CEASEFIRE NOW!

Dearest people.

This is a call for us all to stand up, to get clarity on our stance and do what we can in our own way to call for CEASEFIRE NOW!

I am writing this because over the last couple of weeks I have had conversations with friends who have felt insecure in knowing where to place themselves and whether to be vocal about their gut response.

Gaza is under siege. 2.2 million people living in the 45km area have been, for the last 4 weeks, carpet bombed. They are experiencing collective punishment for the atrocious acts carried out by Hamas on October the 7th. But these acts, where well over a thousand innocent Israelis were killed, do not justify what we are seeing now. And what we are seeing now is Genocide. What we are seeing now is an unmasked and outspoken intent by the Israeli state to carry out ethnic cleansing. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed and many more are trapped and dying under the rubble that now makes up a large part of Gaza. With the question of the trade route through the Seuz Canal and the much unmined oil and gas off the coast of Gaza, there is alot of valid conjecture on what this genocide is actually serving. There is so much to say on this, but basically we all NOW need to clarify our position and stop being persuaded that ‘it’s complicated’, that it’s better not to have an opinion. Our silence is complicit with a very real and very horrific Genocide. The current situation is not complicated.

This is a plea to ANYONE WHO FEELS CONFUSED, to breath deeply and breath into the humanitarian crisis and genocide that is occuring. I am Jewish, I am an anti-zionist Jew, and the fact that I call for an immediate Ceasefire does not make me anti-semitic. The fact that I see this whole 75 year oppression of the palestinian people by previously traumatised people, as disgusting, does not make me anti-semetic.

Both my parents were anti-Zionist activists who lived and worked for a large part of the last 10 years of their lives in Ramalha, Palestine. I visited them and travelled through the, then much less extreme but still terrifying, roadblocks. Back in 2006 the plight of the Palestinians was similar to the apartheid it has so clearly turned into today. My parents, were they alive, would be completely heartbroken at what is occurring and they would be out on the streets, screaming for justice, with the hundreds of thousands of people who are turning out for the protests across the world to demand CEASEFIRE NOW.

All I am asking within this note is to not conflate anti-zionism, anti-imperialism, a call for IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE and Palestinian freedom, with Anti-Semitism. They are not the same thing and we need to stand up and be clear in our position.

Thank you for reading this. I send strength and love and a hope for better days to come.

Danations:
There are lots of places to donate funds to: This one is valid and legit: Gaza Emergency Appeal

Resources:
- Zionism and Imperialism Kwame Ture: Short Video
- The Situation is not complicated, Race segregation as a norm in Palestine and American history as seen through the eyes of writer Te-Nehisi-Coates: Short video
- A discourse surrounding the similarities between Ireland and Palestine through shared experiences of English Imperialism - The Blindboy podcast from 32 mins in

A small selection of Insta pages who comment and share links to further resources:
@palestiniansolidarityuk
@owenjones84
@middleeasteye
@blmuk
@shaunking
@dannyfuckingprice
@unfpa
@unityforequality
@jewishvoiceforpeace
@hiddenpalestine
@decolonizemyself
@eat_the_rich_union

Also if you aren't already, please follow us on instagram:
@leothekay
@thebakeryofslowideas