parents were civilian settlers murdered in the Hamas attack on October 7th. He does not want revenge. Like many of the families of hostages who are critical of Israel’s carpet bombing and refusal to negotiate, he and other victims of the attack present an alternative view to the Zionist zeal for genocide under the guise of “justice”. May God bless them all. Theirs is a grace fast fading from the world.
An Israeli journalist is in hiding after Zionists threatened to kill him and his family for speaking out against the war. At least 100 Arab-Israelis have been jailed for social media posts critical of the war, there are dozens of reports of people at risk of losing their jobs, students at universities facing disciplinary action, dissent everywhere being suppressed. Israeli government has approved emergency powers to shut down foreign press channels; this is in addition to refusing access to Gaza, and cutting off internet and power in a bid to control the narrative.
I understand some people are uncomfortable with the word genocide, and feel it is being used too freely. If the UN experts in its definition, cited above, are not enough for you, here is some (and only some, as the full list is too long) of the genocidal rhetorical coming directly from Israel right now, with thanks to Yehuda Shaul:
a) “Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!” - Revital Gottlieb, Likud MKb) “It’s time for Nakba 2” - Yinon Magal, journalist and politician
c) “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. A Nakba in Gaza and for anyone who dares to join!” Ariel Kallner, Likud MK
d) “When you are at war with another state you don't feed them, you don't provide them with electricity or gas or water or anything else.” - Giora Eiland, former IDF Major General
e) “I don't call them human animals because that would be insulting to animals.” - Sara Netanyahu
f) “It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. it's not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved, it’s absolutely not true.” - Isaac Herzog, Israeli PresidentIn the West Bank, over 70 Palestinians have been killed in raids conducted by Israelis; five children were killed in the Nur Shams refugee camp; soldiers and settlers detained 3 Palestinians, stripped, sexually assaulted, and tortured them over the course of a day.
In response to growing disgust from the Arab and Muslim communities in the West, some politicians have made empty gestures to ameliorate their support for Palestinian genocide, but none more gross or revealing than this from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau:
As if talking to the infamous murderer MBS of Saudi Arabia has anything to do with us. What a farce. Saudi Arabia, with the support of the West, has been engaged in its own horrific genocidal war with Yemen for much of the past decade. The UN estimated that by the start of 2022, the conflict in Yemen had caused over 377,000 deaths; more than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or wounded; 4.1 million people have been displaced, and 24.1 million are in need of humanitarian aid. May God ease the pain of our Yemeni brothers and sisters, and grant them justice soon.
I characterise Trudeau’s tweet as “revealing” because, for all the claims of the West about Hamas being a “terrorist” organisation whose horrors justify the murder of 2 million innocent trapped people—they are quite happily allied with Saudi Arabia, economically and militarily.
This has been an insane fortnight of death and despair, courage and determination. I don’t know how my Palestinian kin have borne it, truly I don’t. I take heart in, and hope they do as well, the massive demonstrations globally in support of Palestine. I take heart in the growing number of anti-Zionist Jews who are visibly denouncing the Israeli state’s fascism, puncturing the usual strategy of smearing any criticism as anti-Semitism. I take heart in the solidarity flourishing around the world. Millions are opposed to this horror, millions see through the lies and distortions. Even Yemenis, suffering through their own unbelievably horrific war at the hands of Saudi Arabia and the West, took to the streets in massive numbers to show their love and solidarity for Palestine; what excuse have we in the privileged West to not show up, too?
If, at the end of this, you still find yourself okay with the actions of Israel, and the refusal of Western politicians to condemn their illegal and inhumane mass murder of Palestinians, or to demand a ceasefire, then you are beyond reason and beyond help. Or at least beyond any I can provide. I hope someone else can reach you, in that case. The question I want to leave you with is this:
Given Palestinian non-violent resistance in the form of boycotts has been branded “economic terrorism”; given Palestinian unarmed protest has been met with open slaughter and mass disabling; given Palestinian attempts to access justice and redress in the UN as well as international courts have been denied—how exactly are they allowed to resist the demolition of their villages, the destruction of their orchards, the poisoning and burial of their wells, the abduction of their children, the murder of their people, the limitation of their movement and the denial of their equal rights?
Please, wherever you are, whoever you are, stand up against this genocide, stand up against this complete disavowal of humanity. Protest. Join the boycott. Write to and call your local representatives—make clear your vote depends on this, make clear they will lose their job. As much as it sickens me to say it, it is the only thing these people care about. Civil disobedience is a moral imperative in this moment. May we all see justice and equality soon, may we strive to bring it to reality, may we unmake the fascist structures around us and the military imperialism that has the world locked in a death spiral; a better world is possible. We must imagine it, and then do the hard work of making it real.
Salaam,
Omar