Why your actions on Gaza matter
And why the arguments hoping to shut you up are wrong.
It’s hard to truly state the death toll of innocent civilians in Gaza right now. Mostly, because as you read this, it will increase. I say this not to shame you into action, and this post is not to condemn you or force you into posting on social media. I say it simply because it has to be said. By many people.
The most conservative estimate is around 10,000 men, women and children have been killed (it's now 30,000). I am loathe to separate out women and children because the men of Palestine deserve life just as much as anyone. And Muslim men have been dehumanised and denigrated in the West in a myriad of ways. But, it must be said that Israeli airstrikes are killing Palestinian children at a staggering rate. Save the Children has said that more children have been killed in Gaza in three weeks than all global conflict annually since 2019. The UN has called Gaza a “graveyard for children”.
Pregnant women, of which there are more than 50,000 facing constant and relentless bombing by Israeli forces, are also dying in incomprehensible numbers from giving birth in the street to stillborn babies, and from loss of blood from cesareans performed by torchlight without anesthetic. Doctors Without Borders have said rampant water, food and drug shortages have unleashed an “avalanche of human suffering” in Gazan hospitals.
In just one story of thousands, a mother and her sons aged 10, eight, six and just 10 hours old were murdered by an Israeli airstrike. She delivered her baby in a war zone and they were killed together 10 hours later.
When I share information like this, I’m almost immediately accused of anti-semitism or being a Hamas supporter or being a terrorist sympathiser. I can accept these accusations because I know they’re not true.
But, it is true that there has been rising anti-semitism across the world. And as Naomi Klein says - “…antisemitism (besides being hateful) is the rocket fuel of militant Zionism”. The October 7 attack was the worst atrocity committed against Jewish people since the Holocaust. And yet, instead of getting hostages released*, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have used their suffering as justification to bomb the ever-loving Hell out of the most densely populated place in the world in retaliation.
*“Last weekend, Israeli families of the hostages taken by Hamas met with Netanyahu urging him to prioritize the return of their family members over bombing Gaza. After the meeting they held protests calling for a prisoner swap, chanting “כולם תמורת כולם” which can be translated to “Everyone for Everyone.” - Everyone for Everyone.
Jewish critics of Netanyahu are also having to now navigate losing community and family if they push back on the genocidal language being used by the Israeli government and media.
Like so many of my Jewish friends who dissent from that pressure, I can also refuse to believe all Palestinians or Muslim people are Hamas.
I refuse to believe Palestinian babies will “grow up to be Hamas” so they should be killed “at the root” and the awful lie if you stand against genocide you support a “second Holocaust”.
I refuse to believe that even if Hamas was hiding in a child’s bed, the logical reaction is to kill every child in every bed in that village, and slaughter every mother and father and sister and brother and cousin and aunty and uncle and nana and grandpa who has ever knelt by that bed and read a bedtime story or offered a prayer.
I do not believe that killing a child’s parents in front of their eyes and leaving them to fend for themselves in a war zone, starving, unable to sleep or drink even a cup of water, will end Hamas as a terror group or a concept.
If that child survives, what is the likelihood in their endless trauma that they will one day choose peace?
I desperately want the hostages taken by Hamas and the hostages taken by the Israeli Occupying Forces to be returned. I desperately want time for Israelis to grieve the October 7 attack by Hamas. I desperately want the loss of lives, taken by Hamas, to not be used to enact more violence and senseless, needless, awful slaughter.
So, that is my position. What I have found harder to reconcile is the grotty cynicism of people who say we should not speak out about this genocide. So here’s my attempt at providing five reasons why you should act. Even if it’s just one post on your Facebook page or one email to an MP or attending one vigil or protest.
Palestinians being slaughtered in Gaza have asked us to act.
Palestinians trying to survive in Gaza have begged us time and time again to ‘tell the world’ what is happening to them. More than 36 journalists have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, eight have been injured, three are missing, and eight have been arrested. They are literally dying to get images, eye-witness accounts and video out to the world in the hopes we will share what they’re living through.
They’re not just being murdered, their families are too. On October 25, the family of Wael Al Dahdough, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza were killed. Those included his wife, son, daughter and grandson.
While waiting for death, in an open air prison they cannot escape from, they’re begging us to show the world. Sharing their words, the names of their murdered families - it’s the least we can do.
When we are confronted with the truth, most of us feel we must act.
Since the air strikes on the Gaza strip began, and I began sharing images and video from Gaza, I have had hundreds of messages from people who have felt called to act. They have said in their hundreds - I’ve never been to a protest, but now I’m going to one. I’ve never written to my MP, but I’ve just sent a long email. They say they’ve been reading for hours, learning as much as they can about an occupation they previously didn’t know about. It shows the power of the truth.
We know photographs that show the horrific truth can change the world - Emmett Till’s mother knew this, that’s why she asked for a photo of his body to be shown. It woke so many whites up to the horror of lynching and racist brutality. South Vietnam’s chief of National Police executing Nguyễn Văn Lém and Phan Thi Kim Phuc and other children running naked, burned by napalm, arms outstretched in terror, were two of the most prominent images to fuel anti-war sentiment in the US. The Vietnam war’s unpopularity contributed significantly to America’s eventual withdrawal from Vietnam.
There have been so many times in our history where an image or video has changed everything - An unknown man blocks the path of tanks in Tiananmen Square, a vulture stalks a starving child in Southern Sudan, the image of a drowned little Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, alone on the beach, the murder of George Floyd.
People know how powerful these images are. And that’s why they don’t want them shared. We are seeing dozens, if not hundreds, of images of dead Palestinian children and their dead parents. You can become desensitised to the violence, trust me, I know how horrific it is - but outside of social media, people aren’t seeing these images. And one image could be the difference for someone. And we need every single person on the kaupapa of stopping this genocide. Every person counts.
There’s a reason why we say “you can’t unsee” something. We don’t want to “unsee” genocide, because then we can simply turn away.
New Zealand calling for a ceasefire would be noticed and our Government should reflect us and our kaupapa as a nation
I can’t tell you the amount of people who have said “It’s not like we can do anything” or that it “doesn’t matter” if either of the Chrises say anything about the genocide. But it does matter.
I don’t know about you, but I kind of care about whether our Government gives a shit about genocide. I pay taxes for them to give a shit about genocide. I care that they’re the representatives of our country, of me, I want them to give a shit! I’m quite frankly astounded that people don’t care what they say.
Calling for a ceasefire is the bare minimum of what our Government could do. But if they did that, it would matter. It would send a message that independent and free countries will not blindly follow the US and UK in their unquestioning support for Israel’s bombardment on innocent Palestinians.
If New Zealand’s view on the world made no difference, why do we still talk about the 81 Springbok Tour? Why do we still talk about the Rainbow Warrior?
The anti-apartheid movement in South Africa was buoyed by events in New Zealand. Nelson Mandela recalled that when he was in his prison cell on Robben Island and heard that the game in Hamilton had been cancelled, it was as ‘if the sun had come out’. - NZ History.Govt.
Others can’t speak, but we can.
It’s not just Palestinians, who have lost internet and have no power in Gaza, who often cannot speak. It’s Jewish people too. Many, many Jewish people are against this genocide and they’ve been exceptionally brave in speaking out despite the fact that they’ve faced unrelenting abuse for it.
Nevo Zisin, who is an astonishingly kind and talented writer whose work I’ve shared here many times, has faced unfathomable abuse for speaking out. They have shared the horrendous messages they’re getting from their community and it’s heartbreaking.
Many Jewish people and people raised in Christian Zionism have messaged me saying they’re grateful for non-Jewish/non-Christian Zionists for sharing about the genocide because they risk being ostracized for doing so.
On October 16, columnist Israel Frey went into hiding after he was attacked by a group of far-right Israelis simply because he expressed solidarity with Palestinians.
Anyone with a high profile can face threats, censure, and job losses even if they don’t mention Israel and simply talk about war crimes or call for a ceasefire. Amy Schumer can call all Gazans rapists and murderers and it can have no impact on her career, but merely saying it’s inhuman to deprive civilians of water and food can get you fired.
It’s for that reason, that it’s important to post as there’s safety in numbers. It feels unimaginable that in 2023 we would fear saying ‘genocide should stop’ but as we’re here - we need to all be a little bit braver.
This is how we show our humanity.
“How vain do you have to be to think you posting is going to do anything”. Maybe it won’t (though I’m convinced mass social movement does make change) - but even if it doesn’t - I don’t care.
Like so many people I feel helpless and guilty and devastated. Every day. I hold my babies and can’t fathom what the mothers of Gaza and the mothers of hostages are going through. Maybe marching, and posting, and writing to MPs does nothing. Maybe the days I’ve spent on this has done nothing.
But at least, when we look back on this time I can say I tried. That I did everything I could - as measly as it was. That I didn’t turn away and ignore the horror. That I didn’t succumb to doomism. I didn’t fall for the comfortable lie that it’s all too complicated. I tried my best. Maybe my best and your best and our best won’t be good enough.
Maybe.
But shouldn’t we try? Isn’t the alternative to trying a world where we’re just accepting the mass slaughter of innocent people? Isn’t the alternative so much worse?
Maybe our trying won’t achieve anything, but not trying - we know that will achieve absolutely nothing. No maybe. I refuse to just lose my humanity and not bother at all.
Thank you to my dear friends who took the time to read this and give thoughtful feedback - particularly my friends who are grieving right now. You know who you are and I’m grateful for you. I spent a lot of time on this piece - please know if it upsets you that that’s not my intention. I’m doing what we are all trying to do - get a ceasefire to stop the slaughter. No matter our differences, we have that in common, and I hope we can hold onto that connection.
What you can do to help stop the genocide in Gaza (I haven’t updated this for this week yet - but the information for emailing MPs is all there)
Follow journalists in Gaza on Instagram - Motaz Azaiza, Plestia Alaqad, Ali Jadallah, Hind Khoudary.
Follow Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa - PSNA on Facebook.
