‘We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality. The only way to get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence.’ Jewish Voice for Peace 

‘I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, no water, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.’ Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defence 

Artists for Palestine UK responds with horror and sadness to the violent loss of life across Palestine/Israel, that continues as we write. We mourn every death. And we redouble our commitment to fighting for justice, respect and dignity for all people. In what follows, we share statements by international organisations that remind us of the context of the events which we are all now witnessing. We hope this will help to illuminate the root cause of the violence so that we may  formulate responses that are grounded in the ethics of genuine care.

Al Haq, Palestine’s largest Human Rights organisation,  said, in coordination with  Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: 

‘For decades, our organizations have warned against the status quo and the deliberate failure and unwillingness of the international community to address the root causes of the current situation in Palestine—namely, Israel’s settler-colonialism, apartheid, and illegal occupation, as well as the continuous denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination—and to take effective and meaningful measures to address them.

According to our preliminary field information, overnight, the Israeli military carried out several attacks against the civilian population in Gaza; destroying dozens of family homes, residential and commercial buildings, and wiping out entire Palestinian families often without issuing warnings. The situation on the ground is of such gravity that requires immediate and urgent intervention by the international community.’

In the US, Jewish Voice for Peace said in their statement, ‘The Root of Violence is Oppression’:

‘For 16 years, the Israeli government has suffocated Palestinians in Gaza under a draconian air, sea and land military blockade, imprisoning and starving two million people and denying them medical aid. The Israeli government routinely massacres Palestinians in Gaza; ten-year-olds who live in Gaza have already been traumatized by seven major bombing campaigns in their short lives. 

For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation over Palestinians, operating an apartheid regime. Palestinian children are dragged from their beds in pre-dawn raids by Israeli soldiers and held without charge in Israeli military prisons. Palestinians homes are torched by mobs of Israeli settlers, or destroyed by the Israeli army. Entire Palestinian villages are forced to flee, abandoning the homes and orchards and land that were in their family for generations.

The bloodshed of today and the past 75 years traces back directly to U.S. complicity in the oppression and horror caused by Israel’s military occupation. The U.S. government consistently enables Israeli violence and bears blame for this moment. The unchecked military funding, diplomatic cover, and billions of dollars of private money flowing from the U.S. enables and empowers Israel’s apartheid regime. Those who continue calling for “ironclad” U.S. support for the Israeli military are only paving the path to more violence.’

Independent Jewish Voices Canada, a grassroots organisation ‘grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine’, stated: 

‘For decades, civilians in Gaza have been subjected to routine massacres, restrictions on electricity, medical attention and water, faced bombings and lived under a suffocating blockade. In the past year, Palestinians have been targeted by Israel’s most right-wing government in its history, which has escalated its attacks against them.

IJV calls on Canada to demand a ceasefire immediately. But that is not enough to guarantee a more hopeful future for everyone in occupied Palestine – Israeli apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism are the underlying issues that must be addressed in order to move towards a future for the region where all can thrive. If these issues remain unaddressed, we fear that Israel will not be satisfied until it has satisfied a bottomless desire for disproportionate revenge, as has been proven time and time again.’

If Not Now, a progressive Jewish American group, posted the following:

“We cannot and will not say today’s actions by Palestinian militants are unprovoked. Everyday under Israel’s system of apartheid is a provocation. The strangling siege on Gaza is a provocation. Settlers terrorising entire Palestinians villages, soldiers raiding and demolishing Palestinian homes, murdering Palestinians in the streets, Israeli ministers calling for genocide and expulsion. These are the provocations of the most extremist right wing government in Israel’s history and an emboldened fascist movement escalating this crisis across the land.

We absolutely condemn the killing of innocent civilians and mourn the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life, with numbers rising by the minute. Their blood is on the hands of the Israeli government, the US government which funds and excuses their recklessness, and every international leader  who continues to turn a blind eye to decades of Palestinian oppression, endangering both Palestinians and Israelis. Anyone who minimises or ignores this context will only be surprised as more blood is shed. We call on our communities to reconsider the knee-jerk militarism that has led us into this unfolding catastrophe.’

Ofer Cassif, member of the Israeli Knesset and leftist Hadash coalition, said in an interview:

‘We condemn and oppose any assault on innocent civilians. But in contrast to the Israeli government that means that we oppose any assault on Palestinian civilians as well. We must analyse those terrible incidents [the attacks] in the right context – and that is the ongoing occupation.

We have been warning time and time again… everything is going to erupt and everybody is going to pay a price – mainly innocent civilians on both sides. And unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.

The Israeli government, which is a fascist government, supports, encourages, and leads pogroms against the Palestinians. There is an ethnic cleansing going on. It was obvious the writing was on the wall, written in the blood of the Palestinians  – and unfortunately now Israelis as well.’

These statements provide the essential context which Western governments  have refused to acknowledge. Instead, they have rushed, once again, to “stand by Israel”, thus emboldening this extremist government and giving it licence to bomb Gaza on an unprecedented scale. They have given the green light to Israeli politicians like Ariel Kallner – Chair of Israel’s delegation to the EU –  who has called for a second ‘Nakba that will put 1948 into the shade’. 

In the face of the appalling threat of mass ethnic cleansing, we renew our call to artists to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality in the land of Palestine/Israel. In the face of widespread dehumanisation of Palestinian people, we urge artists to use their voice to speak out against  Israel’s ongoing massacre of civilians in Gaza, which includes 326 children* since Saturday.

In the words of Jewish Voice for Peace: ‘we all deserve liberation, safety, and equality. The only way to get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence’ – which include the complicity of our own governments.

* figure for Wednesday October 11