Voices Against 'Extermination Campaign' in Gaza Call Out to the World: 'This Has to Stop!'
"What is so sickening and disturbing is that Netanyahu, Biden and our government have no red lines," said Chris Nineham, vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition, which spearheaded the London rally that culminated at Trafalgar Square. "Children are being burnt alive, populations buried under rubble, and war with Iran looms, and yet the West continues to support Israel."
Large banners hung above the rally demanded "Stop Arming Israel" as protesters demanded an end to the siege in Gaza, a cease-fire in Lebanon, and warned against further military action against Iran that could ignite a full-scale Middle East war.
"Children are being shredded like meat in a butcher shop. I don't understand how any of us—whether we're journalists or not, this isn't about objectivity—how any of us can watch this genocide unfold in real time and watch the pontificating of the politicians running for president and not just cry out, 'This has to stop!'"
Many of the protesters in London brought flowers and toys to the rally in order to commemorate the massive number of innocent people—civilian men, women, and thousands upon thousands of children—killed by Israel during its year long assault on Gaza.
In an appearance on MSNBC with anchor Ayman Moyheldin on Saturday evening, progressive journalist Jeremy Scahill described the terrifying conditions in Gaza as he joined those calling for end of the carnage and war crimes being carried out by the Israeli military, backed and funded by the U.S. government.
Asked to speak about the recent killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Scahill started by calling attention to how "as we speak, the Israelis are waging an extermination campaign in the north of Gaza," with an intensified siege and increased bombings, including a series of airstrikes Saturday on the town of Beit Lahia that officials on the ground say killed over 80 people—including children "carved to pieces" by shrapnel explosives [warning: graphic images].
"For the past two weeks," Scahill explained, Israeli forces "have surrounded the area and intensified it after the killing of Sinwar; no food or medicine of any kind has reached both parts of the north."
Citing his contacts on the ground, including medical personnel and fellow journalists reporting from those areas, Scahill said, "I understand at least 80 people have been killed tonight in a horrifying set of attacks on half a dozen residential buildings. I've just gotten done seeing images, on the ground, where children are being shredded like meat in a butcher shop. I don't understand how any of us—whether we're journalists or not, this isn't about objectivity—how any of us can watch this genocide unfold in real time and watch the pontificating of the politicians running for president and not just cry out, 'This has to stop!'"
"I mean, this has to stop," Scahill continued, fighting back emotion. "We're watching a genocide in real time, and I'm sorry, but on this network there are people who've promoted propaganda from Israel. There are people cheer-leading for people running for office lying to the American people about concern for the Palestinians."
While the killing of Sinwar by Israel resulted in Biden pushing anew for a possible cease-fire deal, Scahill said the reality is that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only doubled-down since and "gone full-force final solution on the people of northern Gaza," flouting any tepid warnings from U.S. officials.
"Yes, let's talk about Yahya Sinwar," said Scahill, "But my god we cannot watch more children being shredded and say that this is okay—or that this is just a political issue."
Tweets like the following, prohibited by the social media platform X from being embedded on third-party sites, are being shared widely in an effort to break through the media blackout that dominates the western press in terms of what U.S.- and U.K.-supplied weapons are helping to achieve in Gaza.
"Israel is committing unprecedented massacres in northern Gaza, and the international community cannot remain silent!" declared Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, based in Switzerland, on Sunday alongside a video containing footage from the latest deadly bombings.
"The situation reached a horrific peak last night, as Israeli forces bombed dozens of homes in Beit Lahia, killing at least 80 Palestinians and injuring hundreds others," the group continued. "The international community’s failure to act makes it complicit in this brutality. The Israeli army is carrying out systematic and large-scale killings, deliberate starvation, forced displacement, and the total destruction of life’s basic necessities. The United Nations must declare northern Gaza a disaster zone and intervene immediately to stop Israel’s genocide."
In a Sunday op-ed for Common Dreams, Caleb Crowder with the Institute for Policy Studies, asked readers to consider that if they've ever wondered what they would do in the face of a genocide, they can answer that question by recognizing what they are doing right now.
"As I watched Palestinians, some of whom were still attached to IVs, scream out in agony as they were burned alive due to a recent Israeli strike on a tent hospital, I wondered, what is the "red line" for people in this genocide?" Crowder writes.
"We're well over a year into Israel's deadly assault on Gaza, which has killed approximately 43,000 Palestinians and rendered the area largely uninhabitable," he continued. "This scale of mass murder is the result of relentless airstrikes, ground invasions, starvation tactics, and a blank check for violence and war crimes signed by the United States."
Warning against further complacency, Crowder points out that polls have shown a majority in the U.S. oppose the carnage in Gaza and want to see a cease-fire deal reached, hostages returned, and the threat of wider war come to an end.
"If you're reading this and you’re in that majority," he urged, "then let's turn our despair into action."
On Friday, the nation's largest healthcare workers union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, was the latest to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an arms embargo against Israel.
Representing 450,000 members in the U.S., 1199SEIU said, "As a union of healthcare workers, many of whom have family in the region, [we are] appalled by the incredible loss of life in this conflict. We are deeply concerned by the U.S. and other Western governments' ongoing support of the Netanyahu administration as it continues to flout humanitarian principles and kill civilians, including by bombing hospitals."
"There cannot be any more delay. We call on the Biden administration to enforce the Foreign Assistance Act and suspend military assistance to Israel for its continued blockage of aid necessary to avert catastrophic famine. It is unacceptable for Israel to use U.S. military aid for aims well beyond its self-defense," the union continued.
"All people impacted by this conflict—Palestinian, Israeli, and Lebanese alike—deserve a future free from war and suffering," it concluded. "The only way to seek justice for the innocent lives lost is to build a lasting peace that ensures safety, self-determination, and a respect for international law and norms on all sides."
