Sunday, October 15: Gaza Under Attack (Day 8)
The whole world is watching, but just watching won't stop the war crimes
The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate at an unimaginable pace, as food and water supplies are running out for hundreds of thousands of people. The Gazan hospital system is on the verge of total collapse and the death toll is impossible to accurately assess due to the loss of internet service in the besieged area, courtesy of the genocidal apartheid regime in Israel.
The apartheid state has been killing about 11 Gazans an hour nonstop for over a week, with only further escalation in mind. Bear in mind the fact that about half of the Gazan population are children and the math turns pretty sickening really quickly. About 100 Palestinian children are being killed every day, and thousands of people are trapped in the streets with no idea where to go and no home to return to. Many of these people are refugees three or four times over. They were driven out of their homes by bombs or threats of impending bombs, and many have gone from one family member’s home to another, searching for any kind of refuge.
You don’t have to take my word for it, you can open Snapchat right now (if you’re of the generation that still has the app) and open the live map feature. Scroll over to Gaza City and witness for yourself the genocide taking place. This is the first instance I can recall of ethnic cleansing being broadcast in realtime on various modes of social media.
If you’re an American thinking, “well why is this my problem?” The fact is every American taxpayer is helping fund this genocide. Your vocal and public solidarity is incredibly important because the American empire has already made all of us complicit in the ongoing systemic destruction of the Palestinian people. There is no such thing as neutrality in a country where our financial allegiance has already been chosen for us. It would be nice to suggest that you support or sympathize with “both sides”, but the fact is my tax dollars and yours are funding the genocide of only one side.
For those bold enough (or stupid enough) to suggest that Gazans should simply die in silence or condemn Hamas or evacuate south to Egypt, it would be wise to remember the poignant words of Assata Shakur: “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” The only solution is to end the genocide, end the occupation, end the apartheid, and guarantee equal rights and protections for all people, regardless of race, background or religion.
Yesterday, tens of thousands of people turned out for a solidarity protest in London, 15,000 in Chicago, and thousands more in cities across the US and around the world. These rallies might not result in the urgent change we’re calling for, but for a few precious hours yesterday I didn’t feel like I was losing my mind. I was reminded that there are so many people around the world, Muslim, Arab, and otherwise, who recognize the atrocities taking place and are vocal in their opposition.
Side Items
Another Afghani Earthquake: Another powerful earthquake struck in western Afghanistan yesterday, just a week after a quake killed thousands of people in the same area. UN officials report that more than 90% of the people killed in the quake last week were women and children. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake yesterday only further compounded the devastation
Scamtos Strikes Again: George “Scamtos” Santos, aka Anthony Devolder, the fraud of a congressman representing the state of New York, was seen screaming in the hallway of a government building on Friday. It would appear that Mr. Santos (should I call you mister?), who famously suggested that his family was Jewish only to then revised his statement to “Jew-ish”, was approached by pro-Palestinian protesters. Apparently this was enough to send the scam artist into a full-blown tizzy, shouting at the protesters and calling them “scum”