“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” –Omar El Akkad
When he posted on October 25, 2023, he also shared video of Gaza, in three weeks of bombardment the devastation was already unfathomable. He condemned what was happening but noted the absence of vocal opposition. Some 21 months later children in Gaza are starving to death, the war and restrictions on aid have had predictable consequences. Children die when they don’t have food and water. Yesterday, as I write (July 28th), the AP reported on a 5-month-old girl who was 6.6 pounds when she was born but 4.4 when she died.
They describe a scene that is hard—impossible—to read:
“The baby was brought to the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday. She was already dead. A worker at the morgue carefully removed her Mickey Mouse-printed shirt, pulling it over her sunken, open eyes. He pulled up the hems of her pants to show her knobby knees. His thumb was wider than her ankle. He could count the bones of her chest.”
The Ministry of Health *reports 59,219 Palestinian fatalities in Gaza, 17,921 being children. Forget that intentionally starving a civilian population is war crime—not a strategy—many of us (not just in the U.S. but around the world) are represented by officials who celebrate meeting with indicted war criminals like Benjamin Netanyahu (his arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court on 21 November 2024). Forget that Trump wants to turn Gaza into a “*Riviera of the Middle East” … just remember the children and the innocent families.
The concept of crimes against humanity has always been contentious to me. All wars are crimes against humanity, the loss of life and damage to the environment are always catastrophic. Unthinkably, there is a reluctance for people to call the genocide by name. When 8,000 civilians were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995 the massacre was considered a genocide. But the crime is not called out by name nor is it condemned for the disrespect of Palestinian life that it is.
Protest signs correctly observe things like: “Starvation is not self-defense.” This is step all of us can take. We can mobilize in opposition to atrocities around the world. Explaining in clear language that there is no justification for the crimes that are being committed can raise awareness and challenge fallacious narratives of righteousness or self-defense. There is no excuse for denying food to civilians or dropping bombs on the apartments where they live.
The Geneva Convention (1949) states: “take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.” Addressing malnutrition and starvation is a challenge given the extent of the problem, *hundreds of millions in aid contracted by USAID was frozen, and current conditions where *more than 900 have been killed at aid distribution sites. Accidental, avoidable, or intentional, the famine needs to end.
We can pressure our elected representatives to achieve objectives like stopping the supply chains and distribution of the tools of genocide, pressuring for the access of necessary humanitarian aid, and an immediate ceasefire. Jewish Voice for Peace correctly *observes, “With every passing minute that the US refuses to call for a full and robust ceasefire, more Palestinians are being killed.”
Indeed, there are many profiteers enjoying business deals at the expense of human lives, but there are still lives to be saved if we can force an end to the campaign of genocide now. We have a moral obligation to save those we can, like Anne Frank (a teenager killed in genocide) reminds us: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-23-july-2025
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-23-july-2025
https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-usaid-gaza-ceasefire-0a56d5d591c249eb5e44ba29c9adaa3e
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/about/#values
https://afsc.org/news/6-ways-you-can-support-palestinians-gaza
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/emergencies/gaza-and-israel-emergency-appeal/how-to-help-gaza/
https://www.amnesty.org.au/toolkit-gaza-genocide/
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/palestine
https://www.rescue.org/crisis-in-gaza
Wim Laven, Ph.D., syndicated by PeaceVoice, teaches courses in political science and conflict resolution.
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Categories: Community Voices, Health, Local Government, Local News
I can only watch in stunned silence this devastation and inhuman catastrophe is happening over there. I imagine if this was my Mom and sisters and brother literally begging for scraps of food when yesterday, life seemed “normal” -going to school, making dinner, meeting my neighbor while tending the garden…
At our, our “USA”, federal level, hope is in the backseat, driven by a caucus of right-wing nut jobs lurching us back in time where brutality and hand-shake take-my-daughter alliances won against the rule of law. Women’s rights? Bullshit. Civil rights? Out of your fucking mind?! Environmental rights? Are you kidding?!
What if we, as Californians, rise to the level of compassion that is needed. Can our farmers and our politicians, create a caucus to gather, package, ship, and deploy food to that area? We have everything -food capacity, workers, a logistics system of unequalled power, and more wealth than most of the world -can we put together the will to fly our flag on ships laden with food and daily necessities?
Best part, it’s not just charity. Imagine if we can turn this tide, reach out a helping hand, and in return, we get front row opportunities to rebuild that wasted land. Us, Californians, take the lead in industry -those expatriate jobs are lucrative, generational, creating huge waves of wealth. It’s help that is needed and the chance to help re-build.
Anyways, its heartbreaking to watch and mind numbing to see our leadership on the world stage along with our capacity to help crumbling before our very eyes.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my piece. It is absolutely heartbreaking, but do not give up–there are lives to save.