It has been just over two months since the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began their unrelenting assault on the Palestinian people. And though many prefer the narrative of the occupier has a right to ‘defend itself,’ it’s crucial to remember that the horrors committed against our brothers and sisters in the Middle East did not start on October 7, 2023.
We must go back over a century – to the Balfour Declaration (issued on the same day of my birth (though, obviously not the year of my birth) November 2, 1917. The short version of the document written by then-British Foreign Secretary James Balfour is this: it pathed the way for a Jewish state by essentially offering Palestinian land (where Palestinians were over 90% of the population at the time) to this other population (source: The New Arab).
It can be called nothing other than colonial betrayal.
Of course, I realize there is much more than the brief notation I’ve made above; however, mine is not a historical discourse. For that, you can read up on your own. What I’m here to talk about is how enraged I am at much of the world’s silence and the complicity of the U.S. as it has historically (and continues to) provided billions of dollars in aid to the IDF.
What exactly does this aid look like? ‘Weapons grants, access to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, shared intelligence and conducting of joint military drills.’ (source: Axios.com)
There have been over 15,000 persons murdered in the Occupied Territories of Palestine since the IDF began its terror attacks. An absolutely unreal fact is that a large proportion of the murders have been children. How is this allowed? Why has the U.S. continued to look the other way?
It’s simple. As I see it – we’re talking about the IDF, ‘protecting’ Jewish lives.
Our beautiful Palestinian sisters and brothers are not deemed as being valued. The lives of all those precious children, those loving mothers, and grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers are of zero significance to the U.S. and to many others in the western world.
They are cowards, murderers allowing the assassination of a population. They are complicit in this genocide. They all have blood on their hands. I cannot begin to imagine how POTUS, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama and all of those other politicians with power can sleep at night.
For my part, I will not be silenced and will continue to support the people of Palestine.
#freepalestine
Cover image: AHMAD BADER on Unsplash,
