There’s a war going on. Not just with bombs and tanks — but a war of narratives, of silence, of carefully curated complicity. And most of us are watching it unfold in high definition, in real time. We scroll past the images of starving children, bombed-out hospitals, lifeless bodies in the rubble — and somehow, we just… keep scrolling.
What’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank is not just “a conflict.” It’s not “complicated.” It is the systematic, brutal, and deliberate destruction of a people. A genocide. And the world is letting it happen.
“It all started on October 7th” — Did it, really?
To those who only began paying attention on October 7th, 2023, I urge you to open a history book. The violence didn’t start there. This story is not a headline — it’s a legacy. It stretches back to 1948, when the state of Israel was founded on Palestinian land, displacing over 700,000 people in what Palestinians call al-Nakba, “the catastrophe.”
Since then, we’ve witnessed decades of occupation, apartheid, unlawful settlements, assassinations, mass imprisonment without trial, and the daily dehumanization of an entire population. Gaza has been turned into an open-air prison — and now into a mass grave.
Being against Israel ≠ Being against Jews
Let me make one thing absolutely clear: Criticizing Israel’s actions does not make you antisemitic.
This tired accusation is weaponized to silence dissent — but I reject that false equivalence. There are countless Jewish people worldwide who are appalled at what Israel is doing. They march in protests. They speak out. Because being Jewish is not synonymous with supporting Zionist aggression.
Condemning the starvation of children, the bombing of civilians, and the displacement of families is not an attack on a religion — it’s a defense of human rights. Period.
“But you’d be killed in Palestine for being gay…”
Yes, I’ve heard that too. And while it may be true that LGBTQ+ rights are severely lacking under some governments in the Middle East, that’s not the point. I don’t base my humanity on whether someone agrees with my identity.
I’m not pro every ideology. I’m pro humanity.
You can acknowledge that LGBTQ+ people are at risk in certain cultures without advocating for those people’s entire cities to be flattened by bombs. You can oppose repression without endorsing annihilation.
To put it bluntly: Just because a country’s laws wouldn’t protect me doesn’t mean its people deserve to be wiped off the map.
Who will speak when everyone’s bought?
Let’s be honest. One of the reasons the world stays silent while Gaza burns is because Israel has influence woven deep into the political systems of so many countries. Whether through bribery, lobbying, intimidation, or information control, retaliation against the state of Israel has become unthinkable for most world leaders — even in the face of clear, repeated violations of international law.
And the result? Deafening silence.
Thousands dead. Millions displaced. And barely a word from the institutions that claim to stand for human rights.
If you’ve ever wondered what you would’ve done during the Holocaust — the answer is simple: You’re doing it now.
Are you speaking up? Are you challenging injustice? Are you doing anything at all?
Or are you scrolling past, again?
Choose humanity
I don’t care about what flag you wave, what god you pray to, or who your ancestors were. What I care about is whether you believe in the dignity of human life. Whether you can look at what’s happening — in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran — and say: “This is wrong. This must stop.”
Because neutrality is no longer an option. Silence is no longer harmless.
I stand with justice. I stand with truth.
And above all — I stand with Palestine.
No comments:
Post a Comment