On Oct. 1, 2024, Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the situation in Palestine, included the following in her report on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories: “Since its establishment, Israel has treated the occupied people as a hated encumbrance and threat to be eradicated, subjecting millions of Palestinians, for generations, to everyday indignities, mass killing, mass incarceration, forced displacement, racial segregation and apartheid. Advancing its goal of ‘Greater Israel’ threatens to erase the indigenous Palestinian population.”

The situation in Gaza is inconceivable to most of us. Palestinians are being exterminated. One child is killed every 40 minutes, with more than 16,000 dead since Oct. 7, 2023, including 908 infants who did not survive their first year. More than 60,000 children are suffering from emaciation and severe malnutrition, a number expected to increase soon to 200,000 if Israel continues to block food from entering.

History will not look kindly on what we allowed to happen. The U.S. is Israel’s partner in genocide. We are as responsible as Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces carry out the killing and torturing, but we supply the weapons and ammunition. Israel could not continue the slaughter, the starvation, if we stopped supporting it, if we demanded that the killing be stopped, the crossings be opened and humanitarian aid delivered immediately. It is as simple as that.

What will it take for citizens in this country to be out in the streets protesting to stop the genocide of Palestinians?

Connie Jenkins
Belfast