Just when I felt I had seen the worst of the worst, I watched a video of a Palestinian woman rocking with a baby that appeared lifeless in her arms. It shattered my heart, and I cannot understand how I am still begging our government to call for a ceasefire after more than 45 days of the Israeli military’s bombing of Gaza.
I am watching video after video of IDF bombing of Gaza buildings - burying innocent Palestinians in the rubble as they do so - in the supposed hope of retrieving Israeli hostages from Hamas.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military was “dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza” because “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”.
UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese says Israeli bombs have killed 12,000 people, 5000 of which are children, injured 30,000, forcibly displaced 1.6 million and imposed collective punishment on 2.2 million but “there is no measure to rescue them because Israel has also tightened its illegal blockade”. Israeli bombs have destroyed over 40,000 homes, refugee camps, schools and universities, bakeries and mosques and churches, she said.
They aren’t just numbers or collateral damage. Why won’t the world see Palestinians as people with friends and family, dreams and aspirations and a desperate desire to live in peace and freedom?
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Photo / AP
I am in disbelief heartbreak hasn’t consumed our leaders. Many of our politicians are parents, so I ask them to help me understand why children born in New Zealand are entitled to safety as their birthright, but across the world, in Gaza, children are dying in bombings.
I do not understand why the children of New Zealand deserve to live safely, but the children of Palestine live in fear of being shot and bombed. When did we become so heartless about the killing of children?
Israel leaders have made their intentions clear.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “turn Gaza into a deserted island”.
Israel MP Galit Atbaryan, who was recently public diplomacy minister, said a “vengeful and vicious” military should erase Gaza from the face of the earth.
Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “The State of Israel will no longer be able to accept the existence of an independent entity in Gaza” while advocating for all Palestinians in Gaza to flee to other countries.
Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine safely. Israel has blamed Hamas on multiple occasions for using Palestinians as “human shields” but I ask would Israel go after Hamas the same way it is now if Hamas was hiding in Israel and using Israelis as “human shields”?
A man sits on the rubble as others wander among debris of buildings that were targeted by Israeli airstrikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. Photo / AP
While the world has theoretical debates about the proportionality of Israel’s response to Hamas, Israeli bombs kill hundreds of innocent Palestinians every day. Hundreds of Palestinians would today be alive if the world forced Israel to ceasefire yesterday.
Calling for a ceasefire would be the bare minimum.
New Zealand should follow the lead of the Belgian deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter, who said, “It is time for sanctions against Israel”.
New Zealand should also expel Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand Ran Yaakoby and join the call of South Africa and the Irish political party Sinn Féin to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Spain’s former acting social rights minister Ione Belarra’s who is calling for the ICC to issue a warrant for the immediate arrest of Netanyahu.
Albanese claims actions of the Israeli military “violated the principles of international law - and there was a risk the crime of genocide was being carried out against the Palestinian people”.
Finally, New Zealand must call for an end to all Israeli occupation in Palestine and recognise the statehood of Palestine and assist in its rebuild.
Humanity is being tested, and we cannot be the reason it fails.
