A Cry for Justice

Dear Readers*,

I have hesitated with writing about this on my blog but I have decided that if I have a platform, and even a few people read it, I want them to, because it’s the least the Palestinians deserve. 

These last 2 months I have been heartbroken at the state of the Palestinian people and often find myself crying at their helplessness. I would like to clarify first and foremost that this is not a war. Not a conflict. The implications of those words suggest a two sided narrative yet the truth is genocide. Israel has demonstrated this by stating their intent to “erase” a village, continuous bombing and referring to Palestinians as “human animals”. Even United Nations affiliated school has been destroyed. . Is the cutting of water and electricity, the usage of white phosphorus, the destruction of hospitals not all war crimes that need to stop? The repeated question at the beginning was of the condemnation of Hamas. But it’s been 2 months of vicious violence now. How can we be debating on whether we “condemn” them or not when there are war crimes being committed, innocent lives being  ended under the guise of “defending themselves”. The truth is, the emergence of Hamas clearly does not matter when the West Bank where Hamas is not reported to be, is facing the same horrors as Gaza. The truth is that the decades of oppression without any international support will give way to violent extremist groups but it cannot distract us from the majority innocent lives that are being slaughtered. 18,000 is the number the death toll has risen too since October 7th in Palestine. And lastly, the truth remains that 4 years ago when the Palestinians walked a peaceful protest without any weapons, a massacre ensured resulting in all of them dead by the hands of the Israelis. 

To add on to the utter horror of the situation that children are going through, being orphaned, forced out of their homes and made to deal with death on a daily basis, we are trying to decide on sides. The bombardment of the singular narrative of the western media only showing the Israel story has lead to a 7 year old boy in the US who only just celebrated his birthday, getting stabbed to death 27 times by his landlord simply for the crime of being Palestinian. False statements spoken as facts riddle our lives when the president of the United States Joe Biden stated he bore witness to the fact of decapitated babies which the White House themself had to later debunk. In a world like water information is abundant who do we believe? We believe Motaz Aziza, Bisan, and others on the ground of Gaza documenting the pain of the Palestinians, surrounded by the death of children, risking his life to show the world the truth on instagram. We believe the thousands of videos of Palestinians crying for our help. 

But what can we do is the other question asked. We donate money, but only to trusted organisations because we are human and mourn the loss of each and every person. But also, this lies in the smaller things that amount to great value. Boycott big brands like Mc Donalds, Starbucks, Disney+. You think it won’t work but already their profits decrease. Your input does help. And lastly, you spread awareness. Because sometimes people are just blinded and need your help to see past the veil put infront of them. 

For my final point, Pro Palestinian does not equal Anti Semitism. And anti Zionism does not equal antisemitism. The Israeli actions do not represent the Jewish community as seen in the numerous “not in our name” marches by Jews. Do not be afraid to speak against Israel for fear of being seen as antisemitic because it simply means you do not abide by an apartheid regime that is committing a genocide before us. The support of Palestinians does not mean you need to be Muslim or Arab or Palestinian. Only human. 

Please…Raise your voice,

Zahra

*This post is not for it to be unheard and lost in the void… It is for YOU

p.s ceasfire now.

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